Whiskies: RW101 also tracks the distilleries with the best investments

These are not bottles you would buy in the local off licence.

Whisky brokers, auction houses and distilleries are all good places to start when trying to build a whisky collection.

Distilleries often release exclusive bottles through their ‘fan-clubs’ or you can buy them direct.

Mr Simpson says the key is to look for iconic distilleries such as Macallan, which released 1,000 bottles in 2011 commemorating the royal marriage. These cost £150 each and now sell for £1,000.

He explains: ‘We come across collections of all shapes and sizes, however, our minimum transaction of £10,000 means these deals are usually more suited to more experienced collectors.'

You could outsource the selection process by investing in a fund where the manager will choose companies and bottles on your behalf.

There are no UK funds doing this so you would have to look to an offshore investment such as the Hong Kong-based Platinum Whisky Investment fund.

This would not be protected by the FSCS, but you could also put money into a fund investing more generally in drinks businesses, or buy shares direct.

For example funds such as Liontrust Special Situations and Newton UK Opportunities invest in drinks maker Diageo.

The connection between the performance of these funds, or even individual drinks companies, is a long way removed from how the whisky investing market moves, however.

How much will it cost to start a collection?

You will have the initial cost of buying the bottle, which can be anything from hundreds to thousands of pounds. So the more bottles you buy, the more it will cost to build your collection.

There are no other costs unless you want to pay a company for storage of a large collection.

Whisky only needs to be stored at a constant level at room temperature and kept upright avoiding contact between the cork and the spirit inside.

Mr Simpson says: ‘Most collectors will start with a small number of individual bottles and build from there. Many small collections are kept in an individuals home but when a professional collection becomes sizeable there are many storage companies who will take the hassle out of keeping the bottles.’

If you do keep a substantial collection of whisky at home, you will need to insure it.

Bottled-up: You could sell or buy whisky at specialists such as Hedonism in London

How do you sell up and much profit can you make? 

You can either sell your whisky through a broker, a specialist shop or at an auction.

The price you get depends on several factors such as the brand, the age of the whisky and where it came from.

Much of it is down to demand, how many bottles were made and the mood of the buyers.

For example, in 2010 Balvenie sold a batch of Tun 1401 bottles for £150 each, they now sell for around £1,800 at auction.

Mr Green says: 'There are now many magazines and blogs devoted to whisky and whisky collecting which offer statistics and advice. Whisky auctions provide another source of information.

'By studying the movement of prices over a period and talking to the specialists collectors can gain some idea of how their portfolio may perform if brought to market. It’s worth adding that auction houses are usually careful to stick to the facts and not to make specific investment recommendations – that has to be for the judgement of the collector.'

Mr Simpson warns that you have to be patient as whisky is a 10-20 year investment at least and research is key, he says: 'There’s also the real potential for serious losses, all the RW negative indices are moving further into the red almost monthly and some distilleries are currently experiencing a correction in values.'