THE value of collectible Scotch whisky bottles sold in the UK surpassed £16 million in the first half of 2018, according to analysts at Rare Whisky 101. Ryan McCafferty, who joined whisky wholesaler Cask 88 in April last year, believes the Scotch market is expanding and thinks the retailer can expand further into the US and Australia over the next few years.

Name: Ryan McCafferty

Age: 31

Position: UK sales and operations director.

WHAT’S YOUR BUSINESS CALLED?

Cask 88

WHERE IS IT BASED?

Edinburgh

WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?

THE Cask 88 owners set up the business due to connections they built up over the years. They worked with art investors and collectors and realised the demand for whisky. They had connections in Scotland and saw a gap in the market.

I joined last April so eight months ago. At Edinburgh University I joined the Water of Life Society which was a student meetup. I learned my passion for whisky there. I found the Scotch Malt Society and worked there for five and a half years. I did tasting sessions for clients and members around the UK.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?

ONE of the strongest things we have is such a large selection of whisky, in particular Macallan which is a prestigious brand worldwide, but holds a particular weight in the Asian market. We can also offer people the opportunity to buy their own cask. Other companies to this but they don’t have the global reach we do. We have casks and bottles and help [our customers] to design labels. We also have different shapes of bottles. We do every element and can ship the bottles to anywhere in the world like Hong Kong and New York.

China, without a doubt, is bestselling for numbers and also the value. We sell casks in China for half a million. This is partly due to the Scottish element. Glenfiddich is the biggest selling Scotch single malt in the world but for us, and in Asia, is is Macallan. We have access to some of the biggest Macallan casks. Since the 1990s they have pretty much stopped selling single casks. We have a lot of casks right now that are head and shoulders above the rest.

WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?

OUR target market is very much people who buy high end and luxury products. They want to say they own casks of whisky and own bottles that no one else has. They may also own a cask or bottles from their own cask.

We have had a single cask of Macallan 1991 bottled for the luxury Peninsula Shanghai hotel. A lot of them are private investors who don’t shout about it and offer more than usual stocks and shares.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?

EVERY day is different. We have got such a variety of clients. Some want the biggest return in investment, others have distilleries and others have a wedding or occasion coming up and have a whisky they want to bottle.

There are so many elements to it. No day is boring. This makes the company exciting and fun to work for. We have got access to another 100 or so casks that are different.

WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?

WE have grown substantially even since I started.

We have grown our base in Scotland. The directors are all from Scotland but base themselves in the far east where the market is. We have grown the sales team and I can only see the business growing. We want to expand further into the US and Australia.

We want to grow sales in the Scotch whisky brand beyond the headlines. If you buy from us a single cask of whisky is owned by only you.

We have eight staff members. When I started there were only four of us so we have already doubled in size within the UK anyway. We are growing in the admin side of things. We moved into these premises in July

and we might need bigger premises already. It is important to emphasise the roots we are trying to establish further from a customer service point of view. We opened the premises on Castle Street to appeal to Far East clients with a tasting room.

We are developing partnerships in Edinburgh and plan a bespoke focus in Scotland. A big part is a further focus on Scotland to appeal to clients around the world.