Record-breaking Success: Distillers One of One Raises Over $3 million for Charity

With this single auction, Sotheby's established the top four hammer prices for a bottle of whisky this year

October 11, 2025 –––––– Jonny McCormick, , , ,

The Distillers One of One 2025 auction has raised millions of dollars for charity in Scotland, setting 30 new whisky auction records and surpassing the results of their previous sale. Glenlivet SPIRA 1965 60 year old achieved the highest hammer price at the sale on October 10^th with a winning bid of $693,682 – a new highest hammer price of the year and a new auction record for Glenlivet. The biennial event, hosted by Sotheby’s at Hopetoun House on the outskirts of Edinburgh, included 39 unrepeatable lots comprising unique bottles, casks, and experiences. Two hundred guests attended the auction in person, including collectors from the U.S., UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, and more, with active phone and internet bidders joining in. The sale total reached $3.9 million, including buyers’ premiums. The combined hammer price of $3,109,191 will be donated to the Youth Action Fund, an organization that has given thousands of Scotland’s disadvantaged youth access to training and education for employment.

With the commitment to this charitable cause, the mood at the auction was lively and generous, with auctioneers encouraging some good-natured competition among collectors. Auctioneer Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s global head of spirits, had to handle some unorthodox bidding increments, both large and small, including one dramatic moment when a collector raised the stakes on Port Ellen Prism 1978 46 year old by pushing the bidding up by more than $200,000 in a single bid. This move eliminated the competition, and that high bidder took the bottle for a hammer price of $400,201. At one point, Fowle stepped down from the rostrum during the sale of the Laphroaig CAPSULE 40 year old to personally pour a small sample for a wavering bidder, helping them make up their mind and driving the bidding up to a hammer price of $133,400. In the second half of the sale, auctioneer Harry Dalmeny, honorary chairman of Sotheby's UK, made both the record-breaking sales of Glen Grant Eternal 1948 77 year old for $426,881, and the Glenlivet SPIRA 1965 60 year old. Fowle was ready with a sample of the Glen Grant 77 year old to pour to guests placing a bid, but the competition was eventually fought out between two phone bidders. There was an extra incentive to bid on the final lot in the sale—The Distillers One of One Founders’ Reserve, a blend created by master blender Richard Paterson from stocks of scotch up to 55 years old, donated by 10 of the auction’s founding companies. The Ethos Foundation and The Hunter Foundation agreed to jointly match the hammer price for this lot, which generated an extra $18,676 for the charity.

In this single auction, Sotheby’s set the four highest hammer prices for a bottle of whisky at auction this year. The success of the Distillers One of One 2025 is a testament to rare whisky’s ongoing appeal—and to the generosity of the global whisky community.