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HEROIC BEAUT Y

SUPERYACHTSWHERE TO TAKE ANULTRA-LUXE CRUISE

WHITNEY WOLFE HERDBILLIONAIRE BUMBLE FOUNDER

ASTON MARTINRETURNS TO FORMULA ONE STATUS SPIRITS

THE $2 MILLIONWHISKEY & MORE

Maggie Rawlins

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STATUS SPIRITS Beyond single malt Scotch, rare Irish whiskey, cognac and armagnac are commanding ever-increasing prices

Text by NICOLAS STECHER

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The rarest Irish whiskey in existence is valued at around $2 million and includes a watch and fine cigars

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This beautiful level of whiskies play a hugely important role, because what they’re do-ing is bringing depth to the category, as well as intrigue and desirability. At this top level what you’re playing with is rarity and uniqueness,” posits Gordon & MacPhail’s Stephen Rankin from his home in Elgin, Scotland. “In the same way as limited edi-

tion Ferraris or Bugattis—why does one need to exist? You can’t drive it on the open road, it goes too fast. But like a car, the di�er-ence with this whisky, as opposed to coins or whatever other stock investment, is it is something you can experience, you can drink it.”

As Director of Prestige at the esteemed family-owned whisky label, it is literally Rankin’s job to guide the growth and release of their treasured casks. Founded in 1895 as an elevated shop for lux-ury goods, Gordon & MacPhail soon started buying whisky from nearby distilleries, casking it themselves in ex-sherry and bourbon American oak, and meticulously shepherding the aging process. They were the �rst to o�er single estate, or single malt, bottles, and even today still only sell whisky which they’ve completely aged themselves.

“It’s an incredible honor to work with such liquid. Imagine sit-ting on the shoulder of Leonardo DaVinci while he paints the Mona Lisa and then saying to people decades later, Oh I saw him

paint that!” he says. “It does feel that we’re o�en exploring very much uncharted waters with a lot of these releases, because no-body’s ever done something with this age before.”

While venerable maestros like Gordon & MacPhail, The Ma-callan, Bowmore and The Balvenie have pioneered the surging single malt Scotch craze, other categories are starting to see their values climb as well. Just across the North Channel from Scotland lies the country that is said to have invented whiskey sometime around the 14th century—Ireland—and interest in its rare gems like Knappogue Castle 1951 have seen “signi�cant growth over the past few years,” as Brand Director Jon Dubin tells us, “and I am very optimistic about the future of the category.” First made avail-able in 1998, Knappogue Castle sells a bottle of its treasured 1951 for about $2,000. “With the double-digit growth of Scotch single malts there’s a huge opportunity for the Irish whisky category to capture some of that market share,” says Dubin.

Taking a far more precious approach with its juice is the nascent Cra� Irish Whiskey Co., whose second release The Emerald Isle Collection snatches the crown as the oldest triple-distilled Irish whiskey in the world. Made in collaboration with celebrated Rus-sian jewelers Fabergé, all seven of its bespoke Experience Boxes will be sold exclusively via private auction. The dark walnut trea-sure chests come replete with a Celtic Fabergé egg, bespoke one-

of-a-kind Fabergé Altruist 18k rose-gold timepiece, a rough, uncut Zambian emerald presented on a gold guilloché-enameled claw-foot base, and a humidor with two rare Cohiba Siglo VI Gran Reserva cigars (and a gold-plated cigar cutter, naturally).

The muni�cent casks also boast a ¨ask, a gold-plated water pipette, obsidian stones and a carafe �lled with authentic Irish spring water. Oh, and two bottles of 30-year-old triple-distilled spirit which Cra� Irish Whiskey Co. claims to be “the rarest Irish whiskey in existence.” The �rst auction held in Texas in February started at $2 million.

Outside of whiskey, the categories experts look at to experience the most growth at this auction level are cognac and armagnac. The reason for this is twofold: Scarcity, as especially armagnac is mostly made by small, rustic producers; and aging, as both cognac and armagnac’s complexities only increase the older they stay in the barrel. Compare this to spirits like bourbon and rum which not only see huge angel’s share losses, but are spirits which many experts see peaking a�er 10-20 years of aging.

But even these French spirits have a ways to catch up—which also means either are a fantastic place to potentially start your investment portfolio. At a Whisky Auction event in February, a Domaine de la Vie cognac from 1777 sold for $56,000, making it amongst the most expensive cognacs in the world. But for a spirit that dates back to the American Revolution, nearly a quarter of a millennium ago, that price sounds, well, reasonable compared to some single malts. Other bottles in the sale included an 1802 vintage for $20,000 and a 1906 for $6,500.

“Over the past year luxury spirits have experienced unprecedent-ed demand, and cognac is no exception,” explains D’Ussé Cellar

““WE ALL LOVE THE IDEA OF DRINKING SOMETHING THAT HAS

WAITED LIFETIMES TO TOUCH OUR LIPS”

This page, top and middle: The Emerald Isle Collection Irish whiskey set includes a Fabergé watch and egg. Bottom and op-posite: D’Ussé cognac’s 1969 Anniversaire Limited-Edition is signed by the brand’s co-founder Jay-Z

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Master Michel Casavecchia, highlighting that not only is cognac the fastest growing spirit (sales up 62% from 2019 to 2020), but his D’Ussé label is the fastest growing in the category. Recently the brand, which belongs to the Château de Cognac house, released a 1969 Anniversaire Limited-Edition poured into a 12-cut crystal diamond decanter, replete with 24-karat gold foil and signed by D’Ussé co-founder Jay-Z. This “Bottle No. 1” was auctioned o� by Sotheby’s in March for $52,000.

Casavecchia believes lack of awareness is partly responsible for

cognac’s slower uptake, but that’s changing quickly. “We see single malts at auctions all the time—auctioning a �ne Scotch is nearly as common as �ne art or cars—so they have the reputation as a spirit high in value.” As a cra� product with extremely limited produc-tion, he notes that cognac makes up less than one percent of the world’s spirits by volume; it simply doesn’t have the same recogni-tion as other more mainstream options.

One young label looking to leverage the apparent undervalua-tion of armagnac is Bhakta 50. Their �rst expression is a thing of exquisite treasure, blending eight ultra-rare armagnac vintages—the oldest, from 1868, predates the incandescent light bulb. Even the youngest vintage, from 1970, is more than half a century in the making. A�er marrying and �nishing in Islay whisky casks, the ancient armagnac is decanted into a stylish Art Nouveau bottle. “The oldest spirits have always been and will likely always be the most valuable,” o�ers founder Raj Bhakta. “We all love the idea of drinking something that has waited lifetimes to touch our lips. When you get it right, there is no replacement for age.”

Bhakta believes in the soaring valuation of his super-aged ar-magnac so much that he’s launched a “Stockholder Program” sub-scription model. With only 125 openings, subscribers will receive two bottles from each of the thirty-eight 400-liter barrels Bhakta will release over 12 months. A prospectus for the Stockholder Pro-gram estimates a 20% annual price appreciation—a bold predic-tion that allows Bhakta to charge $1,000 more for the subscription

than you’d pay retail for each bottle. Of course Irish whiskey, cognac, armagnac, rum, bourbon and

others would all like to experience single malt Scotch’s generous returns. But there are key factors in whiskey’s �nancial resilience explains Andy Simpson, a market analyst and co-founder of Rare Whisky 101: Scarcity vs demand, desirability, quality and intrigue/passion being the most powerful. “The small volumes of collect-able bottles in the market, compared to wine as a good example, means acquiring ‘meaningful’ bottles is becoming harder every year,” Simpson notes. “Couple that with global increasing demand

“OVER THE PAST YEAR LUXURY SPIRITS HAVE EXPERIENCED UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND”

This page top, Gordon & MacPhail offers some of the rarest Scotch whiskey in the world. This page middle and bottom, and opposite: Bhakta 50 armagnac’s first expression blends eight ultra-rare vintages dating from 1868

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�nite, and I think yes, it will �nd its place over time.” So will comparable spirits from Ireland, France, America et al.

experience the same sort of fanatical devotion as their Scottish counterparts? Only time and the auctioneer’s gavel—will tell.

for rare/old bottles of Scotch and it’s almost a perfect-storm-asset-class.”

Having followed single malt Scotch prices for over 20 years, Simpson’s RW101 closely tracks the market with indexes like their Icon 1000, which calculates a 40% year-over-year valuation of high-ly collectible Scotch whiskies since it began keeping track in 2008. Meaning Bhakta’s ambitious 20% valuation is possible—but so far, factors like demand and desirability fall behind single malt Scotch.

“The di�erence is before in Scotch you only had the big boys do-ing these serious super-aged limited edition whiskeys. Now every distillery in Scotland are all launching 40 and 50-year-old whiskeys and charging some serious prices,” notes Sukhinder Singh, co-own-er and founder of The Whisky Exchange, a leading global retailer of �ne spirits, with an award-winning online shop and a ¨agship storefront in London’s Covent Garden. “And they’re all selling,” he continues, “which means the demand is there.”

Not simply a merchant, Singh has become one of the world’s most respected collectors by sourcing old and rare whiskies, since the late 1980s gathering what is considered one of the most im-portant private compendia of single malts anywhere. His vaults boast more than 10,000 bottles, with 2,000 of those earmarked for his “drinking collection.” As a collector, Singh strongly suggests if you can a�ord it buy two of your most coveted expressions: one to store, and one to pour.

“Honestly, superb question,” responds Singh when asked if spir-its like cognac and armagnac can experience a similar exponential growth to Scotch in the next ten to 15 years. “I think a lot of work still needs to be done, we need to keep pushing the message.” As a fan and collector of both cognac and armagnac, he relates the ex-perience of a friend who recently bottled a couple of cognac casks alongside signi�cantly more whisky. “He sold the whisky in two minutes, and he’s still struggling with the cognac,” Singh reveals. “So there’s still a bit of time to go, but I would also say liquid is

“AT THIS TOP LEVEL WHAT YOU’RE PLAYING WITHIS RARITY AND UNIQUENESS”

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This page: The Macallan, the number-one valued auction whisky in the world, recently unveiled the Anecdote of Ages Collection, featuring original artwork by famed pop collage artist Sir Peter Blake. Opposite: Bowmore’s rare limited edition whisky released incollaboration with Aston Martin appeals to both single malt Scotch and sports car enthusiasts

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