Still Spirit, the retail arm of Aberdeenshire business Whisky Hammer, has opened a new warehouse after a £1 million investment.
The entrepreneurial brothers behind both enterprises, Daniel and Craig Milne, believe it will enhance the benefits of whisky cask ownership for investors around the world.
They say their new warehouse in Udny, near Ellon, boasts “industry-leading” technology.
This includes a bespoke storage system and management software which displays each cask’s history at a glance.
With capacity for more than 2,000 casks, the warehouse has been “carefully developed to allow Still Spirit to offer a full suite of cask services to private customers around the world”, a spokeswoman for Whisky Hammer/Still Spirit said.
These services include whisky casks acquisitions, storage, tastings, and re-racking, through to help with selling casks or bottling.
Still Spirit owns and verifies all casks available for sale, storing them in its warehouse, where strict HM Revenue and Customs’ guidelines are followed to ensure the proper ownership paperwork is delivered to the owner.
‘Milestone achievement’
Daniel Milne, managing director of Whisky Hammer and Still Spirit, said: “Craig and I are extremely proud to be able to open our cask warehouse in Aberdeenshire.
“This is a milestone achievement for us as it showcases our drive for further establishment in the whisky industry, with a notable focus on ‘doing it right’.
“With Still Spirit, we can offer whisky enthusiasts worldwide the chance to own and monitor their own casks with confidence.
Still Spirit’s catalogue features more than 1,000 casks from in excess of 80 distilleries.
These contain single malt, single grain and blended whiskies with a variety of vintages.
All casks are owned by the group, have been verified for quality and authenticity, and are monitored daily by the warehouse team.
Clients can manage their cask requirements via Still Spirit’s website.
This allows them to monitor their investments, or arrange visits to the warehouse and tastings as the whisky matures.
Business background
Whisky Hammer hosts monthly auctions of rare and often very expensive spirits to buyers around the globe.
It notched up a world record last year when a rare cask of Macallan single malt at one of its auctions sold for more than £915,000.
A rare Macallan whisky cask that was forgotten for 33 years at the distillery has sold for $1.3 million at auction—more than double the last auction record: https://t.co/aCEIK3nhon @WhiskyHammer pic.twitter.com/hNcHNAv5O7
— ForbesLife (@ForbesLife) April 26, 2022
The Milne brothers, born in Macduff, founded Whisky Hammer in 2016.
They opened their Still Spirit premises in Udny – a whisky shop, e-commerce site and dram bar offering more than 100 rare whiskies – in 2020.
A year later they sold a 49% stake in Whisky Hammer to a Hong Kong-based investor, Rare Whisky Holdings, in a multi-million-pound deal.
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