Cask Investment

Located in the Outer Hebrides and on the edge of the vast Atlantic Ocean this will be the first legal whisky distillery on Barra and Scotland’s most westerly. Having been in production since 2017 the company’s highly rated gin releases have been extended to include vodka and a quite superb dark rum. The dream however of company founders Michael and Katie Morrison has been to see whisky distilled for the first time ever on Barra (legally that is!). That dream is about to become reality.

With the new distillery site acquired and planning consents now gained Barra distillers are moving forward to launch a very limited cask release comprising only 80 casks. The distillation and production of this release will be overseen by the iconic master blender Alan Winchester whose involvement in Scotch whisky production spans more than 50 years. Alan formerly held post as master blender for The Glenlivet prior to his retiring in 2018 and he is recognised as having delivered some of Scotland’s finest whiskies, a feat that ensured he was awarded ‘The Spirit of Speyside Lifetime Achievement Award’. He was described to me recently by the equally renowned master blender David Boyd of Aberlour A’Bunadh fame as

 

“ a walking encyclopaedia on scotch whisky and its production.”

 

 Buyers of Barra casks could not be in safer hands.

 

Distillery build will commence in September of this year thus ensuring protection of native bird life, insects and plants during breeding and growing seasons, a key focus for the distillery being seamless integration into the Barra community, it’s culture and traditions and with due deference to the needs of the people of Barra and its wildlife. Production fillings will commence in the first quarter of 2026.

This is an extremely rare opportunity to acquire a unique and extremely limited cask from what is destined to be one of Scotland’s finest distilleries

Email info@thescottishgantry.com for further details.

 

Whisky as you know is a commodity. Pre pandemic the FTSE traded at less than 1% over 12 months. The whisky index was at 12 % over 3 months. In certain sectors whisky has risen by over 550% in the last 10 years. Please note that investing in whisky asset value can also trade dwon year on year on year.Taking the Wolfcraig cask as an example the predicted growth per annum is 17%. This is net of cask purchase price, duty and bottling charges.

Liquid quantities vary based on cask used, e.g Sherry Butt at fill is around 500 litres, a Hogshead 220 -225 litres, Quarter Cask 45-50 litres and a Barrique 250 -300, Barrel 190 -200 litres. There are others but these are the market you see operated in most. Angels share varies depending on cask but is around 2% loss p.a.

Whisky when released following maturation is at cask strength and the older the whisky the more ABV will reduce over time. Cask purchasers can if desired water the whisky to not less than 40 % to increase bottle yield and reduce duty charges. The duty is worked out on ABV level. You pay £31.64 of spirit duty per litre of pure alcohol. So on a 1 litre bottle of whisky at 40% duty is 40% of £31.64 or £12.65. On a 70 cl bottle duty is £22.14 x 40 % equals £8.86. At 50% ABV duty is obviously more. 

If the whisky is bottled for export duty may not be charged and if not bottled then vat does not apply providing the cask is sold abroad. Remember though to call it Scotch it MUST be bottled on Scottish soil. So, if bottled here vat will apply.

We can assist buyers to resell their casks or to bottle them and we provide a route to market for bottle sales. We can also assist in partial cask ownership or cask share schemes and can manage a purchasers cask project.

If you would like to discuss any of these options, please contact info@thescottishgantry.com to get in touch.