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SCMP Reporter

WHISKY COLLECTING IS growing in Asia, and many devotees are realising the potential value of the tipple from its popularity in Europe and elsewhere.

The popularity of whisky collecting can be gauged from the fact that a 60-year-old bottle of Macallan single-malt whisky was auctioned off for a whopping GBP15,000 (about HK$165,000) last September by auction house Christie's in London, the highest price ever bid for a bottle of whisky.

According to experts, if one intends to collect whisky, a good time to start may be now as whisky-makers are bringing in more vintage collections to Hong Kong and other parts of Asia to meet a growing demand, mainly because of a shift in consumers' tastes from cognac to whisky and fine wines.

Unlike wine collecting, which is popular and quite common, whisky collecting is a recent phenomenon, gaining popularity only in the early 1980s.

In 1995, Christie's held the first ever whisky auction, in London, to meet the rising demand of collectors. Before that, whisky had always been sold as part of the fine wine category at auctions.

Whisky auctions are also held in Glasgow, three times a year, by McTears Auctioneers, attended by collectors from all over the world.

The Guinness Book of Records  lists an Italian, Giuseppe Begnoni, as the top whisky collector in the world with over 6,000 bottles, the oldest made more than 150 years ago.

Scotland-based The Macallan Distillers, one of the world's largest whisky producers, introduced its 1961 Recreation vintage single-malt to Hong Kong last October at HK$17,400 a bottle.

David Robertson, master distiller at Macallan, was in Hong Kong last week to launch a limited edition Macallan 1951 vintage whisky.

According to Mr Robertson only 19 bottles are available for Hong Kong collectors and each is priced at HK$22,000.

Altogether only 632 bottles of the 1951 vintage were distilled for worldwide sale to collectors.

Mr Robertson said Asia, especially Hong Kong, Scandinavia and Germany were the growing markets for whisky consumption and collection.

Consumption had not only been growing in Asia but buyers were upgrading to better-quality whisky, he said. In Hong Kong, sales volume of Macallan whisky leapt 100 per cent last year, while the value of sales has tripled, indicating consumers are switching to more expensive bottles.

'Sales are excessive for 12-years-old, we have no stock to back up the growing demand, and we have to resend stocks month by month in small batches to avoid arbitrage in the market,' said Paul Ross, managing director for Asia-Pacific at Macallan.

An avid whisky collector himself, Mr Robertson has 40 bottles of single-malt whisky - obviously all Macallan.

The prices of some of the whisky collectibles like Macallan and Springbank have shot-up over a period of six years.

For example, a 1996 Private Eye by Macallan which first sold for GBP35 now sells for GBP300.

Another 50-year-old single-malt that cost GBP1,100 in 1996 was sold in 1999 for a whopping GBP9,350.

Turnover at whisky auctions averages GBP200,000 to GBP300,000, with about 700 bottles sold in each auction.

In the last five auctions in Glasgow, Macallan whisky made up 21 per cent of the total value and 15 per cent of the total number of bottles sold, followed by Springbank, which accounted for 5 per cent of the total bottles sold.

The value of a whisky lies in its taste, its brand name and, of course, its limited supply. Therefore, single-malt whisky - which is produced from one distillery - is more highly valued and collected because of its limited supply, whereas blended whisky - which makes up 95 per cent of the world market - is bought only for consumption.

According to experts, a good-quality whisky can be gauged through the colour, smell and feel in the mouth.

A darker colour indicates age and maturity. The smell is a window on to the intertwining characteristics within the whisky such as those of cereal, citrus, wood, fruits and toffee.

The mouth feel, or after taste, should be soft and smooth and it should linger and must not be too alcoholic, which normally indicates that it is immature, say experts.

Labels on whisky bottles clearly state their age, unlike other liquors like cognac which make them difficult for collection.

'Whisky is getting more popular because malt whisky as a category is growing all the time,' Mr Robertson said.

'More people are aware and switching from cognac to single-malt whisky also because people are not sure of the age of a cognac. As an industry we are clear on the communication on the labelling of bottles.'

The wide variation in the taste of whisky has also drawn more connoisseurs from cognac.

'There is a wider range of flavours in single-malt whisky,' Mr Robertson said.

'In Scotland, we have a number of geographical regions and each has a different style of production, and then each distillery, you have different flavour and within each flavour, you have different ages.'

Purchasing a vintage whisky can be done by calling up whisky merchants overseas and making bids over the phone. This may be helpful information to local buyers due to the limited stocks held in Asia.



New way to look at an old drink