A lot can happen in two years – especially in the world of whisky. In 2021, Whisky Magazine investigated what was then the burgeoning industry of whisky cask investment. It was ‘the’ topic of great concern at the time, with many of whisky’s biggest names weighing in; the focus was on highlighting the whisky scams of the past, exposing the exaggerated claims of returns in sponsored social media posts, and reporting on claims of customers being overcharged for casks that will never reach the lofty financial heights promised. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Scotch whisky industry has continued to grow, with the value of Scotch whisky exports up 37 per cent by value to £6.2 billion in 2022. Figures like these will always catch the eye of those looking to make easy money – a practice that some whisky cask investment companies have been accused of. So, two years on, how have things progressed?
“The industry has just gotten bigger since then. So, they have more power. It’s going to be even harder to deal with them,” Martin Armstrong, director of Whisky Broker, laments. “Investment companies that were there in 2021 are still there, but now they’ve got more money because they’ve been selling for longer at inflated prices.” Witnessing the sector’s growth, new companies are regularly cropping
