Flickr user lazysundae

Recession or no recession, there's always something worth investing in, and if you're not the rare coinage type, perhaps you'd like to sink your cash into something a little more...alcoholic? Whisky is apparently the investment of the moment, so put down that $117G wine bottle and grab some Johnnie Walker instead.

"Over the last 10 to 15 years, the demand for whisky has just increased," says Sukhinder Singh, director of The Whisky Exchange, on online whisky shop. "My feeling is that the risk in whisky is quite low." Auctions are opening up all over the world, with rare, old bottles from distilleries like Scotland's Macallan fetching huge numbers in America, Asia, and Russia, which has apparently forsaken vodka in exchange for the good stuff. A 64-year-old Macallan auctioned last year for charity went for a world-record price of $460,000.

For those seriously considering booze as a future, get a better idea of what's selling at the The World Whisky Index, the alcoholic stock market started by the founder of The Whisky Exchange. And recreational drinkers need not apply: plan to load up on 120-150 bottles before you're considered a serious player, and remember—you can't actually drink them. Don't stress too much, though—if your portfolio totally goes to shit, we hear whisky makes a great gift for the ladies.