Whisky Auction Update July 21, 2023: Summertime and the Bidding is Easy

Early July saw brisk sales across auction houses with a number of high-value sales. Our focus this week covers activity at three online auction houses, including Whisky-Online Auction’s sale of Brora 40 year old, which achieved the year’s highest hammer price for the Brora 40 year old to date. Elsewhere, Sotheby’s held a small online sale of iconic vintages of Macallan that produced the three highest hammer prices of the month so far: Macallan The Reach 81 year old ($222,606), Macallan Tales of the Macallan Volume 1 ($72,020), and Macallan Anniversary Malt 1928 50 year old ($65,472). Overall, it’s clear that the summer season hasn’t slowed the enthusiasm for collectible whisky.

Whisky Auctioneer

Auction ended July 10th

• Japanese: Karuizawa Noh Whisky 1971 41 year old Cask No. 1842, $51,347. We last saw this bottle in our list of highest hammer prices in April, when it sold at the same auction house for $61,786.
• Scotch: Macallan Fine & Rare 1949 53 year old, $30,808. The use of a second-fill sherry cask helped mature this whisky for more than half a century.
• American: D.H. Cromwell 15 year old, $20,539. One of 72 bottles produced in the early 2000s, this is a Kentucky straight bourbon from Stitzel-Weller Distillery.

Whisky Online Auctions

Auction ended July 5th

• Scotch: Brora 1972 40 year old, $38,126. This first official Brora 40 year old was rated 94 points and was a cask strength Travel Retail exclusive bottled at 59.1%. Sotheby’s sold one in March for $35,669, while Whisky Auctioneer achieved $36,688 in June.
• American: Pappy Van Winkle 23 year old Family Reserve, $3,813. While this appears often in online auctions, it’s still frequently the highest-value bottle of American whiskey.
• Japanese: Hibiki 21 year old, $667. Given its scarcity at retail, an auction is often the easiest place to source this wonderful aged blend.

Scotch Whisky Auctions

Auction ended July 9th

• Japanese: Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Series 1991 Jack of Clubs, $16,048. One of 330 bottles of this 2006 bottling, interest in the Malt Card Series from collectors remains high.
• Scotch: Macallan 40 year old (2017 release), $23,109. Earlier Macallan 40 year old expressions such as this can fetch higher sums than the modern Red Collection expression.
• American: Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 23 year old (2016 release) $4,365. It’s not often that the year of release is included in lot descriptions of Pappy Van Winkle expressions; this is a great service for buyers looking to determine whether they are bidding on liquid made at the Stitzel-Weller Distillery (2014 releases or earlier) or not.

Lot of the Week

“A Straight Kentucky Whiskey of Topmost Class” reads the tagline on this pint bottle of Old Taylor distilled in Fall 1916 and bottled in Fall 1931. The American Medicinal Spirits Company produced it, labeling it for medical purposes only, warning that “sale or use for other purposes will cause heavy penalties to be inflicted.” The bottle was one of many rare and old American whiskeys sold by Whisky.Auction this month. These came to market as part of the collection of Richard Thomas, who established The Crobar in London’s Soho neighborhood in 2001. The heavy metal nightspot closed down during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lot: Old Taylor 100 Proof
Sold at: Whisky.Auction
Hammer Price: $3,310

Upcoming Auctions:

July 23^rd, Whisky Hammer: Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection 47 year old. Bottlings from this wonderful series of rare Irish whiskeys from Old Midleton Distillery, which closed in 1973, have frequently made our list of 20 highest sales of the month. This single pot still was the third release in the series and was rated 95 points.

August 8^th, Celtic Whiskey Auction: Bushmills Causeway Collection 33 year old Heathrow Exclusive. This port cask matured single malt was released earlier this year, and has already fetched over $1,800 at auction

August 19^th, Whiskyauction.com: Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseur’s Choice Ardbeg 1964. A rare chance to buy this independent bottling of Ardbeg released in 1995.