UK Edition
Forget wine cellars: why 'whisky walls' are the newest trend in luxury interiors
In the high net worth world of investments of passion, whisky leaves all other collectibles in its wake. Knight Frank describe 2018 as “transformational” for this liquid gold, which saw a 40% lift in asset value, compared to 9% for wine. Other such objects of desire – classic cars, art, watches or jewellery – don’t even come close.
No longer merely a fusty drink sipped among the swirling cigar smoke of gentlemen’s clubs, it has found a following among a younger audience – and women.
“Whisky appeals to a mixed bag now. It’s a beautiful, interesting spirit and people have fallen in love with it,” says Sukhinder Singh, founder of The Whisky Exchange, whose West London offices house his collection of 12,000 bottles – though he only keeps a bottle, at most two, at home, for guests.
“People get tempted by a single cask that will run out, so they feel they have to buy it quickly,” he says of today’s whisky converts. “Before they know it, they have amassed a small collection of 200 or 300 bottles and are turning their entire living rooms into museums to whisky.”
The fundamentals of displaying whisky at home are actually quite simple. “It’s far less complex than managing a wine cellar. Whisky doesn’t age in the same way in the bottle so doesn’t require the same balance of temperature and humidity for long-term storage,” says Joe Rogers, a drinks writer and consultant.
“This is great news for showing off your whiskies as you don’t need to keep them locked away underground.”
Never store whisky in a wine rack; whisky needs to be kept upright (and placed on its side for just a few hours a year to wet the cork and maintain the seal).
Don’t store it too close to heat sources or windows. And although decanters are seeing a revival in popularity, says Rogers, “only use them for bottles you intend to finish in an evening. Over-exposure to oxygen will cause the whisky to lose its oomph.”
When it comes to the aesthetics of showing off a whisky collection, however, interior designers know no limits. “It should be enjoyable excess, like a stylised piece of room jewellery,” comments Martin Waller, founder of interior design company Andrew Martin.
Eglomise panels, moon gold leaf detailing and shagreen-textured leather all feature in the bespoke whisky cabinet designed by Charu Gandhi, founder of Elicyon, for a Belgravia-based client.
The foldable artisan doors open up “to present a complex tailored interior housing all the accoutrements for preparing the perfect whisky, including an expandable sliding tray, ultra-suede lined drawers and a deep timber mixing surface,” says Gandhi. “Preparing drinks at home is often an essential part of a person’s daily ritual. We delight in crafting a design story around this and bringing it to life,” she says.
In the £2.875m penthouse at South Quay Plaza in Canary Wharf, the bespoke whisky cabinet that consumes one wall vies for attention with panoramic views over London.
“We have used the property’s expansive wall space as a blank canvas. We wanted to create vertical interest that wasn’t just sculptural and artistic but also functional, so we took traditional objects and, instead of a cupboard, we placed them in a bookcase-like sculpture,” says its designer Dara Huang of Design Haus Liberty.
She describes how the whisky unit’s patinated brass surface oxidises to give the room “a chic industrial feel”.
And where once a whisky room went hand in hand with a cigar room, “now we see more mah jong or poker rooms alongside whisky rooms,” comments designer Martin Kemp, who has designed the whisky cabinet at Clarges Mayfair, where remaining apartments start at £4.25m through Knight Frank or Wetherell.
“We are frequently asked to design a bar as a centrepiece to a private entertainment suite – and whisky plays as important a part as wine, with an illuminated backdrop or colourful, dramatic features within these usually vast spaces,” says Kemp.
Modern decanters and new whiskies from countries such as Japan are arousing interest among younger “lifestylers and fashionistas” says Kemp. And there’s a retro chic to whisky that millennials love.
“1920s-style bar carts or Mad Men-style curved corner bars are now Instagram-worthy pieces to have in your home,” adds Robert Soning, founder of developers Londonewcastle.
But rare whisky is all about heritage and tradition. Particularly legendary is The Macallan 1926, for which one buyer recently paid £1m for one bottle. And even young drinkers like the old school elegance that comes with a weighty, crystal decanter.
“It’s a nod to decadence with a modern flourish,” says Maximilian J Riedel, CEO of Riedel, the luxury glassware and decanter specialists, of their new Punk Whisky set designed for the “new age whisky drinker”.
Martin Kemp agrees that nothing beats a cut glass decanter. “The quality of crystal, the feel, the sound it makes is unbeatable,” says Kemp, who has just acquired a L’Art de la Degustation set by Kacper Hamilton. “It suits the new whisky mindset,” he says.
If your whisky collection starts to take over your home, there is a solution. Miniatures.
“I see a lot of miniature collections, sometimes with up to 20,000 bottles,” says Sukhinder Singh. “Some – the sort I was selling in my shop years ago for £2 - can now sell for £3,000 each. And they are far easier to accommodate in a cabinet.”
Easier, perhaps – but when you are talking about the world’s most collectible object of desire, only sheer design decadence will do.
Sign up for the Telegraph Luxury newsletter for your weekly dose of exquisite taste and expert opinion.