Welcome to WhiskyIntelligence.com where we'll be gathering information on the whisky industry and scotch whisky news in the form of press releases, newsletters, events, tasting notes and comments.
Please submit your press releases, newsletters, events, tasting notes or comments.
Welcome to this week’s episode of the show. In these dark days I hope this channel is providing some light entertainment. This week’s episode of the show features the Independent bottling company, House of Macduff.
NEW WEALTH REPORT ON LUXURY INVESTMENT INDEX REVEALS WHISKY AS MOST COVETED COLLECTABLE
Results of The Wealth Report’s new unique luxury investment index reveals whisky was one of the most coveted objects of desire in 2019.
The report out this month, produced by Knight Frank, says Rare Whisky has grown in value the most over the last 10 years at +564% and increased by +5% in the past 12 months; and states casks remained in huge demand. By comparison cars have seen an increase of 194%, art by 141% and wine by 120%.
Simon Aron, Owner of Cask Trade, that offers a transparent, trustworthy and honest marketplace for the trading of whisky by the cask, says: “Whisky will always be drunk in times of celebration and in times of crisis. Cask whisky is the best long term alternative investment with no free fall.”
Objects of desire
In the last 10 years, whisky has far outstripped the more established alternative assets such as art, cars, wines, watches and jewellery and is now one of the most coveted objects of desire. According to the report, whisky was one of 2019’s top performing luxury investments.
Be investment savvy
Whilst Cask Trade recognise the famous whisky names of Macallan, Bowmore and Dalmore have done well in bottle at auction, they say these aged whisky casks are very rare, and getting rarer, are very expensive and becoming a weaker in investment value as they get older and the alcohol levels reduce.
Cask Trade believe the real investment opportunity is with distilleries who have been quietly producing fantastic whisky for years that has either been independently bottled or was used for global blends of whisky. Examples of those looking to carve out their place in the market and fulfil a much larger demand from around the world include: Miltonduff, Caol Ila, Craigllachie, Glenallachie, Glenrothes, Glen Moray, Fettercairn and Glen Garioch.
Aron adds: “Casks from these distilleries have all got a fantastic price point and make very good whisky but don’t have the capacity, global reach the marketing power yet. But the demand is there and people want to know more.”
Auctions
As the new Wealth Report explains, as luxury collectables continue their rise up the investment agenda, a growing number of fledgling UHNWI collectors are making their first forays into the world of auction sales.
In January, Cask Trade hosted the world’s first live, online whisky auction dedicated to casks.
More than 300 whisky lover from around the world registered on auctionyourcask.com and over 100 samples were sent to prospective buyers around the world including America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Among the casks sold during the auction was a 1995 Springbank sherry hogshead which was bought for £47,200 and the Glen Ord barrel April 2015 went for £3,186. The second aution will take place on 22nd April 2020.
The Wealth Report says: “Money flows fastest in those areas with the highest “supply” and turnover: contemporary art, jewellery, cars, wine, whisky and watches. These specialist auction markets are concentrated in London, New York and Hong Kong, creating a dynamic market with associated price fluctuations that percolate at different levels depending on where they are offered. Such collections should be valued regularly for insurance and tax planning purposes.”
World record
A new world record for a bottle of whisky was set in October, when Sotheby’s sold this bottle of The Macallan Fine & Rare 60-Year-Old 1926 for £1.5 million in London.
NOTES
KNIGHT FRANK WEALTH REPORT 2020
Full details of The Wealth Report 2020 can be found here: https://www.knightfrank.com/wealthreport
ABOUT CASK TRADE
Founded in 2018 by Simon Aron in partnership with several of the world’s foremost whisky masters, including Keeper of the Quaich Sir Colin Hampden-White, Cask Trade buys and sells exceptional cask whiskies. The company is unique because it only sells casks it owns outright, and it only sells whole casks: it is not a whisky cask broker and it does not offer fractional sales.
A passionate whisky collector for more than 20 years, Simon Aron suffered many false promises from whisky investment companies and this drove his ambition to create a real and trustworthy market place for whisky collectors and investors, and bottlers:
The company’s casks are held in the best HMRC bonded warehouses, regularly visited and approved by Cask Trade whisky masters. All stock holdings have a complete paper trail…
Included in its extensive list of customer services, Cask Trade’s rigorous processes means that the company will guarantee to buy back from its clients the casks they buy from and have had managed by Cask Trade. It also offers…
Cask Trade has started the first live auction website dedicated to exceptional whisky casks: www.auctionyourcask.com
Hosted four times a year and helping private owners/investors sell their cask to independent bottlers and other investors all around the world. All casks will be re-gauged ready for auction and a full 70cl sample will be drawn so that bidders have the opportunity to try the whisky before they buy. – Wherever possible. We validate all the sellers and confirm proof of ownership and the history of the cask enabling bidders to safely buy. With complete transparency and no sellers’ fee we can offer you the actual hammer price. Our low buyers’ fee of 15% + VAT will offer the opportunity to buyers, trade or private, to buy rare casks. The next auction will take place on 22nd April 2020.
It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to temporarily close both of our WHISKI venues from tonight. Both Whiski Bar & Restaurant on the Royal Mile and Whiski Rooms on the Mound will close until further notice. With the escalating Coronavirus pandemic and following government advice, we are aware that the safety of our staff and the public needs to be the key focus at the moment and we feel this is the right thing to do.
On a personal note, this has been one of the hardest decisions we have had to make for our businesses and our amazing team who work so hard to give a great Scottish welcome to all our customers. The team is as devastated as we are and this situation affects not just us and them but all of our local suppliers and our great musicians that play every night in our Royal Mile venue.
We are determined to emerge from this stronger and once we make it out of this storm, we look forward to welcoming you back with smiles and a whisky in your hand!
Please keep checking either of our websites
www.whiskibar.co.uk or
www.whiskirooms.co.uk
and our Facebook and Instagram pages for any updates on when we can
re-open and keep the fun, live music and whisky flowing …
Wishing you and your loved ones the best of health and well being during these times.
Sláinte
Best Wishes,
Gary, Anne & the Whiski team
THE ISLAY PRELUDE
GREEN ISLE
The allure of Islay begins long before one makes the pilgrimage.
GREEN ISLE
Deluxe
Blended Scotch Whisky
40% ABV · 70cl
£34.95
No. 1 Spencer Street · The Jewellery Quarter · B18 6DD · Birmingham · UK
Rare & Collectable Whiskies
Take a look at our most prized whiskies in our Collector’s Loft. Order today for free UK delivery on all orders over £25
🚚 Free UK Delivery on all orders over £25 📦
🌎 We also ship worldwide! 🌍
£165.00
Limited to 1 per customer
A 1996 vintage and most recent bottling in the CONNOISSEURS CHOICE range from Gordon & MacPhail. Beautiful colour from a single refill sherry butt #16075 at 58.3%. Caol Ila 23 Year Old 1996 vintage Islay single malt Scotch whiskey. Single cask refill sherry butt #16075. Distilled 1996 & bottled 2020 by Gordon & MacPhail for the Connoisseurs Choice series. 519 bottles.
Caol Ila Distillery is famous for the stunning view from its still house windows looking out across the Sound of Islay and for the objects which have passed by including naval battleships, submarines and whales. Caol Ila was established in 1846 by Hector Henderson on a sheltered but rocky stretch of coast on north east Islay. Now the largest malt whiskey distillery on Islay it produces peated and some un-peated malt whisky with the distillery range including Caol Ila 12 year old and the Distiller’s Edition. Caol Ila participates in Feis Ile, the annual Islay Festival of Malt and Music.
Shop – Caol Ila 23 Year Old – £188.00
Save a massive £150 on the outstanding
Springbank 28 Year Old Loch Fyne Single Cask!
🚚 Free UK Delivery on all orders over £25 📦
🌎 We also ship worldwide! 🌍
New year drams, butties, chips and laughs
It was early new year, 2019 had no long disappeared into history, a new whisky year was with us. The food provided by my host (who had well disappeared) was good, it was a platter of “nibble food” to be taken as when needed and returned to. I was, I knew, in a bar. Wee sausages, cheese squares, odd bits of pie, for some reason salad, baby triangle sarnies and every now and then a plate of chips appeared. All liberally taken with various liquid refreshments. By 2am things were becoming a wee bit bleary, events unfolding in slow motion. Still standing (or flopped in some cases) were myself – just, Specky (he wore the strangest pair of goggles), Hamish one eye, Dagger (why he had a Skean Dhu nobody knew), Mary the Mouth, Billy the barman, Shameless Shona, the Crab (a fisherman), wee wonky Wilma and Danny the man. A group brought together by the drinks behind the bar, survivors until now.
There was a rumour of a party up the road, not for me, I was ready for bed, but a chat was goin on about who would go. As I dondered about looking for the boys room, I almost fell over Paddy the Piper, strewn along three seats half on half off, he had long given up. Out cold. As everyone knows, a piper gets free drinks when playing, Paddy played all bloody night! Returning from washin ma hands, the curled up triangle butties looked appealing, I bit into the now crusty salmon buttie with delight, one more dram and me fer bed. Smiling like the village eejit, I asked sober Billy for “a dram for the road”, I have known him a good few years, he said this was on the hoose and passed a wee Glencairn over. I think he had had a case of the hic cups when pouring it; it was almost to the brim. I looked at the dram, looked at Billy. He looked at the dram and looked at me. Both sets of eyebrows raised and I headed into it. Bootiful, a delicious 18 year old Glendronach, one of my favourites. It must have been an hour later some of this dram was still there, conversations had gone from football, politics, holidays, tourists to drinks. Many topics were joined and confused, we ended up almost arguing about a football playing politician who couldnee sing to save his life. By this time we had lost Danny the man and Mary the Mouth had fallen asleep, head on the bar. Shameless Shona was still trying it on with anyone awake, trying not to be conscious, I started slowly sliding from one end of the bar to the other, near to the door. My room was upstairs on the next floor, this was going to be difficult. Takin it slowly, I thought it better to go hands and knees, so as no to fall over. Getting to ma room was fine, but where was the key?
I woke up hours later with a mouth like a donkey’s hoof, needed some hot tea. As I was waiting on the kettle to boil I noticed a book on the bed – aye, I hadnee managed to sleep in the bed, just on it. Who had given me this? A book to love and read a hundred times “the fall of the house of Campbell”, someone last night knew me well. I spent most of what was left of the morning reading. Went doon for a bite to eat, then continued the book. A grand end to a grand evening in Speyside. More to follow. No animals were injured in the telling of this tale, a few humans maybe? PAUL MCLEAN/SEAN DALEY
#Glenmorangie
Glenmorangie forges a global conservation partnership to help save the giraffe
— Whisky recognises the serious threat its symbol faces in the wild —
12 March 2020 Glenmorangie has long celebrated the giraffe as a symbol of its distillery. With its extraordinary height, the animal perfectly illustrates the stature of the single malt whisky’s towering stills. Today, the Highland Distillery demonstrates its commitment to this endangered animal by forging a global conservation partnership to help safeguard its future.
Glenmorangie’s affinity with the giraffe begins with its towering copper stills in which it creates its lighter spirit, with more space for taste and aroma. The tallest in Scotland, these stills have necks the same height as an adult male giraffe. But although the giraffe’s silhouette is known and loved at Glenmorangie, as it is across the world, few are aware of the threat it faces in the wild. Numbers have fallen by 30% in 30 years, with some types of giraffe now critically endangered. With the giraffe’s decline going largely unnoticed, a BBC/PBS documentary on the work of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) and its partners, narrated by Sir David Attenborough has warned of a “silent extinction”.
In a concerted effort to aid the giraffe, Glenmorangie is pioneering a three-year partnership with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). This two-pronged approach will support efforts to protect giraffes in the wild in Africa and provide a habitat for the animal at Edinburgh Zoo, which will play a vital role in their conservation.
Under the partnership Glenmorangie will:
Thomas Moradpour, President and Chief Executive of The Glenmorangie Company, said: “For 175 years we have created whisky, in stills as high as an adult giraffe, the tallest in Scotland. Over time, this majestic animal has become a beloved symbol our brand. It seems only right that we should channel our passion for this animal into our new global conservation partnership with GCF and RZSS. Together, we will work to protect giraffes in the wild and shine a light on their predicament before it’s too late.”
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Glenmorangie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheGlenmorangie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glenmorangiecom
NOTES:
About Glenmorangie
Glenmorangie’s whisky makers use endless imagination and five key ingredients – wood, water, barley, yeast, and time – to dream up delicious single malt whiskies. Known as the Distillers of Tain, they’ve been honing their craft for more than 175 years. In Scotland’s tallest stills, whose necks are as high as a giraffe, they produce a light and fruity spirit, ripe for experimentation. Led by Director of Whisky Creation Dr Bill Lumsden, this crackerjack crew are on a mission to bring new flavours and possibilities to the world of single malt.
About the partnership:
Launched in January 2020, Glenmorangie’s partnership with RZSS and GCF will run until the end of 2022. By supporting the work of its partners, Glenmorangie will focus on the threatened Nubian (formerly known as Rothschild’s) giraffe. Once widespread across East Africa, just 3,000 of these giraffes survive in the wild, with more than 50% of these in Uganda. The largest population lives in the country’s Murchison Falls National Park. Glenmorangie’s support is twofold. It will:
About Glenmorangie’s stills:
Glenmorangie distils its Highland single malt whisky in its copper stills, the tallest in Scotland, which are around the same height as an adult male giraffe. These stills take Glenmorangie’s whisky on a longer excursion, resulting in a lighter spirit with more ‘space’ for taste and aroma. Glenmorangie’s giraffe symbol can be seen in many places around the Highland Distillery – eagle-eyed visitors may even spot it in a stained glass window in the majestic still house.
About the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is a wildlife conservation charity (SC004064) and owns Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park. Founded in 1909, the Society’s purpose is to connect people with nature and safeguard species from extinction. For further information about RZSS conservation projects in Scotland and around the world, please visit rzss.org.uk
RZSS Edinburgh Zoo and RZSS Highland Wildlife Park are members of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA). BIAZA represents its member collections and promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums.
About the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF)
GCF is the leading international charity dedicated to giraffe conservation and management in the wild.
It works with governments, universities, local communities, national and international conservation organisations and many other bodies, to develop and implement conservation strategies to save giraffes in Africa. The charity, based in Namibia, was founded in 2009 by Julian and Stephanie Fennessy, a husband and wife team. As co-director and co-founder, Julian co-ordinates the foundation’s giraffe conservation efforts. Julian is a leading expert in the field of giraffe conservation. He has 20 years’ experience in species and habitat ecology, conservation and land management across Africa, with a particular focus on the giraffe. In fact, his experience is so unique, that he co-chairs the Giraffe & Okapi Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Species Survival Commission. He holds a PhD in Biological Science from the University of Sydney, Australia, and is also a conservation advisor on giraffes for the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria. For more information visit www.giraffeconservation.org
This is the last of our stock, so get it while you can!
£79.95 + shipping
At the end of last year, the Milroys team went to Sweden to sample some of the delicious whiskies made by Mackmyra, and stumbled into a room full of 30 litre casks that had been seasoned carefully with a multitude of wines, beers and different oaks. After much deliberation, we decided that these three were our favourites.
