Whisky Auction Update June 7th 2024: Dalmore, Old Fitzgerald Climb, But Market Is Seeing Softness

While Macallan took the top position once again in May, Dalmore and Old Fitzgerald finished second and third, respectively, ending Macallan’s four-month run of sweeping the first three spots. The 20 highest-selling bottles in May were valued at a total of $797,967, and it was an eclectic list that featured nine labels from Scotland, six from Japan, four from the U.S., and one from Ireland.

In terms of specific names, the ever-present Macallan and Karuizawa led the field with four entries each, while Dalmore, Van Winkle, and Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Series each had two. The other leading names included Willett, Midleton Very Rare, Bowmore, and Brora.

Dalmore’s second-place finish was its 49 year old second edition in its Luminary Series, a partnership between Dalmore and Scotland’s Design Museum that’s a partner of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, known as V&A Dundee. The Dalmore is producing three bottles of each of these new expressions over three years in the V&A Dundee partnership, two of them with accompanying sculptures. One bottle is auctioned at Sotheby’s each year, one is kept in the Dalmore’s archive, while another is retained to be auctioned as a trilogy at a future date. The first edition, a 48 year old with a sculpture by Kengo Kuma, had a reserve of $112,933–$213,979 and sold in November 2022—at the lower estimate of $112,933. The second edition, a 49 year old Dalmore with a sculpture by Melodie Leung, had a $101,891–$203,781 reserve. This was acquired for $17,410 less than the first edition at the starting price of £75,000 ($95,523). The entire hammer price sum benefits V&A Dundee.

Our table of May’s top 20 brands shows some interesting numbers at the top end of the market compared to last year. Macallan has secured 6 fewer 20-highest hammer price bottles in 2024 so far, and are $567,361 or 22.3% down compared to this time last year. Karuizawa has secured one less bottle than in the year-earlier period, and its total is $137,561 or 21.9% behind its 2023 performance. With two bottles of Yamazaki 55 year old and a bottle of Yamazaki 50 year old failing to find buyers at various auctions during May, Yamazaki is currently ranked 21^st out of 25 this year with only one bottle, valued at $24,041. By this time last year, Yamazaki was running second place to Macallan with top 20 sales of $908,887. While American whiskey has taken up fewer positions in the list of highest hammer prices, bourbon and rye are making the auction gains right now. Van Winkle is four bottles up from last year, with a total that is $76,300 or 48.2% higher than 2023, while Willett adds one more bottle (making two overall) with its total higher by $37,400, which is 153.9% up from last year.

May 2024 – 20 Highest Single Bottle Hammer Prices

Results converted to dollars using xe.com

20. Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Two of Hearts 1986 Cask No. 482
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $18,860

19. Karuizawa 50 year old Cask No. 538
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $20,117

18. Willett Family Estate 22 year old ‘Doug’s Green Ink’ Private Barrel No. 618
Sold on: May 20^th at Unicorn Auctions
Hammer price: $20,400

17. Karuizawa 50 year old Cask No. 538
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $20,746

16. Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 23 year old
Sold on: May 27^th at Unicorn Auctions
Hammer price: $21,000

15. Bowmore 1965 52 year old
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $22,632

14. Midleton Very Rare Vintage 1988
Sold on: May 19^th at Irish Whiskey Auctions
Hammer price: $23,913

13. Bowmore 1969 50 year old
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $24,518

12. Karuizawa 1965 50 year old Cask No. 2372
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $24,518

11. Brora 1972 40 year old
Sold on: May 31^st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $30,567

10. Dalmore 50 year old
Sold on: May 31^st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $30,567

9. Hanyu Ichiro’s Malt Card Ace of Spades 1985 Cask No. 9308
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $31,433

8. Karuizawa 1965 Japonisme Edition
Sold on: May 6^th at Whisky Auctioneer
Hammer price: $32,061

7. Macallan Exceptional Cask 1950 2018/ASB-1683/13
Sold on: May 12^th at Scotch Whisky Auctions
Hammer price: $37,566

6. Macallan The Red Collection 50 year old
Sold on: May 7^th at WVA Whisky Auctions
Hammer price: $39,167

5. Old Rip Van Winkle 25 year old
Sold on: May 27^th at Unicorn Auctions
Hammer price: $40,600

4. Macallan Genesis in Lalique 72 year old
Sold on: May 16^th at Bonhams,
Hammer price: $43,579

3. Very Very Old Fitzgerald 18 year old
Sold on: May 27^th at Unicorn Auctions
Hammer price: $80,100

2. Dalmore Luminary No. 2 49 year old The Rare
Sold on: May 31^st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $95,523

1. Macallan The Red Collection 60 year old
Sold on: May 31^st at Sotheby’s
Hammer price: $140,100

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 highest hammer price sales and shows the latest month’s results.