High End Food, Wine and Whisky Thefts and Whisky Cask Scammers
It is not often that when reading my Saturday morning paper an article makes me raise an eyebrow. The majority of the articles are usually quite mundane, but this Saturday this headline caught my eye “How smoked salmon, artisan cheese, fine wine, and single malt Whisky are being stolen in vast quantities from the UK’s top producers by sophisticated gangs … to adorn the dinner tables of sanction-hit Russians”.
Much as I adore smoked salmon and a good slice of cheese, the Whisky caught my attention. The dram quoted was Johnny Cree, so needless to say I had to explore the Whisky, which I had not only never seen, heard of, or obviously tasted, so what do those Russians know that has passed me by? So as a consequence, I channeled my inner Hercule Poirot and needed to investigate what is the dram that is so desired by the Russians.
I have checked where I could buy it and found it for sale in Morrisons and Amazon. The price ranged from £30.00 to £35.00.
Johnny Cree Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky is produced by Bonnington Distillery, which is part of John Crabbie & Co. Ltd. It’s named after Johnny Cree, the grandson of Scottish whisky maker and entrepreneur, John Crabbie. This Single Malt Whisky is matured in a mixture of bourbon barrels (75%), virgin American oak (15%), and red wine casks (10%).
The article went on to suggest that there had been multiple thefts from supplies of various high-end products, and my understanding is that Glenturret, unfortunately, had a recent theft of some of their more expensive expressions.
On purchasing a bottle of Johnny Cree my findings were as follows:
(just to clarify, this bottle was only purchased in the interest of scientific research, and to see if I liked it).
Johnny Cree – Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 40% Alc/vol 70 cl
Colour…Vintage Golden Chandelier
Nose…Just walked past the open door of a florists shop, vanilla, a fruit cocktail, whiff of a slightly singed oak stave, very easy on the nose.
Taste…More wood, light spices, more fruit coming in apples and red berries with a light citrus burst, honey, feels young, creamy toffee, very nice and easy tasting dram.
Finish…Medium finish, wood, honey, and fruit linger longest.
A gentle dram at the £30.00 price this is a good buy for a Lowland single malt.
Russia is such a massive country and going forward I hope they further indulge their palates with their native Vodka and not try to acquire, via whatever means our precious Single Malts.
On the note of folks hustling within the Whisky industry, I also recently watched on TV, a documentary called “Hunting the Whisky Bandits” .
Over the recent years the idea of purchasing casks as an investment has become more and more popular – in some circles even trendy. There has been a boom in the volume of companies offering their services as Whisky cask brokers, but beware, as many of these are scammers.
This programme highlighted one company, Cask Whisky Ltd. which is now permanently closed. This company would sell casks that either did not exist or were owned by other people. The other thing they would do, if there was a cask, was sell it at a hugely inflated price so if the customer ever tried to sell the cask there is no way they would ever realise the value that this company projected as its future value.
The reality for many customers came to light when they either requested to sell the casks or requested a sample to see how their investment was evolving. In some instances, customers had tried to locate their so-called casks, but when approaching the warehouse they were advised it was housed in, they discovered either there was no such cask or someone else owned it.
The company had agreed to keep in touch with their customers giving them updates on the progression of their investment and had provided framed certificates of ownership, which in reality was all that the customers owned for their investment. Many people have been scammed out of thousands of pounds by these rogue companies.
Another scamming company was ”Vintage Whisky Casks” which apparently has scammed approx 150 Americans of their life savings and in some cases over $300,000.00, although it’s my understanding the American authorities were involved in apprehending some of the folks behind this company scam.
Perhaps it is time that the Whisky industry put measures in place to protect potential cask investors.
So, if anyone wants to make an investment in Whisky casks which can be very lucrative, please be careful. I have highlighted a couple of scamming companies but there are many more out there.
