Help and FAQs

FAQs - Storage

Can you prove my whisky is in the warehouse?

Yes. Our bonded warehouse operators send us cask lists evidencing what they hold in the warehouse for WhiskyInvestDirect. These lists detail the individual casks in our section of the bonded warehouses, and their whisky content.

Every month we publish these cask lists on the WhiskyInvestDirect website, and we also publish our custody lists - but with alias names which users can recognise for themselves while they remain completely useless and meaningless to everyone else.

You can see your own holding, check our totals, and cross check the custody list totals directly to the cask lists. All this is on the publicly accessible 'AUDIT' page. You can view it right now and can read details of the procedure.

What about evaporation of the whisky?

Barrel whisky evaporates at just under 2% per annum, which is known as the Angels' share. Evaporation is part of the maturation process.

Wholesale whisky is traded as Litres of Pure Alcohol (LPA) on an Original Fillings Basis (OFB). In combination they refer to the amount of spirit which went into the barrel at the outset (filling).

When you come to sell your whisky it doesn't matter how much has evaporated. You sell LPA on the OFB. It is up to the buyer to make an approximate calculation of how much actual spirit will be in the barrel by anticipating the total quantity shared out between 'the angels'.

Is my whisky insured?

Yes. And because of the excellent records and professional infrastructure of our warehouse operators, the whisky can be insured at extraordinarily low cost - far lower than you could ever get for whisky held in private custody. You get the benefit of this.

WhiskyInvestDirect is responsible for ensuring that the cover is at least equivalent to the value of all the whisky held on behalf of WhiskyInvestDirect Clients.

We are also entitled to receive documentary evidence of that cover, which we are allowed to publish on the WhiskyInvestDirect website for viewing by parties benefiting from the protection it provides.

If you are logged in the evidence of insurance is available for viewing.

The cost of this insurance is included in your annual custody charge of £0.208 per Litre of Pure Alcohol (LPA), or equivalent (subject to a £3 per month minimum).

Are the warehouse operators associated with WhiskyInvestDirect?

No. The bonded warehouse operators are service providers to WhiskyInvestDirect and WhiskyInvestDirect is their customer. The management and the capital of the businesses are entirely separate and independent of each other.

This is as it should be because it means we have no influence over the production of cask lists, against which we prove your whisky ownership.

As entirely independent companies, they obviously do not endorse the WhiskyInvestDirect way of buying and storing whisky, or in any way give WhiskyInvestDirect special treatment or services prejudicial to its other commercial customers, who also store whisky in their bonded warehouses.

But the warehouse operators do accept responsibility for the professional custodianship of the physical whisky casks described in its cask lists.

WhiskyInvestDirect and its users have a right to expect the bonded warehouses to perform their whisky custodian roles with due care and professionalism.

How does the whisky get to the warehouse after I buy?

Whisky purchased via the WhiskyInvestDirect order board was already in the warehouse when you bought it so no shipment of whisky is required to settle your purchase.

You can only offer your money to buy whisky when you have wired funds into the WhiskyInvestDirect client account. In the same way sellers on WhiskyInvestDirect are only allowed to offer whisky on the order board when it is already safely secured in the warehouse.