McGregor's Proper No. 12 Settlement Signals the Risks and Rewards of Celebrity Spirits as Alternative Assets

Conor McGregor's Proper No. 12 Irish whiskey brand sold to Proximo Spirits in 2021 for a reported $600 million, making it one of the most lucrative celebrity spirits exits in history. This week, McGregor settled a lawsuit brought by former UFC training partner Artem Lobov, who claimed entitlement to 5% of that sale price — roughly $30 million. The terms of the settlement remain confidential, but McGregor couldn't resist a parting shot on social media, calling the dispute "done and dusted" while questioning Lobov's contributions to the brand. For investors tracking the celebrity spirits sector, the case offers a pointed reminder: where there are outsized returns, there are almost always outsized disputes over who created the value.

Why This Matters for Alternative Asset Investors

The Proper No. 12 story is instructive because it illustrates both the upside and the structural risks embedded in celebrity-backed spirits brands. McGregor launched the whiskey in 2018, and within its first year, the brand moved over 200,000 nine-litre cases in the United States alone, making it one of the fastest-growing Irish whiskey labels on record. By 2020, Proper No. 12 had captured an estimated 4% of the US Irish whiskey market, a category that has grown at a compound annual rate of approximately 10.6% over the past decade, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS). The $600 million exit represented a staggering multiple on initial investment, but Lobov's lawsuit exposed the murky provenance of the brand's founding — exactly the kind of due diligence gap that can erode value in alternative asset holdings.

Celebrity spirits brands have become a recognised asset class in their own right. George Clooney's Casamigos tequila sold to Diageo for $1 billion in 2017. Ryan Reynolds' Aviation Gin fetched an estimated $610 million from Diageo in 2020. These headline-grabbing exits attract capital, but they also obscure the failure rate. For every Casamigos, dozens of celebrity labels languish on shelves with negligible market share. The differentiator, consistently, is authentic brand equity and clean ownership structures — precisely what the Lobov dispute called into question.

  • Proper No. 12 exit valuation: $600 million (2021)
  • Irish whiskey category CAGR: ~10.6% over the past decade
  • US Irish whiskey market size: Estimated at $1.4 billion in annual sales
  • Celebrity spirits exits since 2017: Over $2.5 billion in combined deal value across Casamigos, Aviation, and Proper No. 12

The Broader Whiskey Investment Angle

While bottled brands carry significant execution and reputational risk — as the McGregor-Lobov dispute demonstrates — the underlying commodity tells a different story. Irish whiskey as a category requires a minimum of three years of cask maturation, creating a natural supply constraint that supports long-term price appreciation. Scotch whisky, which demands even longer ageing periods for premium expressions, has shown even more pronounced scarcity dynamics. The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index tracked rare whisky appreciating by 373% over the decade to 2023, outperforming classic cars, fine wine, and coloured diamonds. Cask whisky, in particular, benefits from the fact that liquid continues to mature and gain value while in the barrel, with older stock commanding exponential premiums at auction. A cask of well-provenance single malt from a respected Scottish distillery can appreciate 8–12% annually over a 10–15 year hold, without the headline risk of a disgruntled co-founder filing suit.

The McGregor settlement also highlights a fundamental distinction for investors: the difference between brand equity and liquid equity. Proper No. 12 was a blended Irish whiskey with no particular age statement and limited cask-level provenance. Its value was almost entirely derived from McGregor's celebrity, which made it vulnerable to exactly the kind of reputational and legal turbulence that followed. By contrast, cask-level whisky investments derive value from verifiable age, distillery reputation, and measurable scarcity — factors that are far less susceptible to the whims of social media feuds.

Investment Takeaway

McGregor's parting jibe may make for entertaining headlines, but the underlying lesson is serious. Celebrity spirits brands can generate extraordinary returns, yet they carry concentrated risk around personality, ownership disputes, and brand fragility. Investors seeking exposure to the whiskey sector's strong fundamentals — rising global demand, fixed supply constraints, and proven long-term appreciation — may find that cask-level investments offer a more defensible position. The liquid doesn't tweet, it doesn't sue, and it gets more valuable with every year it sits in the warehouse.

💼 Interested in alternative asset investment? Speak to the team at Whisky Cask Club — Singapore's leading whisky cask investment specialists.

💼 Interested in alternative asset investment? Speak to the team at Whisky Cask Club — Singapore's leading whisky cask investment specialists.

💼 Interested in alternative asset investment? Speak to the team at Whisky Cask Club — Singapore's leading whisky cask investment specialists.