Another key factor is the changing palates in the world’s biggest spirits market – China.
Though local baijiu liquor still makes up 98 per cent of the market, whisky sales are growing by double digits.
Euromonitor predicts that more than 23 billion litres of whisky will be sold in China by 2022.
Knight Frank’s Mr Shirley said: “What really kickstarted the value of rare whisky market is when wealthy Chinese people started to get really interested in that market and started collecting it. Some of these markets are quite small. There’s not millions of millions of rare bottles of whisky sold every year.
Mr Shirley added: “So once you get a new set of collectors coming into the market, that can really boost prices.”
Mr Ho, the whisky specialist, said: “When it comes to investment, you not only need to look at the value, you also need to be look at how easy it is for you to exit.
“The ease of exiting your investment is really proportional to how many people around the world are seeking that thing that you’re holding on to, that very physical asset in your hand. So the more people there are, not only will the price go up, but it’s also much easier to find a buyer.”
Other than supply and demand, reputation matters a lot too.
Mr Brown said: “The key things I look for are global demand and reputation. Do they know the distillery? And when you go to sell out bottle in 10 or 15 years, you want to make sure there’s a demand for that whisky.”
But as more investors enter the market, scouting out his next bottle of investment whisky is only going to get harder for Mr Tham.
“It is harder and harder to find value. Maybe five or six years ago, if I had the foresight, I would have bought more whisky for investment,” he said.
“But right now, as an asset class, it’s at an all-time high and it’s still going to go up, or could be on the high end of it.”
As with all investments, along with the rewards there are risks.
Still – if things go sour, there is always the option to liquidate your investment.
For all the latest business News Click Here
