Bottles from The Demeter Collection, which highlights whiskies crafted and inspired by women in the whisky world, go up for auction starting at the end of March.
Whisky Auction Update March 15th 2024: A Strong Start to the Month
March 15, 2024 –––––– Jonny McCormick
March is shaping up to be a buoyant month in the secondary market, with Scotch Whisky Auctions, Whisky Auctioneer, and Sotheby’s, Hong Kong already posting strong results. Today sees the action switch back to New York, where Sotheby’s is holding its Whisky & Whiskey sale that includes bottles from the Richard Gooding collection. If that name rings a bell, it will be for The Perfect Collection. Whisky Auctioneer handled the 3,900 bottle Richard Gooding Collection split across two sales in 2020, which raised a combined hammer price of $9.1 million. Notably, the sale also generated Whisky Auctioneer’s first million-dollar Macallan bottle. There’s no million-dollar bottle on the block at Sotheby’s Whisky & Whisky sale, but we do expect bottles such as Macallan in Lalique 50 year old, other scotch rarities, and American whiskeys to generate a number of the month’s highest hammer prices.
Whisky Auctioneer February 2024 Auction
Auction ended March 4th 
- Japanese: Karuizawa 1968 50 year old Cask No. 6223, $37,463. A 2018 release of 248 bottles from this single sherry butt bottled for the Water of Life series.
- Scotch: Samaroli Bowmore Bouquet 1966, $31,748. Prices for this classic Samaroli bottling from 1984 peaked during 2019–2021, when it could command a hammer price of $80,000.
- American: Old Rip Van Winkle Family Selection 23 year old, $18,414. Distilled at Stitzel-Weller Distillery in 1986, this is bottled at 57% ABV.
Bonhams, Edinburgh Finest Whisky & Spirits
Auction ended March 6th
- Irish: The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. The Devil’s Keep, $18,982. This limited-release single malt was distilled in 1991 and finished in new Hungarian oak casks and bottled in 2020.
- Scotch: Macallan Select Reserve 1946 52 year old, $10,843. A smoky Macallan matured in Spanish sherry oak casks.
- Tennessee: Jack Daniel’s Belle of Lincoln, $383. This 1.5-liter reproduction of the Belle of Lincoln decanter was released in international markets in 1979.
Scotch Whisky Auctions The 153rd Auction
Auction ended March 10th 
- Scotch: Macallan in Lalique 72 year old, $74,534. One of 600 Lalique decanters filled with this aged Macallan distilled in the 1940s.
- Japanese: Karuizawa Vintage Cask 1969 Cask No. 8183, $10,281. A Number One Drinks bottling from a single bourbon cask released in 2012.
- Indian: Amrut Greedy Angels 12 year old Chairman’s Reserve, $1,414. An exceptionally rare Indian whisky with only 100 bottles created, this limited edition from 2016 carries Amrut’s oldest age statement to date.
Unicorn Auctions – March ‘No Reserves’ Unicorn Auction 2024
Auction ended March 10th
- American: Willett Family Estate 20 year old Single Barrel C42A Maysville, $16,100. A gold wax seal bottling of the C42A single barrel mostly sold at the Maysville Bar and Restaurant in New York City.
- Scotch: Macallan Distil Your World: New York, $11,100. Former Macallan whisky maker Polly Logan and the Roca Brothers capture the spirit of New York in a bottle of Macallan.
- Japanese: Yamazaki 25 year old Limited Edition, $8,540. Matured in a sherry cask, this limited edition is presented in a Paulownia wood case.
Lot of the Week
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong sold a full set of Karuizawa 36 Views of Mount Fuji this month, the hammer price meaning each bottle is worth $3,200. The collection of 36 bottles is based on Hokusai’s classic series of landscape paintings created in the 1830s, best known for The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. While Hibiki and Fuji have used Mount Fuji on their labels, this series of Karuizawa is the only collection to feature the full set of Hokusai’s paintings.
Lot: Karuizawa 36 Views of Mount Fuji Full Set
Sold at: Sotheby’s, Hong Kong
Hammer Price: $114,957
Upcoming Auctions
Bottles to bid on in the next few weeks:
April 8th, Whisky Auctioneer: The Demeter Collection. Included in Whisky Auctioneer’s March sale (bidding opens March 29 and runs until April 8th) will be 18 rare bottles being auctioned in partnership with the OurWhisky Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 2022 to support, empower, and advocate for women working in the whisky industry. The funds raised from the sale of the whiskies will go straight to OurWhisky to support their initiatives, such as their international mentorship program. Blender Eilidh Muir created House of Hazelwood The Long View 31 year old for the auction, a blended scotch created to celebrate Muir, Janet Sheed Roberts, and Kirsten Grant-Meikle, three women at the heart of the House of Hazelwood story. Loch Lomond blender Ashley Smith contributed the Sonata Collection, a trio of unpeated, medium-peated, and heavily peated 30 year old single cask single malts. Other lots include an Aberfeldy 40 year old, Laphroaig 25 year old, Glendronach 30 year old, Ardbeg 20 year old, and Dalmore 44 year old, and a number of English whiskies from Cooper King Distillery, Cotswolds Distillery, and White Peak Distillery.
