This whisky lover in Singapore estimates he has around 1,000 bottles of whisky in his collection
Commodities trader Andrew Wong once paid an astronomical sum for a sip of Japanese whisky.

Andrew Wong’s journey into whisky collecting began around 2015. (Photo: Dillon Tan/CNA)
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To the uninitiated, the world of whisky collecting can seem daunting. There are prima and ultima collections, silent auctions, and even supernatural-sounding terms like angels’ shares and ghost distilleries. And unlike regular whisky drinkers, whisky connoisseurs typically enjoy their poison at cask strength, which refers to whiskies that have an alcohol by volume (ABV) of 50 per cent to 75 per cent, compared to bottled whiskies which have around 40 percent ABV.
“If you like coffee, [cask strength whisky] is like kopi gao. If you add a lot of water, it becomes kopi pok,” joked Andrew Wong, 43, a commodities trader and seasoned whisky collector. “If you’re not used to drinking coffee, and I give you a cup of kopi gao the first time, you will say, ‘this is awful’, right? But for people who drink a lot of coffee, they want kopi gao.”
For Wong and his circle of whisky buddies, whiskies with 40 per cent ABV are like “mouthwash”, used as a starter to get the palette going. Afterwards they move on to the heavier stuff for “proper flavours”. But beginners shouldn’t fret, he said. They can try diluting cask strength whiskies progressively until they find a sweet spot that works for them.
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

I’m in the basement of Wong’s home. It’s roughly divided into a seating area – anchored by a sofa and a home entertainment system – and a dining area, defined by an island counter with bar stools. Framed soccer jerseys are mounted on the wall. In one corner stands a drum set. In another, a simple bookshelf displays a selection of whiskies.
His most prized Scotches, which are usually tucked away behind a floor-to-ceiling cabinet, are sprawled across the island for our interview and photoshoot. It’s not quite the man cave you might imagine, rather a rec room where Wong entertains friends on the weekend, watching football, singing karaoke, and savouring rare whiskies.
The father of two estimates his collection to number around 1,000 bottles – “I’ve lost count!” – with the majority kept in a storage facility.
Wong’s journey into whisky collecting began around 2015, when he attended Whisky Live, organised by La Maison du Whisky, at Capella Singapore in Sentosa. There, he and his friends went from booth to booth sampling the wares. “We learned a lot, and then we started buying a lot of the regular core range,” he shared.
“I would have cases of 12-, 15- and 18-Year-Old whiskies, and every time we had our gatherings, we would try them and compare them side by side. How is the Macallan 18 versus the Yamazaki 18? How is the Lagavulin 16 versus the Talisker 16? We compared and contrasted every single whisky and learnt their notes.”

As their palates evolved, Wong and his friends developed a taste for higher proof whiskies, such as cask strength varieties, as they afforded more body and flavour. Eventually they began moving away from “core range” whiskies – which are commercial bottlings meant for the mass market, easily available at retail outlets – to independent bottlers, cask strength whiskies, and single cask whiskies. These are typically only available at specialist retailers or whisky fairs and tend to retain the unique profiles of the distilleries themselves.
Wong said that there is no right or wrong when it comes to whisky preferences but noted that there is a correct time and place. Standard or core range whiskies are perfectly acceptable for nights out on the town.
“If you go out clubbing or a KTV session, you don’t want to be sniffing [the whiskies] and trying to determine the aromas, flavours, body and finish. You just want to add some ice and enjoy your drink,” he said.
MAKING IT RAIN

And then came Wong’s first big purchase, The Macallan 50 Year Old, for which he paid six figures. In 2018, The Macallan invited him and other collectors from the region to a silent auction in Singapore. “I met friends from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan who came to Singapore just for the auction,” he shared. They were bidding for the 200 bottles of The Macallan 50 against collectors worldwide. In the end, Wong took home two bottles.
In 2021, he did “a crazy thing” by forking out almost S$8,000 (US$5,850) for a glass of Yamazaki 55 Year Old, when the Japanese distiller hosted a one-night only, four-hands whisky pairing dinner. At the time, a bottle of Yamazaki 55 – the oldest Japanese whisky in existence – had been known to command just over S$1 million at auction.
For Wong, that was money well spent. “To non-whisky fans, S$8,000 for a tiny half a glass isn’t worth it, but for whisky lovers and people in the whisky world, it is good value, because if you bought [a full bottle] at a million dollars, that amounts to S$40,000 for a glass. Having said that, S$8,000 for a dinner with a glass of whisky is still extravagant in the eyes of many people.”
To date, the most money that Wong ever shelled out for a single bottle of whisky is The Macallan 72 Year Old in Lalique, a commemorative edition enshrined in a Lalique crystal bottle. At the time it was the oldest whisky released by The Macallan, and created to celebrate the opening of the new distillery in Speyside.
In case you’re wondering, Wong does keep track of how much he has spent on his passion. What he doesn’t do is monitor their current value. Among investment-grade collectibles, rare whiskies are routinely cited among the best performing asset classes. The 2024 Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index showed that rare whisky grew by 280 per cent over a 10-year period.
Most recently, Wong spent some money at Changi Airport Group/Lotte Duty Free’s World of Wines and Spirits (WOWS) showcase, with the bulk of it going towards a bottle of Hibiki 40 Years Old. His other pickups were in the four-figure range. The cocktail event was held at the National Gallery, where guests were plied with generous servings of food.
“We had really good wine, champagne and the organisers surprised us collectors with quite a good selection [of whiskies], including the Bowmore 24 Years Old and the Bowmore 34 Years Old.” The market value for the former is between S$600 to S$700, while the latter retails for around S$7,000.
“Everyone was excited to try the Bowmore 34 Years Old, and we all were not disappointed. It was completely different in profile, very fruity on the nose, very delicate. So, we had a really good time. And I noticed that WOWS has started to offer a bigger selection of whiskies than in the past. So, there are more luxury items from different distilleries now on display.”
CRAVING THE NEXT RUSH

Despite being deep in the game, Wong is still chasing for new highs and crossing items off his bucket list. “I have a few favourite distilleries, like The Macallan, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Glendronach. Whenever they come up with a new bottling, there's always the urge to try it,” he said.
“You always want to try something rare, something high-end, before you die. If you’ve only been consuming The Macallan 12 or The Macallan 18 your entire life, maybe you want to tick The Macallan 30 off your bucket list.”
And while the general preconception is that whisky enthusiasts fall into two camps – those who fancy sweeter varieties and those who swear by peated varieties; never the twain shall meet – Wong professes a liking for all types. “I like the smoky ones, I like the sweet, sherry ones, I like the fruity ones.”
He and his fellow aficionados don’t discriminate by labels either. “We are still buying all kinds of bottles. We are still experimenting and trying different distilleries as well.”
Therein lies another reason why he collects: The camaraderie associated with being part of a whisky tribe. What convinced him to collect whisky is the drink’s potential to share happy memories and celebratory moments – over a lengthy span of time.
“Let’s say you have a bottle of The Macallan 30 Year Old and you put it on your shelf. Every time your friends come over, they eye it and ask when you’re going to open it. When the time comes and you have a celebration and you open it, you share that bottle with your friends, right?
“Then you can [store it and] re-open it for Christmas, Chinese New Year, your birthday or your anniversary. And you can continue having different friends over, sharing that same bottle. By the time you’re done with a bottle, two years might have passed, and it would have shared all the great moments and celebrations that you wanted to have.”
This, he maintains, is whisky’s advantage over wine, which is ideally consumed within a single sitting. And with their increasingly elaborate packaging, whiskies also make talking points or nice displays on shelves. Wines, on the other hand, need to be stored in chillers or wine rooms, which limits their display potential.
“The act of opening a bottle itself brings a lot of excitement,” Wong added. “Typically, you want to do it in the presence of your friends, because it signifies something special. It’s like when you pop a bottle of champagne, you want to have company.”