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and people ask who is buying all the Cohiba ;)

https://www.skynews.com.au/lifestyle/aussie-whiskey-tycoon-reveals-how-he-cashed-in-on-a-lifestyle-commodity-investors-say-is-like-liquid-gold/news-story/4632e301cf9d14f897b370576ae9cd4d

'More valuable than gold': Meet the entrepreneur selling an ultra rare whiskey for US$2 million a bottle

Each bottle is packaged in a handsome case reeking of luxury with a Faberge watch, a Faberge egg and two priceless Cuban cigars, writes Des Houghton.

Des HoughtonDes HoughtonSky News Australia Wine and Travel Editor

An Australian entrepreneur has helped spearhead a new “golden age of Irish whiskey” as investments in rare bottles and casks outstrip returns from property and even gold.

Scott Sciberras created the Whiskey & Wealth Club in London five years ago with his mate Jay Bradley to grab a share of the booming market in rare bottled and cask whiskey.

Sciberras launched an office in the Sydney CBD recently and last week hosted tastings of rare, single malts at One Sydney Harbour at Barangaroo for clients of prominent law firm Holding Redlich.

Jay Bradley and Scott Sciberras co-founded the Whiskey & Wealth Club in London five years ago. Picture: Supplied
Jay Bradley and Scott Sciberras co-founded the Whiskey & Wealth Club in London five years ago. Picture: Supplied

“As a commodity, Irish whiskey has been growing in double digits in the last 35 years,” said Sciberras, a former commodities trader who grew up at Bass Hill, 23km southwest of Sydney.

Whiskey & Wealth’s sister company - Craft Irish Whiskey Co - has won acclaim with the release of Devil’s Keep, a single malt that has scooped gold medals around the globe.

Sciberras said Whiskey & Wealth Club specialises in single malts, offering casks and rare bottles to investors from aged whiskies sourced from Ireland and Scotland and bourbon from the US.

Here is a good time to point out that whiskey in Ireland and America is spelt with an “e”, while Scotland and Australia spell whisky without the “e”.

Traders who jump borders often write “whisk(e)y”. 

Scotland and Ireland distillers previously traded whisk(e)y behind closed doors, Sciberras explained.

The Whiskey & Wealth Club has cashed in on the booming market in rare bottled and cask whiskey sourced from Ireland and Scotland. Picture: Supplied

“We have disrupted that,” he said.

“We kicked down the door.

“We set out to be the largest independent wholesalers of cask whiskey in the world. And we achieved that feat within the first year of trading.

“We created the fastest growing asset-backed alternative investment space in the world today.

“While whiskey is being matured in barrels, it is going up in value year on year on year.’’

Sciberras, 46, the son of a Maltese migrant father and an Australian mother, will open offices soon in San Francisco and Shanghai, and later in Dubai.

He is also busy preparing for his wedding to Hollywood actress and reality TV host, Marisa Saks.

Investors in what some traders describe as liquid gold see investments in casks and rare bottles as a hedge against the jittery financial markets and inflation.

Sciberras points to a Knight Frank Wealth Report index showing rare single malts proved a better investment in the last 10 years than property, coins, artworks, coloured diamonds, stamps and classic cars.

“When a client purchases a barrel of whiskey, he owns the wooden cask and the spirit inside,” he said.

“Every cask sits in a government-bonded facility, so it is secure. Every barrel is numbered and recorded and fully insured. The government wants its duty.”

Whiskey and Wealth sells casks of single malt from $3,500 to $8,000 each.

 “I generally sell it by the pallet, six 200L casks. It is easier to do it that way for storage and insurance purposes.’’

However, groups of friends often come together to buy a pallet or half a pallet.

The Whiskey & Wealth Club arranges tours to distilleries in Scotland and Ireland and the US where investors can inspect their casks and sip their liquid gold.

“They love getting selfies taken with their barrels,” Sciberras said.

The firm’s Devil’s Keep bottle launch was auspicious.

“It was judged the World’s Best Irish Single Malt in 2022 at the World Whiskies Awards in London at our first attempt.”

There were only 333 bottles made and it sold out in weeks.

Originally €10,000 ($16,664) a bottle, it now fetches €25,000 ($41,660) on the secondary market. 

There are heavenly illusions: The Angel’s Share is an Irish distillers’ term for the tiny amount of whiskey that evaporates each year, leaving what is known as the Devil’s Keep.

“There is an old wives tale in Ireland that the angels drink their share at night, and what the angels don’t drink, the devil keeps. Hence the name.”

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. Managing Director Ian Duignan standing in front of his company’s whiskey on display at an exclusive tasting event at Barangaroo in Sydney last week, including “The Devil’s Keep” and the “ultra rare” US$2m a bottle Emerald Isle set, packed with a Faberge watch, a Faberge egg and two priceless Cuban cigars. Image: Supplied

The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. Managing Director Ian Duignan standing in front of his company’s whiskey on display at an exclusive tasting event at Barangaroo in Sydney last week, including “The Devil’s Keep” and the “ultra rare” US$2m a bottle Emerald Isle set, packed with a Faberge watch, a Faberge egg and two priceless Cuban cigars. Image: Supplied

The Holding Redlich quaffers sampled the 2023 edition of Devil’s Keep and a single malt called The Don, which sells for €250 ($416) a bottle and will be distributed in Australia as part of a worldwide release.

The Don is unique in that it was barrelled for just six years but recognised by experts in a blind sample as being at least 18 years old due to its unique maturation process, which increases production costs tenfold.

Also on display was an “ultra rare” Emerald Isle set which sells for US$2 million ($2.97 million) a bottle.

Each bottle is packaged in a handsome case reeking of luxury with a Faberge watch, a Faberge egg and two priceless Cuban cigars resting in an inbuilt humidor.

Some might say an Emerald Isle gift box would make an excellent gift for the man who has everything.

 

Posted
23 hours ago, El Presidente said:

There are heavenly illusions: The Angel’s Share is an Irish distillers’ term for the tiny amount of whiskey that evaporates each year, leaving what is known as the Devil’s Keep.

“There is an old wives tale in Ireland that the angels drink their share at night, and what the angels don’t drink, the devil keeps. Hence the name.”

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