Auction Update December 19th 2025

This year’s auction scene has been led by one-of-one releases, and Compass Box served up the final one of the year. A world blended malt, a fusion of Scottish and Swedish influences, Compass Box Confluence was the debut expression of Angelo D’Orazio, the former Mackmyra master blender who was appointed the new Compass Box creative director of whiskymaking in July 2025. It fetched a hammer price of $18,000 at Bonhams Skinner, a record for the brand. The sale generated a combined hammer price of $43,200 for The Wolfsonian across eight Compass Box lots, containing 44 bottles direct from the company, including some of the most memorable Compass Box releases from the past 25 years.

Macallan dominated December’s 20-highest hammer price list during a busy first fortnight in the salesrooms. Bonhams, Edinburgh returned from its difficult October sale and successfully cleared all Macallan The Red Collection bottles from that sale, including the 71, 74, 77, and 78 year old. The Hong Kong market was much stronger than it had been of late too, with both Bonhams and Sotheby’s selling numerous bottles of ultra-premium Macallan. Sotheby’s had numerous Macallan Fine & Rare editions, including a Fine & Rare 1938 31 year old which took $38,550, while Bonhams sold a 52 year old 2018 Release for $33,399. A hogshead of Macallan 1988 in bond fetched $266,345 at The Grand Whisky Auction’s Cask for Christmas auction, squeezed in between their monthly sales. Regauged for the auction, the cask would yield 197 bottles of Macallan 37 year old at a cask strength of 46.52%. The hammer price works out to $1,352 per bottle, but that’s before adding 12.5% buyer’s premiums, the fee for transferring ownership, storage fees, bottling, labeling, shipping, duty, and tax.

Neither set of Macallan Time:Space found new homes in December; Whisky Auctioneer’s bottle didn’t sell on December 1^st, and neither did Zachy’s bottle on December 11^th, and that’s despite bidding in New York starting at $95,000, more than half the original $190,000 retail price. Over a year since release and despite multiple attempts across multiple continents, this set has yet to sell at auction.

Zachy’s, New York had a truly exceptional collection of spirits on sale, but whether you blame the affordability crisis or not, it was a bad day for big-ticket Macallan. There were bottles of The Red Collection at 40, 60, 71, 73, 74, 77, and 78 year old, a Macallan in Lalique 55 year old, Macallan The Reach 81 year old, and the aforementioned Macallan Time:Space – none of them sold. What did sell was Tales of the Macallan, with the 71 year old Volume I fetching $30,000 and the 73 year old Volume II gathering $34,000. Putting it into perspective, however, these 2021 and 2024 releases retailed for $80,000 and $89,000 respectively, so both hammered below 40% of their original value. Sotheby’s, New York sold four Macallan Six Pillars editions to pre-sale bids at the low end of the estimates, leaving auctioneer Jonny Fowle without any in-room, telephone, or online bids to engage with during the live auction. Hammer prices were broadly on par with Bonhams Skinner’s results back in June 2025, but these bottles were selling for up to $75,000 in 2024. Set against Macallan were two more Blackhawk bottles of Very Very Old Fitzgerald. Sotheby’s fetched a hammer price of $50,000 in pre-sale bidding for the 15 year old Blackhawk, while the 18 year old beat every big-ticket Macallan sold at Bonhams, Zachy’s, and Sotheby’s this month with a hammer price of $57,100 at Unicorn Auctions. Very Very Old Fitzgerald may well end up among the highest single-bottle sales at auction in our year-end table.

Whisky Auctioneer – November 2025 Auction

Auction ended December 1^st

• Speyside: Macallan Fine & Rare 1945 56 year old, $30,422. One of the very few Macallan releases distilled in 1945 at the end of World War II.
• Islay: James McArthur & Co Ltd Port Ellen 12 year old, $21,031. A sherried, cask strength independent bottling for German retailer Scoma.
• Japanese: Karuizawa Water of Life 1969 50 year old Cask No. 538, $18,783. A sherried single cask from the Japanese distillery which closed in 2000.

Scotch Whisky Auctions – The 174^th Auction

Auction ended December 7^th

• Speyside: Macallan 52 year old 2018 Release, $47,998. One of two bottles spotted at auction this month, Scotch Whisky Auctions fetched a much higher price than the $33,399 bid at Bonhams, Hong Kong.
• Highland: Rosebank 1990 32 year old Vintage Release No. 2, $3,200. One of 350 bottles of this triple distilled single malt released by Ian Macleod Distillers in 2022.
• Islay: Black Bowmore 1964 42 year old, $14,666. The expression that heralded the return of Black Bowmore following the original series from the 1990s.

Unicorn Auctions – December 2025 Spirits

Auction ended December 8^th

• Bourbon: The Last Drop Buffalo Trace 1983 38 year old, $24,100. One of only 20 bottles, this was distilled at the George T. Stagg Distillery and released in 2021.
• Tequila: Clase Azul Master Artisans: Jesus Guerro Santos Extra Añejo, $9,150. This first decanter in the Master Artisans collection was finished in, oloroso sherry, madeira, and American whiskey casks.
• Tennessee: Jack Daniel’s Small Batch Coy Hill 2022 Special Release, $1,300. Released in 2022, this hazmat whiskey was bottled at 74.9%.

Zachy’s, New York – An Exceptional Collection of Spirits

Auction ended December 11^th

• Scotch: Macallan Tales of the Macallan Volume II 73 year old, $34,000. This release last made the top 20 list in February 2025 with a hammer price of $58,810, indicating a drop in value of $24,810 or 42% over the past 10 months.
• Japan: Yamazaki 25 year old, $3,400. This 95 point 2021 release was matured in American, Spanish, and Japanese mizunara oak.
• Bourbon: George T Stagg Antique Spiritus Frumenti Medicinal Whiskey 1917, $2,400. A bottled-in-bond vintage expression bottled in Fall 1933.

Sotheby’s, New York – Festive Spirits | Whisky & Whiskey

Auction ended December 12^th

• Bourbon: Very Very Old Fitzgerald 15 year old Blackhawk, $50,000. Still an amazing price, but this fell short of the first auction appearance of the 15 year old which achieved $77,100 in November 2025.
• Scotch: Macallan in Lalique 62 year old, $50,000. The fifth edition of the Six Pillars collection, one of 400 bottles.
• Rye: Michter’s Single Barrel Straight Rye 25 year old, $14,000. One of the early Michter’s single barrel 25 year old rye releases from 2010.

Lot of the Week

Many distilleries close for the holidays, but that wasn’t always the case. When it comes to working on Christmas Day in Scotland, Willian Grant famously began distilling at Glenfiddich Distillery on December 25^th 1887. Glenfiddich marked its centenary by filling 12,000 limited edition bottles on Christmas Day 1986, 100 years after spirit first ran from the stills. Glenfarclas last distilled on Christmas Day 1959, an event marked by a 2002 release of 96 bottles from that day. Meanwhile at Glengoyne, our lot of the week, is the timely sale of this 24 year old Highland single malt distilled on Christmas Day 1967, and released in 1992 in a batch of 2,500 bottles. The labels carry the signature of Ian Taylor, who was the distillery manager from 1979 to 1998.

Lot: Glengoyne Vintage 1967
Sold at: Scotch Whisky Auctions, December 7^th 2025
Hammer Price: $867

Upcoming Auctions

January 5^th, Whisky Auctioneer: The December 2025 auction concludes after the New Year.

January 7^th, Whisky Online Auctions: Their next auction begins on December 24^th.

January 11^th, Scotch Whisky Auctions: The 175^th auction kicks off on December 29^th.

January 27^th, Christie’s, New York: Fine & Rare Wine & Spirits Online. Following the grand reopening of Christie’s New York site and the sale of the world’s oldest ever whisky at auction in November, Christie’s first online New York Wine & Spirits sale of 2026 will take place from January 13th to 27th.