02/08/2026
16 facts for 16 years of VCL.
VCL Vintners Limited was incorporated on 2 August 2010, company number 07332119.
Stuart Thom and Benjamin Lancaster have run VCL since 2010, alongside a team of eighteen. Since then: over 50 distilleries sourced from, 15,882 casks under management, and £151,250,000 in client spirits held in independent HMRC-licensed bonds, managed on behalf of investors, across 2,000+ investors worldwide.
Our average annual return from 2020 to 2025 was 13.13%, published in full on our site every year. And we're rated 4.9 out of 5 from 482 independently collected reviews.
Sixteen years took us from a small London merchant to the 24th floor of The Shard. In 2021, we sold a 1991 Macallan cask with its ownership represented by a smart contract, the first of its kind, and at the time the highest price ever paid for a cask at auction: $2.33 million.
We also put ownership on the blockchain with Proof 8, with every cask independently recorded by a third-party trustee.
We bottle as well as broker: One Cask at a Time for rare single casks, and Wilder Heart, our American blended whiskey, launching this year.
We fund whisky education through our partnership with the Drinks Trust, extended in 2026. And we've featured in 47 press pieces and counting, including Forbes, Barron's, City AM, The Scotsman, The Evening Standard, and Robb Report.
Sixteen years in, we're still sourcing, still storing, still selling on behalf of the people who trusted us first.
Thank you. Here's to the next sixteen.
