Whiskey Casks

Celtic Whiskey Cask Sales 

(Scroll Down to Buy your Cask)

At Celtic Whiskey, we have been buying casks of whiskey from different Irish distilleries dating back over a decade. Our initial adventures were buying casks from Cooley distillery and finishing them in wine casks supplied by a number of the wineries we import from. This is how our own brand of whiskey, Celtic Cask, was born in 2012. Since then we have released 29 Celtic Casks, 1 Dingle Celt and a Celtic Whiskey Shop anniversary bottling. In recent years, we have purchased casks from nearly all of the new distilleries in Ireland and these are slowly maturing for future single cask or small-batch releases.

In recent times, a number of distilleries and investment companies have been offering customers the opportunity to buy their own casks. At Celtic Whiskey, this is something that we have always wanted to do but decided to wait until we had an offering that matches our commitment to quality, customer service and value.

One of our most recent releases is Celtic Cask Fiche A Cuig, which is a heavily peated single malt from Great Northern Distillery in Dundalk. It was matured in a small (55 litre) sherry cask which was designed to speed up maturation. After three years, we were astounded by the quality and thought it merited being a Celtic Cask. Before tasting, we had no intention of bottling this expression until it was 10+ years old, but it was received exceptionally well by consumers and critics alike.

What this release highlighted was the quality of whiskey being produced by Great Northern Distillery. Our Managing Director, Alastair Alpine arranged a visit with the Head Distiller at Great Northern and tasted through samples of their new make and young maturing spirits. Again, the great quality was there, across the whole range. In particular, their Single Pot Still whiskey which will be a very exciting addition whenever they decide to release, especially the sherry matured stock.

Therefore, while Celtic Whiskey will also offer buyers the opportunity to purchase an array of casks from different distilleries whenever possible, we have established a significant relationship with Great Northern to offer their New Make spirit (It can’t be called Irish Whiskey until it’s 3 years old) beginning its life in a first fill bourbon cask.

Current Cask Selection Available (click each for a full description)

New Make Single Grain Cask Great Northern Distillery (Approx 200L)

New Make Double Distilled Single Malt Great Northern Distillery (Approx 200L)

New Make Triple Distilled Single Malt Cask Great Northern Distillery (Approx 200L)

New Make Triple Distilled Peated Single Malt Cask Great Northern Distillery (Approx 200L)

New Make Triple Distilled Single Pot Still Cask Great Northern Distillery (Approx 200L)

New Make Triple Distilled Single Malt Marsala Cask, Great Northern Distillery (Approx 225L)

Single Pot Still Marsala Cask- New Make Triple Distilled, Great Northern Distillery (Approx 225L)

Peated Single Malt Marsala Cask- New Make Triple Distilled, Great Northern Distillery (Approx 225L)

Cask Prices- New Make

Valuation warning!

If you buy a cask, it will be transferred to Staffords Bonded in County Wexford to mature. The annual storage fee would be €95 which would include a yearly 20cl sample so you can track the progress of your purchase. (A surcharge would be added for posting the sample outside of Ireland but this would be at cost price).

Every year, or as wine casks become available, we will do an offer where you can buy an alternative wine or spirit cask to transfer your whiskey into. The cost of transferring the spirit/whiskey to a different cask is currently €30 (This price is likely to go up with inflation) plus the cost of the new cask.

You can insure your cask for €25 per year which would cover fire and theft.

Why would you buy a cask?

The price of a new fill cask is relatively affordable and allows you to follow the journey of your individual cask. You also have the opportunity to mature your spirit/whiskey in your preferred cask type and get the finished product you desire. The cask can be purchased as a present for a newborn to mature until they are 18, 21, 25, 30, etc. It could be purchased between a group of friends, colleagues or to a society. A wedding or birthday gift? Maybe you are a whiskey aficionado and would like to create your own unique cask finish. Or maybe the current lack of interest for bank savings means you are looking at alternatives.

Angel’s Share

When your cask is filled it will have 200 litres of spirit at 68.5% for grain and 63% for single malt or single pot still. If bottled immediately you’d get around 285 bottles at cask strength. This would equate to around 390 bottles at 46% vol. It is estimated that your cask will lose around 3-4% to the angels in the first year and around 2% per year after. After 10 years, you might lose around 20%, therefore, you’d get around 228 bottles at cask strength or around 312 at 46% vol. After 20 years, you might lose 40%, therefore, you’d get around 171 bottles at cask strength or around 234 bottles at 46% vol.

Bottling your Cask

If you decide to bottle your cask there would be a €50 charge for disgorging or emptying the cask and €10 per case of 12 for bottling. You could buy your own bottles, corks, capsules & personalised

labels or we could provide for around €3.50 per bottle. Therefore, bottling 312 bottles would cost €50 disgorgement, €260 bottling plus €1092.00 if we supply all the dry goods.

Staffords Bonded is a working facility and doesn’t offer visits.

Final Costs

The costs that will make up the investment are; initial cask outlay, storage & insurance, bottling & dry goods, duty & vat.

Examples from Purchasing a New Make Cask

Total cost for a 10-year-old single grain aged full term in initial ca

If you didn’t want to pay the full duty/vat bill in one go, then we could store the bottled goods under bond and single casks could be removed at a time. Storage costs would be similar to your cask storage.

Selling your Cask

If you decide after a period of time that you want us to sell your cask, we could put it out to offers. At present market rates, the value of whiskey is increasing year on year as the spirit matures. However, as with any purchase, there are no guarantees that this will always be the same.

I would imagine that with anything there will be peaks and troughs depending on the state of the market and economy. I would guess that buying a cask and trying to sell within 3 years wouldn’t make much profit but I also think you wouldn’t lose anything either. Personally, if I was buying a cask and looking to sell it on I’d be looking to keep it 10+ years.

Ownership of the Cask

Once you purchase a cask, we will send you a certificate to confirm ownership and cask number. This cask of Whiskey will remain in Bond pending it’s bottling and/or release and is retained in the control of the Celtic Whiskey Shop Limited pending such bottling and/or release from Bond. The certified owner named above has acknowledged that in the event of such bottling and/or release from bond he/she will be solely responsible for the payment of the excise and other duties payable in respect thereof.

Annual invoices will be sent to the owner to cover yearly storage and insurance if applicable.

Terms and Conditions

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