Whisky investment ‘as good as wine’, says FT

• Monday 17 October 2011

Bottles of whisky from long-demolished distilleries can be as solid as wine as an investment, the Financial Times says.
The recession of the 1980s led to the wholesale closure of whisky distilleries, with the result that there are bottles around today whose distilleries are long-gone, the newspaper reported in an article last week.

Whisky writer Peter Temple says that whisky bearing names such as Glen Albyn, Glen Mhor, Milburn or Port Ellen comes from distilleries ‘that you can be sure are no more’.

Port Ellen, for example, owned by the Distillers Company, closed for good in 1983, but produced whisky that ‘is reckoned to be among the best ever made on Islay.
Such bottles fetch in the hundreds of pounds, and as they can only get scarcer, represent far better investment than the ultra-rare bottlings from still-established distilleries that can fetch tens of thousands and more.

Dalmore distillery recently sold a 62-year-old bottle for £125,000, following its bottling of the 64-year-old Dalmore Trinitas, which became the world’s first six-figure whisky last year, with two bottles, out of only three made, selling for £100,000 each.

Cheaper – but still the price of a case of 2005 Chateau Lafite – is the 60-year-old Dalmore Eos, of which 20 bottles were produced at £15,000 each.

And weighing in at £13,000, the 70-year-old Glenlivet from Gordon & MacPhail was released earlier this year.

To make such bottles work as an investment would require serious outlay, but you can start much more modestly, Stephen McGinty, whisky specialist at McTear’s auction house in Glasgow told Decanter.com.

‘Whisky is made in much smaller quantities than wine. If you get a numbered bottle from a single cask, as bottles from that cask get opened and drunk, the remaining bottles go up in value. It is also much easier to store than wine.’

McGinty gave the example of a Brora rare malt, which on release in the 1980s sold for between £20 and £40.

‘We have just sold one for £1200. So if you buy low, and play the long game, you have a very good investment.’

World’s oldest whisky launched – at £10,000 a bottle

The world’s oldest single-malt whisky was launched at Edinburgh Castle on Thursday to the sound of bagpipes and accompanied by Highlander guards.
The Mortlach 70 Year Old – which will retail for £10,000 a bottle – was distilled on 15 October 1938 and then transferred to a first-fill Sherry hogshead before being bottled exactly 70 years later on 15 October 2008.

The whisky, part of Gordon & MacPhail’s Generations range, is presented in a teardrop-shaped crystal decanter with a silver stopper.

It sits on a silver base and is packaged in a Brazilian rosewood box. Only 54 full-size bottles, and an additional 162 20cl bottles are available.

The smaller bottles, packaged in exactly the same way, are priced at £2,500.

Gordon & MacPhail’s joint managing director Michael Urquhart, who described the launch as ‘a historic moment in the history of Scotch whisky’, said: ‘We believe that Mortlach 70 Year Old is a malt without comparison.

‘If the reaction of those lucky enough to enjoy a dram today is anything to go by, whisky fans and people wishing to own a unique piece of Scotland’s liquid history will be very excited about it.’

• Stuart Peskett’s tasting note

The most striking thing I found was its freshness, considering the whisky was put into barrel before World War II. The nose is fruity and smoky with a hint of burnt sugar, and the taste is powerful and peppery, but softened with notes of orange peel and apple crumble. Some older whiskies have an excess of oaky flavours, particularly those matured in first-fill casks, but the Mortlach 70 is rather sprightly, given its age.

New 70-year-old malt unveiled

A 70-year-old whisky costing more £13,000 has been released by distillers Gordon & MacPhail.

The Glenlivet 1940 70-year-old is one of the oldest whiskies bottled in the world, the company says.

The single malt is part of Gordon & MacPhail’s Generations series, which also includes five single cask bottlings of Glenlivet from 1954, 1963, 1974, 1980 and 1991.
The Glenlivet 70-year-old – 100 decanters of 70cl and 175 decanters of 20cl – are on the market for £13,000 and £3,200 respectively.

The whisky was launched earlier this month in Edinburgh Castle, the decanter carried into the Queen Anne Room by Fiona Urquhart (pictured), the fourth generation of the family which owns and runs Gordon & MacPhail.

David Urquhart, joint managing director, said, ‘This Glenlivet cask was laid down in 1940 by my grandfather, and there are casks of whisky which I am laying down today which I will not see bottled in my lifetime. So we are very much looking after the whisky for future generations.’

This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)

Return from whisky to Home Page

Bill & Sheila’s Wine & Whisky