WHY BUY YOUNG WHISKY CASKS
At Mark Littler we have sold millions of pounds of casks for our customers, they all did the same thing: bought young casks and sold them as mature casks as a 10 to 30+ year investment.
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Why Buy Young Whisky Casks
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Since Mark Littler started acting as a broker to sell whisky casks we have helped our customers sell their casks for anything from £5,000 to more than £1,000,000. All our customers bought their casks for an initial investment of £1,000 to £3,000. Whatever the returns seen by each customer they all had one thing in common: They all bought new make or young whisky casks, let them mature for 10 to 30+ years and sold them as mature whisky.
This strategy of buying young whisky and selling it as a mature casks is one that we have seen work and which fits in with the general functioning of the whisky industry. As such this if you want to buy a cask this is what we suggest.
For the sake of clarity, at Mark Littler Ltd we use three terms when talking about the age of whisky; new make, young casks and mature casks.
What Is New Make?
New make can specifically refer to whisky that has been distilled in the current year, however we also use it to describe maturing spirit that is not yet only enough to be classed as scotch whisky, i.e. is less than 3 years old.
What Is A Young Cask?
We use the term ‘young casks’ to refer to any casks that are still in the slow growth period of their maturation; generally 4 to 12 years old.
What is A Mature Cask?
When we refer to ‘mature casks’ we are generally talking about casks older than 12 years. These are less suited to personal cask investment unless you are very familiar with the industry.
Why Buy Young Whisky Casks?
In young whisky the majority of the purchase price is made up of objective costs: the cost of the cask itself, the cost of the spirit that goes into the cask, admin costs of moving and registering your cask, the distillery’s profit and the brokerage fee (£360 a cask from us). This means the price you pay is easier to check and verify to ensure you are not paying over the odds for a cask.
The value of a cask has historically increased with age, due mostly to a perceived improvement in quality and a reduction in availability (as most casks are used when they are less than 12 years old). However, how these factors influence the value and price of a cask are completely subjective and difficult to verify because the whisky cask industry is still opaque. It is difficult for the public to find out how the reduction in volume due to the angel’s share affects the value, how much scarcity adds to value, and how tastes and fashions might change amongst other factors. These are all factors that can vary, and which can be used to manipulate the price of a cask so that you end up paying more than you should do for your investment.
Generally speaking the value of whisky within a cask increases slowly in the first twelve years of maturation. This makes this period a cost effective starting point for a whisky investment if you want to keep the whisky for the minimum circa 10 year hold. If you are happy with a longer 15 to 20+ year hold then new make is the most cost effective entry point for a whisky cask investment.
If you want to find out more about all aspects of buying casks of whisky and read more about why we only sell young casks please sign up to receive our Whisky Cask Buying Guide. The guide is a free PDF to help you learn more about buying whisky and whether an investment in whisky casks is the right choice for you. If you want to learn more about buying with Mark Littler then please get in touch.
Advice You Can Trust
Since 2016 our aim has been simple – to provide a trustworthy source of information to help people make sound decisions when they are selling their items. To date we have sold millions of pounds worth of antiques and whisky (both casks and bottles) for our clients.
We’re now applying this same logic to help people invest in casks of whisky. Rather than providing sales pitches disguised as educational material, it’s our mission to become the ultimate source of open and honest cask investment guidance.
The information you will find in our cask investment guide, cask guides, and Cask Calculator is all designed to help you make a balanced decision. We would rather you knew all the facts and didn’t buy a cask than buy one based on ‘fake news’.
