Creating your own portfolio of casks can be an incredibly rewarding journey both emotionally and financially. The fundamentals of whisky investment are robust and the asset provides an excellent hedge against rising inflation.

However, because the fundamentals are so strong this sector has attracted more than its fair share of "bad apples". Numerous cask trading companies are offering unrealistic returns of more than 15% per annum and using mis-leading statements to justify their statements. I often see casks on sale for up to 5 times their actual value.

Our advice is always to consider what a realistic price for a bottle of your Scotch would retail at when bottled and then deduct various costs for VAT, bottling, duty and sales commission to determine whether the quoted return is realistic.

What we can guarantee is that the price paid for any cask will be at a discount to the price quoted from the distillery directly and that you will benefit from a full advice service throughout your cask journey.