January 2025 Whisky & Spirits Auction Results

The first auction of 2025 is complete and there were some great bottles up for grabs to kick off the year. Pour yourself a dram and read on for some of our highlights the January 2025 Whisky & Spirits Auction results.

*Aftersales Update*

Our first aftersales of the year saw a handful of bottles finding their way to new owners. Success for this month’s top achieving distilleries continued with this Karuizawa 1996 16 Year Old Sherry Cask #3684 sold for £1,800, while this Macallan 1975 18 Year Old sold for £1,825 and a Macallan 15 Year Old Gran Reserva fetched £1,650.

The stunning Bowmore 27 Year Old from the Timeless Series, one of only 3000 bottles presented in an hourglass case and accompanied by an engraved Bowmore hourglass found a buyer for £975. Moving to Speyside, this case of Aberlour 1989 Millennium Private Bottling from a single hogshead cask sold for £500. From Japan there were bottles of the Suntory 1981 Kioke Shikomi and 1991 Furudaru Shiage that fetched £250 each.

In non-whisky lots, this Courvoisier Extra Cognac released to celebrate the 175th Anniversary of Harrods sold for £370 and this litre bottle of Le Masurier’s Extra Quality 100 Proof Rum bottled in the 1970s fetched £125.

Top Lots

Leading the way were some established favourites. Top spot was taken by this Karuizawa 30 Year Old Aika Geisha that settled eventually on a winning bid of £10,200. It’s sister bottle the 29 Year Old Aika Geisha was also on offer and sold for £7,800.

Scotch mainstays Macallan and Dalmore featured at the sharp end with this Dalmore 45 Year Old 2022 Release selling for £9,000 and a Macallan Folio 1, one of only 2000 bottles in the first release of The Archival Series, fetching £7,000.

Long aged malts continue to attract whisky connoisseurs and in addition to the Dalmore there was a Glenfiddich Ultimate 38 Year Old, a Chinese market exclusive presented in a decorative crystal decanter (£3,000), a House of Hazelwood 56 Year Old from The Charles Gordon Collection (£2,500) and a Glenfarclas 1963 Family Cask number 175, bottled in 2011 that fetched £2,200.

Havana Club x Jonathan Raksha

One very special lot in the auction, donated to raise funds for The Drinks Trust and on display in The Whisky Exchange’s Covent Garden store throughout the auction, was this rather shiny Havana Club 7 Year Old designed in collaboration with celebrated jeweller Jonathan Raksha. While the bottle is one of only 200 created, the pendant is a one of a kind piece of jewellery.  Depicting ‘La Giraldilla’ from the Havana Club logo, the pendant is made from 24-carat gold and set with VVS lab grown diamonds.

After some spirited competition as the rum category was closing, this unique lot eventually raised £2,300 for a great cause.

To find out more about the collaboration, you can read our interview with Jonathan Raksha.

A few other notable bottles in the rum category included this Bacardi Superior 151 Proof bottled in the 1970s that saw a drawn out bidding battle before eventually smashing previous auction records with a hammer price of £900 and a Royal Navy Rum Flagon in the traditional wicker basket that sold for £1,450.

Cognac & Armagnac

The oldest liquid in this auction could be found in the Cognac category with eaux de vie dating back over two centuries in this Francois De Marange 1800 Grande Champagne Cognac, sold for £3,500. There were 19th Century spirits such as these Frapin & Co. Tres Vieille Grande Champagne Cognacs from 1812 (£2,600) and 1889 (£1,650), and a Francois De Marange 1899 Grande Champagne Cognac (£1,150).

Armagnac still seems to fly under the radar of a lot of spirits fans and it is often surprising to see the prices some vintage or long-aged bottles sell for compared with the equivalent Cognacs or whiskies. Starkly shown in this auction when compared with the late 1800s Cognacs, this 1890 Ferte De Partenay Grand Armagnac fetched £450 while a Janneau 50 Year Old sold for £310.

Scotch Whisky

Some of this month’s indie bottle highlights came from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, starting with this enticing Springbank 1964 31 Year Old SMWS 27.39. Bottled in 1996, this dark sherried Springbank fetched £3,500. Also from the SMWS and beguilingly titled ‘Honey Porridge, Peat and Iodine’, this Brora 1977 25 Year Old, bottled at 56.5%, sold for £1,850.

We had a great selection of bottles from Diageo’s Rare Malts and Special Releases series’ including a Brora 1982 20 Year Old (£875), Hillside 1970 25 Year Old (£440), a Port Ellen 1979 22 Year Old (£1,200), the first release in the Port Ellen Special Releases series, and Talisker 1981 20 Year Old (£925) among others.

There was also the chance to pick up the first two releases in the Savoy Collection, created to revive the tradition of spirits being specially bottled for the Savoy’s world famous bar. The first release Macallan 21 Year Old sold for £2,000, while the edition two Laphroaig 17 Year Old fetched £875.

A personal favourite was this gorgeous 1960s Dalmore 12 Year Old bottled by Duncan Macbeth & Co. and sold for £725.

Roundup

I’m not generally a fan of people scribbling on my whisky bottles but I would make an exception for this Macallan 10 Year Old Sherry Oak signed by a personal sporting hero of mine Sir Jackie Stewart. It sold for £380.

Sticking to the automobile theme, there were a pair of Jim Beam 100 Month Old car decanters as well as a Railway Dining Car decanter, selling for between £230-£370. A fun addition to any bar shelf.

Continuing an ever lengthening run as the king of liqueurs at auction, this Chartreuse Yellow bottled between 1951-1956 sold for an impressive hammer price of £2,000, a new auction record for Whisky.Auction for a Yellow Chartreuse from this period.

Whisky liqueurs also had a good outing this month with a Macallan Amber Liqueur fetching £360 and this Wallace Liqueur reaching £200, while a Glenfiddich Malt Whisky Liqueur sold for £160 and a bottle of Lochan Ora reached £100.

A couple of final performances of note. This bottle of Tequila Fortaleza Reposado Winter Blend was a surprising performer, reaching an impressive hammer price of £1,150, while, after an extended bidding battle, this Compass Box Canto Cask 6 reached £450. A rare appearance at auction in recent times possibly helping with it almost doubling previous hammer prices.

See the full January Whisky & Spirits Auction results here.

See our past auction roundups here.