Cheers! Whisky a better investment than cars and art

RARE Scotch has become the top luxury investment -– above coins, watches, classic cars and even art.

Whisky surged in value by 23 per cent over the year to the end of June, according to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII), ahead of coins (12 per cent) and art (10 per cent).

In the past ten years, values of the top 100 bottles of the world’s most desirable Scotch have increased by 540 per cent, making it the top performing ‘investment of passion’.

Cars enjoyed 190 per cent growth, coins 193 per cent and art 146 per cent. Wine has increased in value by 142 per cent.

At the other end of the scale, furniture has fallen in value by 30 per cent in the past ten years. The incredible rise in the value of rare Scotch has been attributed to the growth in interest from ultra high-networth individuals, – particularly in China and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Andrew Shirley, editor of The Wealth Report and the KFLII, said: ‘Whisky surged straight to the top when we introduced it to the index at the end of 2018. Since then, market growth has moderated slightly, but prices still rose by 23 per cent during the 12 months to the end of June.’

On Thursday, a rare bottle of Macallan Fine & Rare 60-year-old 1926 whisky sold at Sotheby’s in London for £1.45 million.

It broke the sale record set last year when another Macallan 1926 – in a bottle handpainted by Irish artist Michael Dillon – was auctioned at Christie’s in London for £1.2 million.