Over recent years whisky has proved to be a great collector’s item and has shown excellent returns, becoming a very good investment, rare whisky has become the best performing collectable asset of the past decade, showing even greater returns than gold, it is quite literally “liquid gold”!

But what makes a valuable whisky? 

Generally speaking, a Scottish single malt that has aged in the cask for more than 10 years before bottling is a good starting point. Whisky does not age once it has been bottled, so its time in the cask is paramount and the longer the period of time the better. The price increases dramatically the greater the age as there are far fewer examples available and they are more desirable. For example 18 and 25 year old whiskies then anything aged over 30 years can be very valuable. The most expensive cask of whisky sold at auction was an Ardbeg Islay single malt distilled in 1975, bought in 2022 by a private collector in Asia for £16 million! Japanese whisky has been increasing in popularity and some of the record breaking prices are from the Suntory Yamazaki distillery.

Many factors can affect the price of an aged whisky, not least of which is the distillery that produced it and whether it is still in existence today.  Demand far outstrips demand, when you consider that there are only a small number of distilleries operating in Scotland and Ireland (approximately 160) yet whisky is sold in over 180 markets worldwide.

Today, one of the best known and most expensive whiskies are those produced by the Speyside “The Macallan” distillery in North-East Scotland, and they have a reputation as one of the world’s leading single malt distilleries, but they are not the only good investment. Dalmore, Singleton, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet to name just a few have shown excellent returns.

It is not uncommon to find good, yet affordable, examples in wines & Spirits auctions and for budding collectors it is a great place to start. Whilst the collectable commemorative Bell’s “Bells” of yesteryear once adorned many a display cabinet shelf, today these are best avoided, and an aged single malt is definitely the place to start.

Here at Sheffield Auction Gallery we offer many great fine and rare examples, and even stand-alone auctions of single owner collections, so, get researching and browsing! Entries are invited for our December Auction.