Whisky Auction Update January 19th, 2024: A Typically Quiet Start to the New Year

With 2023 in the rearview mirror, we look forward to a new year of exciting sales on the global auction market. January’s calendar contains mainly online auctions including holiday sales that closed early in the month, but the traditional auction houses hold very few live auctions at this time of year. The result thus far has been an eclectic mix of whiskies vying for spots in this month’s 20-highest hammer prices, though the big money seems to be sticking with Macallan.

Whisky Hammer

Auction ended January 2^nd

• Scotch: Macallan The Red Collection 78 year old, $53,051. This expression has depreciated by $27,000 since February 2023.
• Japanese: Karuizawa Emerald Geisha 33 year old Cask No. 8908, $15,789. A 2018 release of 170 bottles from a single sherry cask.
• American: A.H. Hirsch Reserve 1974 16 year old, $2,432. A Preiss Imports bottling with the foil cap, rather than the wax closures of the earlier bottlings.

Whisky Auctioneer

Auction ended January 8^th

• Scotch: Macallan The Red Collection 77 year old, $61,261. There are quite a few bottlings of Macallan The Red Collection at auction this month, but this one is leading the pack.
• Japanese: Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card The Joker Monochrome, $31,907. One of only 241 bottles, this expression received a second maturation in a mizunara cask, and can fetch around eight times as much as The Joker with the color label.
• American: Double Eagle Very Rare 20 year old 2022 Release, $7,658. This has sold well, but we are hoping to see bottles of Eagle Rare 25 year old come to auction this year and reach even higher prices.

Unicorn Auctions No Reserves Part I & Part II Auctions

Auctions ended January 14^th

• American: Willett Family Estate 18 year old Single Barrel Bourbon 1789b Barrel C49, $41,300. An incredible result for an incredibly rare Willett private barrel selection of a Bernheim wheated bourbon.
• Scotch: Macallan 30 year old Sherry Oak, $3,850. Rated 96 points, this is a smart buy that can be acquired at auction for less than retail.
• Canadian: Found North Peregrine First Flight 20 year old, $620. The first release in Found North’s High Altitude collection was a blend of 20-27 year old Canadian whiskies finished in the U.S. in Limousin, cognac, and new American oak casks.

Lot of the Week

They just don’t make them like this anymore. This dark sherried single cask bottling of Balvenie 50 year old was distilled in January 1952, featuring simple labels with bottling details handwritten by then Balvenie malt master David Stewart. Bottle No. 8 of the 83 produced, this release is vanishingly rare at auction and normally outperforms Balvenie 1937 50 year old and the later Balvenie 50 year old single cask releases distilled in the early 1960s. All three editions are completely different from one another in appearance but given the vogue for more elaborate packaging on prestige scotch collectibles over the next couple of decades, picturing David Stewart in the blending lab sitting down to ink the details on these labels speaks volumes about the humble charms of Cask 191.

Lot: Balvenie 50 year old Cask 191
Sold at: Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer Price: $31,907

Upcoming Auctions

Bottles to bid on in the next few weeks:

January 20^th, Sotheby’s: Baker’s Pure Rye. This 9 year old rye is reported to have been distilled in 1863.

February 3^rd, Whiskyauction.com: Ardbeg Provenance 1974. This sale includes a number of rare Ardbegs, including this sought-after bottling released shortly after The Glenmorangie Company bought the distillery in 1997.

February 4^th, Irish Whiskey Auctions: Cadenhead Jamieson’s Bow Street Distillery 1963 27 year old An independent bottling of a closed distillery Irish whiskey bottled at 68.2% with a famously misspelled label.