​Not-so-sober prices for rare single-malt Scotch

When it comes to investments, liquor may now be a quicker way to earn some money.

Single-malt Scotch is facing a worldwide shortage, thanks to rising demand from drinkers in both the U.S. and developing countries such as China. While that may cause some aficionados of the drink to cry into their cups, it has an upside for others: profits from extraordinary prices on some old bottles.

Take the Platinum Whisky Investment Fund, created almost two years ago to leverage what its managers believed would be rising prices for single-malt vintages. The fund is now about to pay its first dividend to its 37 investors, and its managers are predicting an annual target return of 17 percent.

"In the worst case, if we can't sell some of the whisky, then the 37 of us are going to have a damn good party," Ted Hodgkinson, one of the fund's investors, told Bloomberg News.

Whisky, though, has had a very good year. One metric, the Rare Whisky Apex 1000 index, found that the drink rose 14.4 percent in value last year. Considering the S&P 500 index slipped 2 percent in 2015, some of the stock investors could have used a dram or two of that Scotch to console them.

The underpinnings of the single-malt Scotch market have been years in the making, however. Distillers that make age-labeled whiskies have to guess what demand will be in future years, a difficult proposition. Scotch from the 1980s is also in scarce supply, which whisky specialist Rare Whisky 101 said is due to the "turbulent times" in the industry then, when some distilleries closed or cut back production.

The prices of some sought-after Scotches might make some investors turn to cheaper assets. The Platinum Whisky Investment Fund owns a 1937 Glenfiddich that's valued at $85,000. Its oldest bottle is a 1902 Highland Park from Scotland, with a $7,000 price tag, according to Bloomberg.

That's not to say that every bottle is going to knock your socks off, however. Rare Whisky 101 tracks bottles that have lost value, calling them the "negative indices." The Negative 1000 Index has lost 8.3 percent of its value during the past 12 months.

Distillers are ramping up production to meet demand, with CNNMoney reporting that Macallan said it's working around the clock. Brand manager Charlie Whitfield told the publication, "We just need to be patient and allow those casks to work their magic."