Scotch Whisky Investors Club
Portfolio management combined with exclusive access, relationships and member experiences.
At Scotch Whisky Investments, investors from €250,000 join the Scotch Whisky Investors Club, the membership tier above Asset Management. Combined with a hospitality programme of exclusive events and access to a network of more than 400 other investors, many of them business owners and entrepreneurs.
The membership concept
The Club brings together everything in Asset Management and adds access: to exceptional whisky, private opportunities, events, tastings and a network of other investors. You invest in the same managed portfolio of casks and rare bottles, held in your own name. We take care of everything: from a selection with the right spread of risk to bonded storage, insurance, cask management and valuation. On top of that comes the club: a dedicated member programme, investment opportunities offered to members first, and access to people and places that are otherwise closed.
Private, but still financial
The experience is exclusive, the discipline is not different: research-led construction, active management, reporting and planned exits. Membership suits investors who want their network and their experience of whisky enriched alongside the assets, with a horizon of at least five years.
A portfolio you can see, in the company of the people who own the rest of it.
How it works
Four parts: a relationship, a managed portfolio, access and experience.
Membership
A private, relationship-led proposition with one adviser who stays with you.
Portfolio
Managed casks and rare bottles in your own name, with a standard weighting of roughly 80% casks and 20% bottles that can change and is reviewed over time.
Access
Exceptional whisky and private opportunities, offered to members first.
Experience
Events, hosted journeys through Scotland, tastings and the network around them.
Everything managed, plus the club
Portfolio management is identical to Asset Management: we take the decisions and agree the composition with you in advance; we select, store, insure and monitor. What membership adds is access. Investment opportunities are offered to members first, and a dedicated programme of events, journeys and tastings runs alongside the portfolio throughout the year.
Request an invitation→
Meet investors like you
Our small-scale events put you in the room with other investors and with the people who run our organisation. These evenings regularly lead to new contacts and investor relationships.
Request an invitation→Discover the land whisky comes from
Alongside the events we organise exclusive, fully hosted journeys to the country where whisky began. Bring your family or friends and travel through Islay, Speyside and the Highlands, now a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status. Hiking, tastings or a visit to the distillery behind your favourite dram, it can all be arranged.
Request an invitation→Two private whisky rooms in Antwerp and Amsterdam, for the rarest Scotch whisky
We have created The Unprecedented twice: in the Botanic Sanctuary in Antwerp, next to our office, and in the Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam. Members come to either room to taste the rarest Scotch single malts in a serene setting: whiskies so old or so scarce that they are no longer available anywhere in the world, let alone poured. Access is by invitation, or through membership of the Club.
Request a visit→What it costs, in full
One annual fee from the start, a performance fee only above the agreed bar, and no separate charge for the member programme.
| Investors Club | |
|---|---|
| The essentials | |
| Ownership | Legal and beneficial, in your nameCasks and bottles are bought and held for your account. In a bankruptcy of SWI they do not form part of the estate. |
| Term | Indefinite, minimum of five yearsA lock-up period of five years applies. During that period the selling phase cannot be started and bottles cannot be called in. |
| Reporting | Valuation and report at least twice a year |
| Selection | Composed by us, matched to your profile |
| Guarantees | Quantity and quality guarantee on whisky in caskA guaranteed number of 700 ml bottles at bottling, and the guarantee that quality scores at least 85 points on the industry scale. |
| Member programme | Included: events, journeys and The UnprecedentedJourneys are fully hosted. Travel to and from Scotland and any personal spending are for your own account. |
| One-off costs | |
| Entry costs | 0%For casks, all future costs are already included in the purchase price: storage, insurance, quality monitoring, bottling, excise duty and VAT, allocated over the remaining term of the cask. |
| Bottling, bottle and packaging | Carried by SWIGlass and design, packaging, labelling and the bottling itself are for our account, for the guaranteed number of bottles. |
| Ongoing costs | |
| Annual management fee | 0.85% of the purchase valueManagement and storage, charged annually from the effective date of the agreement. |
| Insurance premium | 0.25% of the market valueCharged annually on the market value established at the most recent valuation. |
| Portfolio transaction costs | 0% |
| Costs at exit | |
| At the end of the term | 2.5% of the proceeds |
| Conditional costs | |
| Performance fee | 20% above the barThe performance bar sits between 5% and 10% per year depending on the amount invested. With an 8% bar and a 12% return, the fee is charged only on the 4% surplus. |
| Taking bottles out of bond | At your own expenseVAT, excise duty, import duty, transport and transport insurance apply the moment whisky leaves the bonded warehouse. |
Future bottles cannot be called in physically. The full terms are set out in the prospectus and the key information document.
Key Information Document (pdf)
What you ultimately receive
A cask in your portfolio stands for a fixed number of future bottles. At bottling you are guaranteed that number of 70 cl bottles, even if evaporation has taken more volume than expected, at a quality that scores at least ‘good’ on the industry scale. So from the start you know what your investment in cask will ultimately yield in bottles.
Scenarios for an investment of €250,000
The four scenarios from the key information document, based on transaction data from 2018 to 2025 and scaled to the club entry level.
| Scenario | After 1 year | After 5 years | After 10 years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stress -4.00% growth | €240,000 -4.00% per year | €203,843 -4.00% per year | €166,208 -4.00% per year | |
| Unfavourable -3.60% growth | €241,000 -3.60% per year | €208,125 -3.60% per year | €173,265 -3.60% per year | |
| Moderate 6.60% growth | €266,500 6.60% per year | €344,133 6.60% per year | €473,710 6.60% per year | |
| Favourable 15.30% growth | €281,725 12.69% per year | €465,178 13.22% per year | €903,648 13.71% per year |
Figures include all costs of the product itself, but not any costs you pay your own adviser, and take no account of your tax position. The stress scenario shows extreme market conditions and does not account for a portfolio that cannot be sold. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Fully informed, before anything is signed
Management spreads exposure, it does not remove the risks of the asset class.
Risk class 6 of 7
The AFM classifies this product in risk class 6 of 7.
Value can fall
Including below the amount invested. You can lose part or all of your investment, and no return is guaranteed.
Limited tradability
There is no active regulated market. It can take a long time before a buyer appears, and longer for larger portfolios.
Long horizon
Value and return depend heavily on the holding period.
A natural product
Whisky in cask loses volume to evaporation and maturation can disappoint. Our quantity and quality guarantees cover this in kind.
We advise investing only freely investable capital, with a horizon beyond ten years, and no more than 10% of that capital in whisky. This page is general information, not financial advice. Read the prospectus and the key information document before making an investment decision.
Key Information Document (pdf)Interested in the Investors Club? Discuss the conditions with an adviser, or read the whitepaper first.
Continue with investment options
The other ways to hold Scotch whisky, and how the process works in practice.
Curious about the Investors Club?
Speak with Sidney Shoshan about the events, the trips to Scotland and the conditions.
