Whisky Auction Update September 15, 2023: Mixing It Up

September is shaping up to deliver a more diverse selection of leading whisky brands at auction than August, where Macallan dominated the high-value sales. Karuizawa is showing strongly with rare bottlings (detailed below) selling for high prices at Whisky Auctioneer, Whisky.Auction, and Scotch Whisky Auctions. The month so far has also produced two notable Irish whiskey sales, with a bottle of Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Chapter 4 48 year old fetching $42,433 at Celtic Whiskey Auctions, and a bottle of Midleton Very Rare Vintage 1988 going for $27,922 at Irish Whiskey Auctions. We also have news of a strong price for LeNell’s Red Hook Rye Barrel No. 4 at Unicorn Auctions, and look out for the sale of this first release bottling of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 23 year old at Sotheby’s.

Whisky Auctioneer

Auction ended September 4^th

• Scotch: Macallan The Red Collection 78 year old, $67,540. This auction house previously sold this bottle for $79,846 in February, the highest price of the year for this bottling.
• Japanese: Karuizawa 1968 50 year old Cask No. 6223, $37,873. This single sherry cask yielded 248 bottles and was bottled in 2018.
• American: WhistlePig The Boss Hog VII, $7,701. One of the rare 3-liter bottlings of Magellan’s Atlantic.
  
  

Unicorn Auctions “No Reserves” Auction

Auction ended September 10^th

• American: LeNell’s Red Hook Rye Barrel No. 4, $27,900. This is the first bottle of LeNell’s to sell at Unicorn Auctions this year, following their $48,500 sale in 2022 of a bottle of LeNell’s Red Hook Rye Barrel No.1.
• Japanese: Yamazaki 18 year old Mizunara Japanese Oak Cask, $3,975. A rare release from 2017 in which master blender Shinji Fukuyo encapsulates the art of mizunara cask maturation.
• Scotch: Macallan James Bond 60^th Anniversary Release Decade V, $2,300. The fifth of six Macallan bottlings celebrating the legacy of 007 and the 25 Bond movies.

Scotch Whisky Auctions

Auction ended September 10^th

• Japanese: Karuizawa 1965 50 year old Cask No. 3037, $28,674. Bottled in 2017 by Elixir Distillers, this bottling is released in small batches on an annual basis.
• Scotch: Macallan The Red Collection 40 year old, $21,194. This Macallan makes a regular appearance in our top 20 hammer prices of the month.
• American: Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 15 year old, $1,874. Even the highest-priced American whiskey could not rival the rarities from Scotland and Japan at this auction this month.

Lot of the Week

The Maclean Foundation, a charity set up by whisky author Charles Maclean and his family, partnered with Whisky.Auction this month to raise funds for their clean water campaign for Madagascar with the sale of some special whiskies. Topping the auction was bottle No.4 of the six bottles of Karuizawa Omoiyari produced by Elixir Distillers in 2020, using a blend of different Karuizawa vintages from 1963–1984 built around a heart of 1972 distillate. Omoiyari is a Japanese concept of selfless altruism, embodying sympathy and compassion for others through considerate actions.

Lot: Karuizawa Omoiyari
Sold at: Whisky.Auction
Hammer Price: $32,437

Upcoming Auctions

Bottles to bid on in the next few weeks:

September 20^th Bonhams: Balvenie 1962 56 year old

One of 90 bottles released in 2019 as part of chapter 5 of the DCS Compendium, distilled in the same year that David Stewart began working for William Grant & Sons.

September 22^nd Sotheby’s: Glen Grant Devotion 1953 70 year old

Decanter No.1 of seven, this remarkable-looking whisky sculpture was inspired by the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and the proceeds of the sale will support the preservation of Scotland’s native woodlands.