When is the Best Time to Sell a Whisky Cask?

Like all investments, you should hold your whisky cask for the medium to long term. Buying a cask and then looking to sell it days, weeks, or months later is not a wise idea; you should be thinking in years. If you have held your cask for five or more years, then the quality of the whisky will have improved, and the market will have evolved. This may mean you can realise good returns when you sell.

While whisky can be bottled at any age, there are certain ages that brands and bottlers look for. Think of what you may have seen on the shelves of the supermarket; what ages do you often see? Key milestone birthdays include:

If your whisky cask hasn’t yet reached a milestone birthday, that isn’t a blocker to selling. It’s simply true that selling at a milestone birthday can be a particularly good time to sell.

As with any collectable, the more popular the name, the better the selling price. If you were lucky enough to buy a cask of Macallan a decade or two ago, you will now enjoy a brand name premium. Or, more recently, say you bought a cask of Bimber four years ago, again, you’ll benefit from their increased popularity.

When casks are first filled, the whisky is usually around 65%. As the cask ages, some of the whisky evaporates. This often means that the ABV will slowly decrease over time. It’s an entirely normal phenomenon and does not impact the quality of the whisky.

There is, however, one important consideration when it comes to vintage casks: the 40% mark. Whisky has to be a minimum of 40% ABV, otherwise, it cannot be bottled as a whisky. Very old whiskies (we’re talking 30 years plus) start creeping down towards that 40% mark. If your cask is 44% or lower, you may want to consider selling now. You don’t want it to drop to below 40%.

Written by Russell Spratley

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