The cask companion.

Published guides

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A more considered collection.

A cask is a maturing asset with its own measurements, warehouse location and chain of ownership. Start with the catalogue record, then review the costs and terms.

This guide describes cask-ayc-v1: free registration and browsing, then eligibility checks and a one-time £5 bidding qualification fee. There is no separate bidding deposit. Previously accepted lots and orders continue under their recorded policy versions.

1. Explore. Compare distilleries, cask types, alcohol strength, pure alcohol litres and measurement dates.
2. Qualify. Register through the secure identity provider, verify your email and complete qualification through the configured payment provider.
3. Set your maximum. A proxy bid lets the service bid only as needed up to your chosen maximum. Another bidder’s hidden maximum may already be higher.
4. Follow the result. The current leader is not guaranteed a sale. The auction must close and satisfy its reserve.
5. Confirm the result and sign. After a reserve-met close, review the result and confirmation in your account. Complete the purchase documents and requested identity and address checks.
6. Receive the invoice. The team issues the invoice after the contract and due diligence steps. Sending and receiving the confirmation email and invoice are recorded separately; creating an order does not establish invoice receipt.
7. Pay within seven calendar days from the next day. Once both the confirmation email and invoice have arrived, day one is the day after the later receipt date. Pay in full by bank transfer before the end of day seven, using London calendar boundaries. Your account shows the exact deadline.
8. Confirm cleared funds. The team independently checks receipt evidence. A submitted screenshot or successful transfer screen does not itself confirm that cleared funds have arrived.
9. Complete warehouse transfer. After full cleared payment, title documents and checks, the warehouse must accept the new owner and confirm transfer before handover is recorded. Storage, insurance, movement and bottling are arranged separately.

Cancellation and post-transfer description issues

The buyer cancellation period runs for 14 calendar days starting the day after auction close, using London calendar boundaries. A separate 14-day period after confirmed warehouse handover covers description, authenticity or provenance concerns and requests for a reviewed refund; it does not restart no-reason cancellation. Your order shows the two deadlines separately.

A pending cancellation or dispute holds seller settlement. An approved refund covers eligible funds actually received; a cask already transferred also requires warehouse evidence of reverse transfer. Reasonable later complaints and applicable statutory rights remain available.

From valuation to seller settlement.

1. Request a valuation. Provide the cask, distillery, warehouse, measurements and contact details. Declare ownership, authority and relevant relationships accurately. The team verifies title and provenance; requested evidence belongs in the private document workflow.
2. Agree the consignment and reserve. Agree the estimate, reserve, sampling or measurement arrangements and consignment documents. Acceptance moves the request into preparation and review; it does not mean the cask is already listed.
3. Review and publish. Check photographs, cask details, fees and dates before independent approval and publication. Follow progress and the final result from your account.
4. Review settlement after handover. Seller payment requires full cleared buyer funds, title documents, warehouse transfer, expiry of the applicable cancellation and post-transfer claim periods, and no unresolved case. The team then reviews payment as soon as reasonably practicable; there is no fixed two-business-day promise.

A cask that does not meet its reserve remains unsold. Contact the team about relisting or a separately agreed offer and new transaction. The original unsold result cannot simply be rewritten as a completed sale.

Request a cask valuation

Contact the team about a consignment or unsold cask

Know what the numbers mean.

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Storage, insurance, delivery and bottling are separate from the displayed bidding subtotal. Verify applicable ownership and warehouse charges with the team before committing.

Alcohol litres (LOA or RLA) measure pure alcohol, not total liquid volume. Bottle yield is an estimate. Volume and strength can change during maturation.

A little clarity.

Your bidding commitment.

Bids use GBP and specify a maximum hammer price. Published fees and applicable taxes are additional. The confirmation identifies the exact terms and fee policy versions for the lot.

The service checks account eligibility, the current lot version, increments, hidden proxy ordering, reserve and the authoritative auction schedule. A protective pause freezes remaining auction time; an independent review is required before bidding is restored.

An unknown result must be checked using its original request key. A new amount or revised lot version requires a fresh confirmation. Review the commercial terms and ownership documents supplied by the auction team before placing a bid. This guide explains the interface and does not replace those documents.

Your account and evidence.

The application uses an HttpOnly session cookie. It does not load advertising trackers, externally hosted fonts or third-party analytics. Pending bid recovery records are retained in this browser tab’s session storage and removed after a confirmed outcome.

Identity-provider and payment-provider pages operate under their own privacy notices. Use the private document workflow for requested evidence; do not paste banking or identity documents into public enquiry fields.

Contact the team for data correction, retention and account requests.