Dekanta’s Links To Scotch Whisky Cask Investments Raise Ugly Questions

The Scotch whisky cask financial investment sector has actually seen its reasonable share of considerable unfavorable press just recently, and not without factor. BBC investigative reporting and a story from the New york city Times, to name a few protection and cautions from market figures, have actually highlighted the number of companies marketing the healthy revenues to be collected from purchasing Scotch whisky casks depend on utilizing lies and false information to do company and entice brand-new customers while likewise concealing or misrepresenting the reality about the monetary dangers included.

More just recently, the collapse of UK-based Whisky Merchants Trading Ltd, a Scotch whisky cask investment firm linked with a web of companies worldwide generally running under the names of Braeburn Whisky or Cask 88, even more casts doubt about whether the public can securely buy Scotch whisky casks at all. Though Whisky Merchants Trading Ltd is now “in administration” – the U.K. variation of Chapter 11 – practically all Braeburn Whisky and Cask 88 entities are presently still in operation, although a number of them have actually laid off most personnel and/or have actually badly decreased trading activities. A minimum of a number of numerous financiers burned by the collapse of considerable parts of this cask financial investment network have actually been anxiously searching for and take ownership of their casks that were under Braeburn Whisky/Cask 88/WMT control.

This network of companies associated with Scotch whisky cask financial investment was established and managed by British nationwide Edward Davidson, while New Zealander Patrick Costello and Davidson’s other half, Chinese nationwide Ma Xianmei, are likewise frequently noted as investors or either hold or formerly held director positions throughout the companies along with a couple of other people.

Nevertheless, aside from cask financial investment, Davidson and Ma likewise each control half the shares of a Singapore-based Japanese whisky merchant, Dekanta Alcohol Trading International PTE Ltd. Ma is likewise a director of the business. Possibly due to the fact that of the concerns at Braeburn/Cask 88/WMT, Dekanta– among the biggest mail order Japanese whisky sellers – has actually now come under increased analysis.

Is Dekanta’s Director Who She States She Is?

Sources now recommend that Dekanta might not have actually been completely transparent in its interactions about its co-founder, a variety of its items, and its collaboration with a brand-new Japanese distillery.

In a post released in Asian whisky site 88 Bamboo, Dr. Andrew Lui asks the concern whether Ma, as a popular face of the business, has actually been regularly provided openly and to the broader whisky market as a ‘fictitious personality’ – Makiyo Masa, a Japanese whisky specialist with Japanese citizenship. (In a 2016 Spirits Service short article she includes herself in a referral to “we Japanese” and a Dekanta news release from 2017 describes her as a “Japanese business owner.”) Familial ties to Japanese whisky history have actually likewise been indicated. Nevertheless, Lui composes that the Dekanta director never ever has actually been talked to by Japanese media nor has the business ever hosted a Japanese media occasion. He likewise explains how her usage of standard Japanese expressions are “painfully stretched”, and noise as if they are spoken and pronounced by a native Mandarin speaker.

In an internal file I got composed in 2022 by Davidson to a senior executive who worked throughout the Braeburn/Cask 88/WMT business he validates her Chinese name as her legal one however describes her as “Makiyo”, explaining her as “part Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese a stunning mix that offers you a hangover often lol”.

Lui likewise describes her individual Instagram page where she utilizes the screen name “Maki Torii”, possibly suggesting a connection to the Torii household that established Yamazaki with the assistance of Japanese whisky leader Masataka Taketsuru (who, surprisingly, was passionately called ‘Masa’ by his Scottish other half, Rita Cowan).

Additionally, Lui likewise concerns her status as a whisky ‘specialist’– asserting in the short article that Ma remembered notes and scripts about the whiskies she was discussing and the broader whisky market before every media occasion she participated in. When I spoke with previous staff members associated with the Braeburn/Cask 88/WMT network of companies – all of whom asked for to stay confidential to prevent legal consequences or private reputational damage within the market – they validated this claim to me:

” They had a copywriter who would prepare all these scripts for Makiyo, so she might be wheeled out and provided as some sort of Japanese whisky specialist”, stated one.

Another stressed that she while she was exceptionally acquainted with Dekanta’s items and their margins (” she had an outstanding head for numbers” stated the previous worker), Ma regularly required an additional hand, though this did consist of aid with English:

” Perhaps if you asked her about whisky guidelines she ‘d require a little training … to be reasonable she required her hand held for a great deal of[interviews] Nevertheless, a great deal of it likewise was to support her with the English language as that was a prospective barrier to [consumer education].”

What Is Dekanta’s Relationship To Karuizawa?

Dekanta likewise has actually been slammed just recently over its interactions concerning the tradition of famous Japanese distillery Karuizawa, which stopped production in 2000. Amongst enthusiasts and collectors Karuizawa’s whisky is generally applauded and extremely looked for, with bottles of its whisky bring astronomic rates at auction.

Just recently, however, a brand-new Karuizawa Distillery, developed by a business called Karuizawa Whisky Co (not to be puzzled with the Komoro Distillery developed by a various unassociated business, Karuizawa Distillers Inc.) started producing spirit, declaring in a main news release that “after more than twenty years Japan’s many famous whisky distillery is back.” A partner in the job, Dekanta is assisting develop the distillery’s brand name with the strategy of ultimately using main distillery releases and independent bottlings.

It likewise is offering casks of its spirit, announcing happily on its site that “after 22 years of silence, the world-renowned Karuizawa Whisky has actually made a victorious return.”

Nevertheless, as explained by a range of specialists and market figures, these claims are merely incorrect.

” The brand-new distillery will be called Karuizawa, and its whisky will likewise be identified as such,” composed whisky author and author Dave Broom about the job when it was initially revealed in 2023. “Absolutely nothing has actually been reanimated, or restored, or resumed. However why let the reality obstruct of the story?”

The brand-new distillery’s building and production does include previous private Karuizawa distillery staffers, with production functions comparable to the initial distillery. Nevertheless, it’s definitely an entirely various center, based in a various (though close by) geographical place from the initial Karuizawa and, clearly, will ultimately produce a various whisky once it is bottled.

Dekanta appears to have actually made both the brand-new and old Karuizawa distilleries challenging to differentiate from each other on its site and marketing products. At the time of composing, on one page a block of text briefly explaining the initial Karuizawa’s history is right away followed by another mentioning that “as Karuizawa Whisky’s special worldwide partner, we [Dekanta] are enjoyed provide to you a very minimal quantity of casks readily available for personal ownership.” Yet, the business does not describe that the 2nd Karuizawa entity is an entirely various job. Another page marketing sales of Japanese whisky casks likewise appears to make little effort to differentiate these 2 extremely various Karuizawas to potential buyers.

As Broom describes: “The concern isn’t the opening of a brand-new distillery in Karuizawa– after all Komoro is currently up and running there. It depends on the name, and the simple manner in which this reality can be blurred so that individuals are led to think that this is the old location resuming.”

In a 2020 short article in The Scotsman, Ma (as Makiyo Masa) declared: “Our company believe we have a responsibility to our customers to be as transparent as possible.” While because interview she was particularly going over the concern of the Japanese whisky market mixing Scotch whisky into their items, it may be reasonable to conclude that Dekanta and Ma have not rather measured up to that broader pledge of openness when it concerns their deal with Karuizawa.

It’s particularly pertinent as Ma’s and Davidson’s Scotch whisky cask financial investment companies appeared to likewise depend on false information and unclear pledges to bring in financiers, who have actually now been deserted by these business and are needing to handle the resulting mess themselves. Whoever purchases Japanese whisky casks from Dekanta need to now hope a comparable fate does not befall them.