Nah, if it’s a hogsheads then filled at 225 litres , angels get greedy , so even conservatively that’s 180 l in the cask , again let’s be conservative and say it’s at 60%abv ( depends on fill, if it went in at 63.5 , this numbers might be 150 l @ 55% abv) so that’s a duty cost of 2700 ( 2062.5 for the 150l example) , it’s still a whoosh of cash, but it isn’t 10 grand
if he has a Sherry butt with a 600l fill, then a that’s a hell of a gift , and b fins a whisky shop to go halfers with and have them (effectively ) pay for the lot for an exclusive bottling and get 50 odd bottles effectively buckshee, what can go wrong there and 50 bottles is a LOT of Grog !