Auction Update: Highest Hammer Price of 2024, Ewan Mcgregor's Cask Sale Sets Record for Lochranza

October got off to a flying start with Sotheby’s, Hong Kong setting a new highest-hammer price of 2024 with a winning bid of $283,135 for a bottle of Karuizawa 1960 52 year old. Back in 2017, we reported how this bottling had set the highest price ever paid for a single bottle of whisky at auction with a bid of $141,551, just half the price paid for the bottle this month. The result also beats any hammer price paid for Yamazaki 55 year old this year, and the current top three hammer prices of 2024 are now all Japanese whiskies.

Whisky Auctioneer had a highly successful sale with many bottles of Macallan Fine & Rare and classic Samaroli bottlings selling for large sums. The sale also set a new record auction price for Arran whisky from Lochranza Distillery. Actor Ewan McGregor offered 150 bottles for charity from his personal sherry hogshead. The cask was gifted to him by the distillery when he helped them celebrate the first Arran spirit becoming whisky in 1998 when it turned 3 years old. Each bottle of Arran whisky Ewan’s Cut 26 year old had a unique label and the first 24 bottles were hand-signed by the Scottish actor, best known for his roles in “Trainspotting,” “Shallow Grave,” “Moulin Rouge,” and as Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars.” Bottle No.1 sold for the record price of $5,691. McGregor has been a long-term supporter of CHAS, Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, and the combined sales of his 150 bottles, including Whisky Auctioneer’s donated buyer’s and seller’s commissions, raised $176,604 for the charity to support families and children with life-shortening conditions.

Whisky Auctioneer September 2024 Auction

Auction ended October 7^th

• Scotch: Macallan The Red Collection 60 year old, $145,207. The 2020 bottling of Macallan 60 year old by Macallan master whisky maker Kirsteen Campbell.
• Japanese: Yamazaki 1993 Single Sherry Cask, $17,006. A single cask bottling from 2012 for La Maison du Whisky in Paris.
• Bourbon: Society of Bourbon Connoisseurs 1974 20 year old Cask Proof, $10,138. A 1994 bottling by Julian Van Winkle III for the Japanese market believed to be sourced from Boone Distillery.

Sotheby’s, Hong Kong – Finest & Rarest Spirits

Auction ended October 10^th

• Japanese: Karuizawa 1960 52 year old Cask No. 5627, $283,135. One of 41 bottles created in 2013, this bottling has a unique Sennin & Toad netsuke.
• Scotch: Macallan The Red Collection 50 year old, $33,461. This was the highest hammer price for Macallan in this sale, as the bottle of Macallan The Reach 81 year old failed to sell.

Unicorn Auctions October Curated I

Auction ended October 13^th

• Bourbon: Van Winkle Special Reserve 18 year old Binny’s Private Barrel Selection, $86,000. This barrel proof barrel pick for Chicago retailer Binny’s was distilled at Stitzel-Weller Distillery in June 1985 reached an incredible price.
• Rye: WhistlePig The Boss Hog 1^st Edition, $8,350. Barrel no. 1 picked by the late Dave Pickerell for the first Boss Hog release.
• Tennessee: Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Century, $1,390. The centennial bottling released in 2015, which would have been Frank Sinatra’s 100 birthday.

Lot of the Week

When Takara Shuzo Co. Ltd., the Japanese owner of Tomatin Distillery, released 1,500 bottles of Shirakawa 1958 in 2022, it was hailed as the oldest single vintage Japanese single malt ever released. The name was unknown to the whisky community, and the now-demolished Shirakawa Distillery had stopped production in 1969. The liquid had been destined to be used in a domestic Japanese blend and never bottled as a standalone. It doesn’t carry an age statement. While it was matured in mizunara casks, it also spent time in ceramic jars and then stainless steel tanks like shochu. As nobody was intentionally aging this parcel of whisky during the late 20^th century with an eye on selling it to collectors in the 2020s, records covering every step of its journey are incomplete. It was a remarkable discovery and a fascinating story, but nearly two years since release, it’s still widely available at specialist retailers and on sale through Tomatin for £25,000, equivalent to $32,780.

Collectors hoping it would sell out quickly and soar in value on the secondary market like Yamazaki 55 year old of Karuizawa 1960 52 year old are getting a reality check. Only a handful of bottles have ever sold at auction, but more often than not, bidding fails to get within touching distance of the reserve price. Tellingly, the bottle has come up eight times at Whisky Auctioneer and never sold for that reason: an unprecedented record. Its highest hammer price of $19,161 was set by The Grand Whisky Auction shortly after its release in October 2022, but even that sum is still significantly lower than the retail price. When it was sold at auction subsequently, the price dropped steadily; Scotch Whisky Auctions managed $13,694 in May 2023. This month’s winning bid of $8,523 at Bonhams, Edinburgh represents a slump to barely a quarter of the current retail price, and appears to have been the only Shirakawa 1958 to sell at auction this year. When collectors don’t know much about the brand and recognize it will probably be the only release, it makes them hesitant to embrace this Japanese one-off and appraise it as having strong long-term prospects. The question is, even at this cut-rate hammer price, will it prove to be a bargain or not?

Lot: Shirakawa 1958

Sold at: Bonhams, Edinburgh, October 3^rd 2024
Hammer Price: $8,523

Upcoming Auctions

Bottles to bid on in the next few weeks:

October 21^st, Bonhams, London: Balmoral The King’s Birthday Edition. Distilled at Royal Lochnagar Distillery, this single malt was distilled in 1978 and bottled as a 45 year old at natural cask strength to mark the 75^th birthday of King Charles III. It is the only whisky lot in the Royal Warrant Holders Association Charity Auction.

October 25^th, Sotheby’s, New York: LeNell’s Red Hook Rye 23 year old Barrel No. 3 and some of the most collectible bottles of Willett are on the block in New York, along with plenty of rare Macallan.

November 5^th, Sotheby’s, London: A one-of-one edition of Glenlivet 55 year old 200^th Anniversary Edition, the liquid, decanter, and plinth are unique to this release, and it is bottled at a higher strength than the recent Glenlivet 55 year old Eternal Collection. The winning bidder will be invited to the distillery for a once-in-a-lifetime whisky experience.