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" These are trying times to be a whisky drinker\u2014but great ones to be an investor. Andy Simpson, founder of the single-malt-Scotch valuation firm Whisky Highland, offers his advice on how to grab a piece of the whisky bull market.  ESQUIRE: Why is now a good time to invest in whiskey? ANDY SIMPSON: We have a huge shortage of aged whiskey, and lots of people looking to collect it. In order to meet global demand, distillers haven&amp;#039;t been holding back stocks to age for later, so you&amp;#039;ve got a lack of older, rare whiskies being released onto the market. And older releases are constantly eroding, because collectors are always drinking them. There&amp;#039;s more and more global demand for the oldest and rarest vintages, all of which will continue to increase in value.  ESQ: What&amp;#039;s the best way to get started as a collector? AS: The simplest and most straightforward way is to be on the lookout for new limited-edition releases and scoop them up as soon as they come out. A lot of people do what I do, and buy two bottles: one to drink and one to hold. For the secondary market\u2014buying bottles from other collectors\u2014you&amp;#039;re dealing with auctions. Scotch Whisky Auctions is probably the best online auction site. In terms of traditional auction houses, Bonhams and Mulberry Bank are two to watch. You can find bottles in almost any price range at auction.  ESQ: How do you choose which whiskies to buy? AS: Always go for releases from well-respected, iconic distilleries. The Macallan is by a country mile the most attractive distillery for a collector right now. Limited editions and collectors&amp;#039; editions are another good place to start. For instance, The Balvenie released a limited edition called Tun 1401 in 2010 for 150 pounds per bottle, and it now sells for anything up to 2,000. Single-cask releases or very small releases are best; cask-strength bottlings tend to appreciate more in value. Vintages from the 1960s and 1970s are incredibly valuable, because there were so few single-malt bottles released at that time. Anything pre\u2013World War II will be tremendously valuable.  ESQ: Any bottles to avoid? AS: Don&amp;#039;t buy a bunch of standard 10-, 12-, or 15-year-old expressions and expect them to increase in value. Equally, some so-called &amp;quot;limited editions&amp;quot; are actually released in massive quantities, so they don&amp;#039;t tend to gain in value. Stick with anything less than 10,000 bottles, but the fewer the better. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/how-to/a27840/whiskey-investing/>