Our Story
It began in 2002 with a passion for single malt Scotch. In 2007 it became a new asset class. Today, Scotch Whisky Investments, a brand of Scotch Whisky International, is an AFM-licensed investment house with its own warehouses in Scotland and its own whisky label. It is the story of a pioneer who took whisky seriously, long before the market did.
A passion that became an asset class
Around the turn of the century, hardly anyone had heard of investing in whisky. Single malt Scotch has since grown into a mature, fully-fledged asset class.
In 2002, Michel Kappen left his job at Rabobank to follow his passion: single malt Scotch whisky. As The Whisky Talker he travelled the Netherlands with tastings and talks, with no idea yet that he was laying the groundwork for a new way of investing.
In the same period, Michel researched the price development of hundreds of whiskies bottled and sold between 1936 and 2007. Over those seventy years, single malt Scotch showed an average annual increase in value of 6.6%. On the strength of that insight, he launched his first investment products at the end of 2007.
Historical figures relate to the period stated. Past returns do not guarantee future results.
Pioneers of whisky investment
We take pride in having helped make whisky an investment product in its own right. We have now been active in this field for close to twenty years.
Our head office and whisky vault are in Sassenheim, centrally located in the Randstad and close to Schiphol. In Scotland we manage casks in our own bonded warehouses. We trade only in bottles and casks of rare single malt Scotch whisky, and our specialists oversee the entire process, from distillery to bottle. Your whisky is tangible property and remains yours. This is how we help serious investors diversify their portfolio with confidence.
Request the whitepaperCompany milestones
From passion to chain.
The start
Michel Kappen leaves Rabobank and becomes The Whisky Talker, travelling the Netherlands with tastings and talks on single malt Scotch.
The research
Michel maps the price development of hundreds of single malts. Over seventy years, the average annual increase in value turns out to be 6.6%.
The first investment products
The World Whisky Index goes live, the first trading platform of its kind worldwide. Investing in whisky becomes accessible to private investors for the first time.
Under AFM supervision
We receive a licence from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets and become the only provider of a regulated investment product in single malt Scotch whisky in the Netherlands. Whisky assets are then estimated at €18 million.
The Valentino Zagatti collection
Backed by a small group of Dutch investors, we acquire the world-famous Zagatti collection, including a bottle dating from 1843.
A museum of our own
The Zagatti collection finds a permanent home in a purpose-built museum in Sassenheim. Assets under management pass €47 million.
Asset management
We launch asset management in whisky: portfolios of bottles and casks, matured in Scotland.
Launch of MO ÒR
We launch MO ÒR, our own single malt Scotch brand. The name is Celtic for 'my gold'.
Scotch Whisky Investors Club
For larger investors we set up an exclusive club, with events, trips to Scotland and special investment opportunities. Assets under management pass €65 million.
Growth across the border
We open an office in Montenegro. Assets under management pass €100 million.
THE SWEX
The World Whisky Index, by now the largest investment platform for whisky, continues as THE SWEX. Assets under management pass €150 million.
Keeper of the Quaich
Michel Kappen is inducted into The Keepers of the Quaich, one of the highest honours in the Scotch whisky world, recognising his role in developing whisky as an investment product.
The Glenlivet 80 Years Generation
Together with Gordon & MacPhail we launch bottle number one of what was then the oldest bottled whisky in the world.
A footing of our own in Scotland
We found Scotch Whisky Investments Ltd. Sister company Scotch Whisky Warehousing takes over the bonded warehouse in Auchtermuchty.
Glenrothes
Scotch Whisky Warehousing opens new warehouses in Glenrothes, with cask storage, a bottling line and a bottle store, with room for more than 25,000 casks.
The Glenlivet 85 Years Generation
Again with Gordon & MacPhail follows the next chapter: an 85-year-old single malt.
One group, one chain
€327 million under management, offices in Sassenheim, Antwerp and Montenegro, our own warehouse in Scotland and our own whisky label. Investment, storage and brand are now in one hand.
Mastering the value
We protect the status and the value of rare whisky. Secure storage and strict quality control give distilleries and investors confidence in what they hold. Our strong buying position in Scotland means exceptional bottles and casks are often offered to us first.
Valentino Zagatti entrusted us with his life's work on one condition: that the collection would stay together as a permanent exhibition. It still does, in Sassenheim. That is also where we make our own blended malt, Don't Waste Whisky, made from what remains after our investors' whisky samples have been analysed, so that no drop goes to waste.
The group today
Investment, storage and our own brand under one roof, in the Netherlands and in Scotland.
Figures are indicative and stated as at 2026. Investing involves risk. Past returns do not guarantee future results.
More about us
Meet the group, the people and the way we work.
Curious what more than twenty years of experience means for your investment?
Speak with Jan-Willem Lokerman about our history, the way we work and what that means for you.
