Frequently Asked Questions
Strathcallan specialises is Scotch straight from the barrel. Whether you’re looking for a difficult-to-find expression or a cask from a unique distillery, Strathcallan helps you to match your desires with a distillery.
1.
Why can’t I get my cask directly from a distillery?
Generally speaking, distilleries don’t have the time or logistics to interact with private individuals seeking casks – they typically deal with large numbers of casks at a time. Strathcallan has relationships which allow us to access the casks which we can, in turn, offer to private individuals on a more personal scale. Some Scottish distilleries are less known than others – but we can help people find the hidden gems they might not have considered.
2.
What are the costs of cask ownership?
We aim to make this as transparent as possible. There are 3 main costs for cask owners.
The first is the most obvious: the cost of the cask itself. This is dependent on many factors, including the size and type of the cask, the volume and strength of the whisky inside and the prestige and rarity of the distillery that produced it.
There are maintenance costs over the cask’s lifetime. Simple cask storage and insurance is £90 per year after the first year of complimentary insurance expires. An independent appraiser annually checks cask values of client casks, ensuring that insurance is calculated appropriately.
If you would like to draw a sample from the cask, or order a re-gauge or a re-rack, these incur a small fee. If you choose to bottle the cask, then duty must be paid. Whisky in the cask is a duty-suspended product, and so tax must be paid at the time of bottling. This is calculated based on the strength of the alcohol being bottled. If you live overseas, you will pay duty and other locally appropriate fees at the destination country.
3.
What is re-gauging and re-racking?
Re-gauging is a vital part of the whisky maturation process.
Simply put, re-gauging is a medical check-up for the whisky and gives you accurate data on how many litres of whisky are in your cask, and what alcoholic strength the liquid is at. Alcohol levels naturally drop over time, and if the alcohol percentage drops below 40% ABV, then the product is no longer legally whisky. This is unlikely to be an issue until the whisky is past its 40th birthday, however.
Re-racking is an optional but popular part of the process, and allows cask owners to get more involved in the direction of their whisky’s maturation. Ordering a re-rack allows you to move the liquid from the current cask into a different cask. This might be to refresh its flavours, change its character, or experiment with something new.
There are many different cask types available – our team can advise you on how different casks can affect the whisky – though maturation is a complex enough process that nobody has the power of perfect prophecy yet!
4.
Is buying younger or older whisky better?
This depends entirely on what you are looking for, and we can ask the questions that will help us find out what kind of cask would best serve your needs.
Younger casks offer flexibility – they can be more affordable to start with, but with the promise of exceptional gains as they age. They are great for long-term planners. Furthermore, since younger whiskies may not yet have settled on their final identity, they offer more choice in terms of re-racking (see below) and bottling date.
Older casks offer more certainty – their prices are higher, but their immediate desirability is evident. The prestige and value of an older cask of whisky is second to none, and the rarity of older casks keeps interest high.
5.
Why is whisky a tax-free investment?
In short: ‘the angel’s share’, which is the process of whisky evaporating from the barrel. This accounts for approximately 2% loss of your whisky every year. For this reason, whisky is classed as a ‘wasting asset’, meaning the asset has a predictable life of 50 years or less. For this reason, whisky is not subject to capital gains tax.
6.
I don’t have space in my house for a cask!
Casks are huge, very heavy and difficult to manipulate – you definitely need specialist facilities to do so. Aside from that, Casks can ONLY be stored in HMRC bonded warehouses as the spirit inside is ‘duty suspended’ and therefore the government needs to keep a very close eye on it. Casks are normally held either on site at the distillery or an external bonded warehouse, and visits can be arranged at either location.