Shot at investing in Whiskey

I fear that a lot of people would be drawn to invest in whiskey, because the can simply grab their investment, bottle it, and sell it / drink it, if things go wrong...

Those people need to ask themselves, did people who invested in forestry, think something similar - that the could simply sell Christmas trees, if their investment went wrong, or how about that apartment in Bulgaria, that would easily become the family holiday home, of it didn't rent or sell ?

Whiskey is a specialist asset class, and comes with its own challenges, and restrictions. Its not an asset that's easily sold on the stock market, without notice, if things go wrong. There's no guarantee that the producer will produce a good batch, that it'll be sold when you want to sell it etc. Will it be kept in a bonded warehouse, and if so, who pays the related fees? Do you know what's needed to get it released from a bonded warehouse, if things go wrong?

EIIS schemes help raise funds for businesses, with generous tax incentives, but what percentage of those schemes have given investors a positive return, to date? For those that argue that its too soon to judge, then go and take a look at the track record of the old BES scheme, the predecessor to the EIIS scheme.

If you've lots of money, and investments across several different asset classes already, then by all means have a little flutter on whiskey, but if you don't, then think long and hard (while not under the influence of a fine single malt ;))
 
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