China raises a glass to single malt Scotch, a whisky that is now an investment

Make China's a single malt.

The supply of coveted single malt Scotch whisky can't keep up with the world's demand, and it is countries such as China that are driving a lot of that thirst.

The Hong Kong-based Platinum Whisky Investment Fund, which holds a collection of single malts valued at $5.65 million, saw a 26 percent increase in the value of its top-shelf stash over last year.

The fund, which premiered in 2014, has a portfolio of more than 7,500 bottles of single malts. With a minimum investment of $250,000, the fund has raised $9 million of a $10 million target from 37 private investors, mostly in Hong Kong with some in Taiwan.

"In the worst case, if we can't sell some of the whisky, then the 37 of us are going to have a damn good party," investor Ted Hodgkinson, a Hong Kong businessman, told Bloomberg.

And this week, Platinum announced it would pay its first dividend.

"We hope to announce the dividend in the next three months; we're looking at 5 to 10 percent," CEO Rickesh Kishnani told Bloomberg. "Our target return for our investors is 15 percent to 17 percent net per year."

According to the fund's prospectus, the price of investment-grade whisky rose 292 percent from 2008 to 2012. The Investment Grade Scotch Whisky Index, which follows auction prices, rose 14 percent last year, outperforming gold, which fell more than 10 percent, and the S&P 500, which was largely flat.

Global single malt exports jumped almost 160 percent between 2004 and 2014, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.

"Whisky production in (the) 1980s did not scale up enough to meet the current demand for aged single malt whiskies globally (particularly in Asia)," the prospectus says.

Asia now receives one-fifth of all Scotch exports, buying about 250 million bottles a year.

"In China, everybody is talking about it (single malt Scotch)," said Stephen Notman of the Whisky Corporation, a whisky investment firm with offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. "Nobody thought in a million years that there would be a market there for 30-, 40-year-old whisky."

"The Whisky Corp specialise in creating bespoke single malt whisky portfolios and exclusive private releases from Scotland's most famous distilleries," its website says. "We utilise the knowledge of the most respected authorities and were the first to identify the rapidly emerging and highly lucrative single malt investment market here in Hong Kong.

Interest in the smooth spirit in China is not new.

" … These new whisky drinkers — mostly affluent, self-made men — are shelling out big money for single malts, skipping the blended Scotches, which are typically a starter for new drinkers of this liquor in the West," The Wall Street Journal wrote in 2010.

Even with a slower economy the past year, China is not seeing a letup in demand for single malt.

The world's most expensive Scotch — a Macallan "M"— sold for more than $628,000 at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong in 2014.

The single malt, "contained within a beautifully designed and meticulously crafted crystal decanter … boasts a rich natural color, complexity and sumptuous intensity never before seen in a single malt. Every drop is laden with character absorbed from the sherry seasoned Spanish oak casks that nurture it through its maturation process, a Macallan press release said.

Macallan, based in Moray, Scotland, plans to open a second distillery by 2018. All Scotch whisky has to be aged for at least three years, a situation that keeps a bid under prices.

Kishnani's whisky fund also includes older Japanese whiskies, which also are soaring in value. "Silent stills," whiskies from shuttered distilleries, also are part of the fund's stock.

Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com