Auction Update: 20 Highest Single Bottle Hammer Prices for September

September 2025 will go down in history as the month in which an 18 year old bourbon beat an 81 year old scotch as the highest hammer price of the month. Sotheby’s, New York sold the Very Very Old Fitzgerald 1950 18 year old Blackhawk for $85,000, setting a new record hammer price for this rarity, and putting a Kentucky bourbon at the top of September’s list. It’s the second-highest auction price for a single bottle of American whiskey in 2025, only pipped by the $100,000 hammer price achieved by the Old Rip Van Winkle “Van Winkle Selection” at Sotheby’s, New York in March. Macallan may have missed the top spot this month, but its 11 appearances on the list in September extend its lead at the top of the table. As the secondary market gears up for a packed fall season, the combined value of September’s 20-highest hammer prices hit $836,784, outperforming the September 2024 results by 21%.

Sales of Samaroli Laphroaig 1967 15 year old Matured in Sherry Wood, Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Chapter No. 1 45 year old, and LeNell’s Red Hook Rye Barrel No. 4 helped these brands improve their rankings on our table as we enter the final quarter of the year. Scotch single malts dominated in September, securing 85% of the list, and October is looking like it could go the same way. Bidding has opened at The Distillers One of One auction at Sotheby’s, Edinburgh, with all of the unique lots now revealed. The charity auction includes a number of mature casks, including an Arbikie Highland Rye Cask distilled in 2018, a first fill bourbon cask of Tomatin 2014, and a cask of Bruichladdich Biodynamic barley 2013. There’s also the opportunity to own new make fillings of Isle of Raasay in an oloroso sherry cask, fill a cask of your choosing with KinGlassie single malt from InchDairnie, or fill your own cask at Lindores Abbey Distillery. Only single bottles are eligible for our 20-highest hammer prices of the month, so while we expect to see several entries on the list for October from The Distillers One of One auction, there will be room for others.

Bidding closes at Bonhams, Edinburgh on October 7^th for their Curated Spirits sale, which includes an impressive single-owner collection from Belgium. In parallel, Bonhams, Edinburgh has also opened the bidding on a refill sherry butt of Springbank 1995, which is expected to yield 550–560 bottles of Springbank 30 year old. The cask is currently sitting in warehouse 5 at Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown. Poly Auction, Hong Kong's Mellow Reserve II auction includes a Yamazaki 1960, Bowmore Arc-54, and a Highland Park 50 year old 2010 release. Finally, earlier this year, we exclusively revealed the U.S. debut of the Ghost Series, the 23^rd installment in the cult-collectible series of Japanese whiskies. This month’s Whisky Auctioneer sale includes a rare collection of the first 15 releases in the series, which is likely to attract significant interest, with bidding closing on October 6^th.

September 2025 –20 Highest Single Bottle Hammer Prices

Results converted to dollars using xe.com

20. Old Rip Van Winkle 25 year old
Sold on: September 30^th at Bonhams Skinner, Boston
Hammer price: $26,000

19. Macallan Fine & Rare 1978 39 year old
Sold on: September 24^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $26,000

18. Karuizawa Noh 1971 41 year old Cask No. 1842
Sold on: September 13^th at Whiskyauction.com
Hammer price: $26,020

17. Cadenhead’s Laphroaig 1967 13 year old
Sold on: September 8^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $27,089

16. Macallan Fine & Rare 1937 37 year old
Sold on: September 23^rd at Whisky.Auction
Hammer price: $27,709

15. Macallan The Red Collection 50 year old
Sold on: September 24^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $30,000

14. LeNell’s Red Hook Rye Barrel No. 4
Sold on September 6^th at Unicorn Auctions
Hammer price: $32,700

13. Macallan in Lalique The Golden Age of Travel – The Motor Car
Sold on: September 11^th at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $33,383

12. Karuizawa 1965 50 year old Monyou Edition Cask No. 2372
Sold on September 30^th at Bonhams, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $33,415

11. Bowmore 1966 50 year old
Sold on September 14^th at Scotch Whisky Auctions
Hammer price: $33,876

10. Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Chapter No. 1 45 year old
Sold on: September 24^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $35,000

9. Macallan 52 year old 2018 Release
Sold on: September 11^th at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $35,951

8. Macallan 1950 71 year old Tales of the Macallan Volume I
Sold on: September 24^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $38,000

7. Macallan The Red Collection 77 year old
Sold on: September 24^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $42,000

6. Macallan The Red Collection 74 year old
Sold on: September 8^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $51,469

5. Macallan in Lalique 65 year old
Sold on: September 28^th at Whisky Hammer
Hammer price: $53,593

4. Macallan in Lalique 50 year old
Sold on: September 8^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $54,178

3. Samaroli Laphroaig 1967 15 year old Matured in Sherry Wood
Sold on: September 8^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $62,304

2. Macallan The Reach 81 year old
Sold on: September 11^th at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Hammer price: $83,457

1. Very Very Old Fitzgerald 1950 18 year old Blackhawk
Sold on: September 24^th at Sotheby’s, New York
Hammer price: $85,000

Each month, we publish the 20-highest hammer prices for single bottles of whisky. This table ranks the 20 brands by the sum of their 20 hammer price sales and shows the latest month’s results.