Establishing Grand Cru Co in 2011, Andrew Rose has been sourcing and selling the finest bottles of Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne and also some of the rarest bottles of whisky from the great distilleries such as Macallan and Bowmore.

The casks can be held in bonded warehouses for as long as the client wishes, all the while knowing that the value of the cask will be maturing as nicely as the liquid gold inside the cask. Whilst some casks are perfect to hold and store for the medium/long term, others will be available and ready for bottling. This gives a great opportunity to release some of the equity in the cask, whilst also retaining some (remaining in under bond storage conditions). Plus it’s the perfect time to sample the greatness of a beautiful single malt whisky!

Demand has meant that some distilleries, that were closed in the late 20th Century, are now being opened again for production. These were known as the ‘silent’ distilleries, such as Brora and Port Ellen. They are no longer silent, and will soon be adding to the production of 1.3 billion bottles of whisky, being sold to 175 markets around the globe each year. Of course, not all these bottles are of collectable grade, but we can certainly help steer our clients towards those that are.

ALL distilleries will produce and keep an enormous volume of whisky. Some of this volume will be used/sold for blended bottlings (Johnnie Walker, Famous Grouse etc) and a vast majority will be used to be labelled under their distillery brand. Distilleries will also sell casks to raise funds as they would not be able to wait the initial period of maturing before a cask can be bottled and sold as a single malt whisky (3 years minimum, although that is extremely rare as most wait until at least 8 years to allow the character of the whisky to develop). It is as this point that we are able to use this opportunity to purchase casks from great distilleries. Just like wine is reliant on mother nature providing the vineyards with the best growing conditions over the season, whisky has the same reliance on the growing season for the barley, rye, corn and wheat. The best seasons produce the best quality (grapes and grains) and therefore will go onto producing the best wines and whiskies. We are able to highlight those great ‘vintages/years’. Any cask added to a collection can also be labelled as ‘single cask’ when its time for bottling. This makes each cask unique and more collectable.

It is reported that the value of these whiskies have increased between 12-20%, whist rare whisky was the top performing luxury investment of the past decade, growing by 40% in 2019 alone. Whilst these are exceptional numbers, it must be said that the 40% growth examples were the stand out, super rare bottles and casks, often from specific distilleries such as Macallan. What is guaranteed, though, is that whisky sold in the bottle will always be more expensive the older the it is. An example of this is Macallan 12YO, 18YO, 25YO, 30YO……at each stage of age increment the price increases significantly from £69 > £315 > £1900 > £4000 (prices are on the shelf, including duty and VAT).

We are also seeing more and more brand alliance between distilleries and luxury brand companies. These include Aston Martin/Bowmore, Bentley/Macallan, Glen Grant/Rolls Royce. This will only heighten demand for such whisky brands.