Auction Update July 18th 2025

A bottle of Dalmore Constellation Collection 1964 46 year old sold for a record hammer price of $95,453 at Whisky Auctioneer this month. This is the oldest vintage release in the series, and the sale set a new record for the highest price paid for a single bottle from the collection, as well as becoming the highest hammer price paid for a bottle of Dalmore this year. The Dalmore Constellation Collection was released in 2012 and consists of 21 vintages from 1964 to 1992. A full set of the Dalmore Constellation Collection, each bottle signed by master distiller Richard Paterson, first sold at auction in 2022 at Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, achieving a hammer price of $445,868.

WVA Whisky Auctions had three different Glenfarclas Pagoda releases on the block, each distilled in the early 1950s and bottled at over 60 years old, but none of them reached the reserve price. This series helped Glenfarclas to place six bottles in the 20-highest hammer prices of the month in 2024, but the brand has yet to make our monthly lists in 2025.

Gold Bowmore 1964 44 year old led the bidding at Scotch Whisky Auctions this month, with a hammer price of $14,207. With no whiskies being auctioned by Sotheby’s until August, and by Bonhams until September, a broad mix of brands can be expected to appear in the 20-highest hammer price lists going forward.

Whisky Auctioneer June 2025 Auction

Auction ended July 7^th

• Scotch: Dalmore Constellation Collection 1964 46 year old, $95,453. One of only 67 bottles of this Highland single malt whisky released in 2012.
• Japanese: Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Series 1985 Monochrome Joker, $19,773. This bottle last made the 20-highest hammer price list in May 2025 with a sale of $26,564.
• Bourbon: The Last Drop 27 year old Kentucky Straight Bourbon, $5,864. The 37^th release from The Last Drop was distilled at Buffalo Trace Distillery and is a vatting of three barrels filled in 1995, 1996, and 1997.

Unicorn Auctions – July 2025 Spirits

Auction ended July 7^th

• Rye: Willett Family Estate 22 year old Rye ‘Doug’s Green Ink’, $15,000. Distilled in 1984, this was the first privately selected rye from Willett.
• American: Michter’s Celebration Sour Mash 2016, $9,800. Unicorn Auctions has held the record for every other Sour Mash release except the 2016 release.
• Bourbon: Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond 1971, $7,550. A one-gallon bottle distilled at Stitzel-Weller distillery in 1965 and bottled at 6 years old.

WVA Whisky Auctions July 2025 Auction

Auction ended July 10^th

• Scotch: Macallan 30 year old Double Cask 2022 Release, $2,307. Double Cask combines sherry-seasoned American and European oak casks.
• Japan: Yamazaki 25 year old, $5,698. This was a 2021 release from Japan’s first and oldest malt whisky distillery.
• Bourbon: Buffalo Trace O.F.C. Vintage 2006, $3,392. The latest vintage release in the Old Fashioned Copper series.

Lot of the Week

Compass Box Scot-Free

Sold at: Scotch Whisky Auctions, July 13^th 2025
Hammer Price: $7,577

Compass Box made 61 bottles of this expression, the first English vatted malt, and gave them away for free via an online ballot on St George’s Day, April 23^rd, this year. Lead whisky maker Samuel Travers included single malt whisky from six English distilleries: White Peak, Spirit of Yorkshire, East London Liquor Co., Cotswolds, The English Distillery, and Copper Rivet Distillery. The number of bottles created reflected the number of active whisky distilleries in England at the time of release. Stealthily, the bidding moved this bottle up to the third-highest bid at the 169^th sale at Scotch Whisky Auctions, with a hammer price that is not only one of the highest paid for a bottle of English whisky, but also one of the highest paid for a bottle of Compass Box whisky.

The reason for the bottling was to show support for the English Whisky Guild’s application for Geographical Indication (GI) status for the category. This is currently under consideration by the UK government following a three-month consultation period; notably, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) opposed a specific point concerning the proposal. The English definition of single malt specifies that the whisky is only distilled at a single distillery, but the mashing and fermenting can be done elsewhere. The SWA argues this undermines the meaning of the term single malt for whiskies made in the rest of the UK, and could damage the reputation of scotch.

Compass Box has had beef with the SWA for 20 years; the controversy between the SWA and Compass Box founder John Glaser over the original version of Spice Tree in 2005, his opposition to the replacement of the term vatted with blended malt or grain in 2011, and his campaign for greater transparency around blends in 2016 helped Compass Box to position themselves as the underdog in a succession of David vs Goliath battles. From the name “Scot-Free,” the return of the term “vatted” to a Compass Box label, and the rear label which takes a swipe at unnamed “rule makers” stifling progress, this newly minted collectible shows that the post-Glaser Compass Box has not forgotten its origins as a firebrand and still possesses a maverick streak.

Upcoming Auctions:

July 22^nd, Whisky.Auction: The next Whisky & Spirits sale includes a bottle of Macallan in Lalique 50 year old and a 12 bottle case of Sherriff’s Bowmore 8 year old from the 1970s.

August 7^th, Sotheby’s, New York: Bidding on the Whisky & Whiskey sale opens online on July 24^th.