Is Whisky a Good Investment? 5 Tips for Buying Whisky Casks

Saturday, 29 November 2025 at 12:01

Investing in a whisky cask can be a fascinating and rewarding way to build a little nest egg for later in life—or to bottle your very own whisky. But there’s quite a bit to consider. Here are our 5 tips for buying whisky in cask.

A trusted partner for buying your whisky cask

If you want to buy a whisky cask, it’s important to think carefully about where you’ll make the purchase. Some distilleries offer the option to buy a cask directly from the source.

For example, you can buy a cask for £5,000 (just under €6,000) from the Lochranza Distillery. You’ll be tied to the whisky they produce there and you’ll be purchasing new make spirit.

You can also choose to buy a whisky cask through a specialist company such as Cask 88, Mark Littler or Spiritfilled. With the latter, you’ll be guided from A to Z by passionate people who know their whisky.

Spiritfilled helps you select the right cask based on your preferences, explains the options, and outlines the risks and rewards. In other words, they take all the hassle out of buying your whisky cask (or new make spirit).

You always receive registration and proof of ownership

If you buy a whisky cask in Scotland, you won’t be taking it home with you. The spirit is stored in a warehouse in Scotland. With every cask purchase, you receive proof of ownership or a Warehouse Receipt.

This document includes, among other things, the following information:

The owner of the cask containing whisky or spirit (this should be your name)
The distillery the cask comes from
The cask number
The cask type The distillation date
The warehouse where the cask is stored
The number of liters
The alcohol strength at the time of storage

It’s absolutely essential that you receive this document. You’ll need it to prove the cask is genuinely yours. It’s also required when you want to bottle the whisky or sell the cask on to someone else.

With Spiritfilled, you always receive proof of ownership along with the invoice and the exact storage location of your cask. They go a step further too: you can check the real-time status of your cask via a handy online portal.

What’s the minimum investment for a whisky cask?

Once you decide to invest in a whisky cask or new make spirit, remember that the purchase price isn’t your only cost. There are additional considerations that may also involve expenses.

Whisky cask prices range from €1,000 to tens of thousands of euros, depending on the cask type, the distillery, the age of the whisky, and the rarity of the spirit.

Then there are storage fees. Sometimes these are included in the purchase price, but they can vary widely—up to several hundred pounds per year.

If you’re storing a cask, insurance is also a smart idea. You don’t want to be left empty-handed if something unforeseen happens to your investment. In some cases, this is included when you buy a cask.

Spiritfilled offers a complete package. You purchase a cask or new make and storage plus insurance are included for the coming years. In principle this covers three years, though other terms can be arranged.

Other costs

You may have noticed we haven’t mentioned VAT or excise duty yet. These costs don’t apply immediately when you buy a cask. As long as the cask remains in a bonded warehouse, such as Braeside Bond, you don’t pay excise duty or VAT.

As soon as the cask leaves bond, however, these charges apply. A cask leaves the excise warehouse when, for example, you decide to bottle it. The amount of excise depends on the spirit, and VAT is 20 percent of the value.

You’ll then have potential bottling costs. These depend on factors like the bottler, the bottle style you choose, and the label. Spiritfilled can advise and assist with this as well.

If you then want to bring your whisky to the Netherlands, there’s one more cost to factor in: import duties. These also depend on the whisky you’re importing.

Bonus tip: Remember that Scotch whisky may only be bottled in Scotland. Otherwise, it’s no longer Scotch.