Premium spirits casks are stored in regulated bonded warehouses. In the UK, these are HMRC regulated facilities. Your cask will be kept in optimal conditions for spirits maturation. The cask will be monitored regularly by warehouse staff and can be re-gauged at any time for a small fee.

Lots of distilleries have tourist centres, therefore in most cases you will be able to visit the distillery housing your cask. Most HMRC bonded warehouses will allow you to actually see your cask, although a 200 year old cold, dark and damp warehouse in the Highlands is not everybody's idea of fun!

You don't have to. When you buy a cask through us, it includes at least 12 months of insurance at no extra cost (and in some cases, longer). After the free period, ongoing cover is £12 per cask, per year - and your cask remains fully insured through VCL from purchase until you sell or choose to store elsewhere.

Investment sizes range from £8,000 at the lower end all the way to £3,000,000. Typical trade sizes are around £30,000 - £50,000.

This varies by cask. We usually advise five to ten years, but it can be less or more depending on the cask's age and maturation profile, and other factors.

We will always listen to your instructions. We understand that circumstances change and you may need to sell earlier than planned. Please let us know and we will discuss the best strategies for your situation.

When you instruct us to sell, we will typically go through one of six routes: sell to another client via our intra-client brokering service, trade the cask on the open market to a spirits broker or collector, purchase the cask back ourselves, sell the cask through a third party auction house (Bonhams etc), bottle and release it to the retail market achieving maximum profit (an avenue normally reserved for rare and old casks), or explore other strategic options based on market conditions.

The simple answer is yes. There is strong demand for premium spirits casks and the secondary market is robust. However, we sincerely hope that, should the cask we recommended to you substantially increase in value, you will instruct us to realise those profits on your behalf. This allows us to benefit from the 5% commission on the profits as specified in our terms and conditions.

Of course. We hold regular events, both in London and Scotland, where clients old and new get to mix, meet with our management team, and experience premium spirits tasting classes. You can always meet us at our offices in the Shard, central London.

When investing your hard-earned cash, choosing the right company must be of paramount importance. With over 16 years of experience in premium spirits investment and over £150m of assets under management, we've built a reputation for transparency and expertise. We are members of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, members of Liv-Ex, and registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.