We understand that when purchasing a cask of whisky you want to be sure that you are paying a fair price for your cask, as with any other large purchase.
Normally, there is a general understanding in society about what an asset is worth. For example, most people have some concept of how much a house is worth in a given region based on a number of factors. The universal demand for this kind of information means there are resources available to help you check. That means even if you wanted to move to a new area you can research expected prices.
Scotch whisky is a billion pound industry, with 2023 exports worth over £2.1 billion. However the trading of whisky casks by private individuals is a fraction of that market and still a niche proposition. There are not many people who are able to correctly value a whisky cask just based on the age of the cask, the current ABV, and the distillery at which the cask was filled. Because it is a niche market, and because the actual value of individual casks can vary so significantly there is neither demand for or ability to produce a way to universally value whisky casks in the same way as houses or stocks etc. This puts additional pressure on consumers to understand the market they are looking to join.
Send me my free cask buying guide
How To Check The Price Of A Whisky Cask?
There is no public index for people to refer to when buying a cask of whisky. No open source way for customers to discover how much a cask is worth before they buy means that you need to trust the person you are buying from.
If you buy a cask at an inflated price – the cask is worth much less than you paid for it – chances are that when you come to sell the cask, the profit will be much lower than expected, or nonexistent. And this is why it is so important to pay a fair price for your cask in the first instance.
At Mark Littler Ltd we created the cask calculator to help you to figure out how much a cask of whisky is worth. All you have to do is input information about the cask, and the calculator will create a per bottle cost price. You can then add a margin and compare it to open market (auction prices) to check you are comfortable with the proposed cost.