There were some big hitters in our October Whisky & Spirits Auction with particular focus on Islay at the sharp end of the sale. Here’s a look through some of the standout bottles.
Sensational Sixties
Top lot, by a considerable margin, went to this gorgeous Laphroaig 1967 15 Year Old Samaroli. Hailing from what is regarded as a golden era of distilling on Islay, this much lauded whisky sits atop the Whiskybase.com Top 1000 Whiskies list and sold for a hammer price of £55,000.
Joining the Laphroaig at the top of the auction was all three parts of the Bowmore Trilogy distilled in 1964. The White Bowmore 43 Year Old fetched the highest price at £14,400 but was closely followed by the Black Bowmore 42 Year Old at £14,000 and the Gold Bowmore 44 Year Old at £12,800.
Our top Island lots were taken by a pair of Talisker Pure Malt bottled in the 1960s and sold for £1,750 each.
Crown Jewel
We were delighted to be able to offer a truly unique bottle of Beefeater Crown Jewel Gin for auction. Bottled to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, the handcrafted bottle has a 9 carat solid gold label, embellished with a ruby and was designed and created by world renowned, London based, goldsmiths and silversmiths, Royal Warrant holder Thomas Lyte.
The only bottle of its kind available at auction and generously donated by Beefeater, it raised £2000 for The Drinks Trust.
Cadenhead’s Cask Strength
The auction featured a stunning selection of Cadenhead’s Cask Strength bottlings including a selection of the much sought after White Label bottlings. This Clynelish 1972 Cask 5641 sold for £3,700, a Lagavulin 1978 Cask 12 sold for £1,350 and a trio of Linlithgow 1982 Cask Strength fetched between £1000-£1,450 a piece.
There were a few of the equally stunning bottles released for Cadenhead’s 150th Anniversary in the auction, including a pair of Springbank 1972 20 Year Olds (sold for £2,200 and £2,300) and a Rosebank 1980 11 Year Old that fetched £825.
Cognac
There were a few very old Cognacs up for grabs in our Cognac section with eau-de-vie dating as far back as this A E Dor 1818, bottled in the 1930s-40s, which sold for £5,200. Slightly younger, but perhaps one of the most contested bottles in the auction late on was this Gautier Freres 1896 Grande Fine Champagne Cognac. After some spirited late bidding, it settled on a winning bid of £800.
There were a range of Remy Martin Louis XIII decanters available in the auction. If you like your bottles large and flashy, this magnum of Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac bottled for the Millennium sold for £3,800. For those more interested in their vintage bottles, this Remy Martin Louis XIII Very Old Age Unknown bottled in the 1950s-60s, and in pristine condition with the original wicker case, sold for £3,400.
Roundup
Campari continued to attract plenty of attention and we had a particularly beautiful 1950s bottle of Campari Bitter that sold for £360. Staying in the Liqueurs category, Chartreuse also continued to garner strong interest with a pair of bottles of Chartreuse Green produced in Tarragona and bottled between 1973-1985 fetching £750 and £775 each.
Leading lots for Macallan this month included a pair of the Handwritten Label bottlings with the Macallan 1940 Handwritten Label fetching £9,000 and a decade its junior, the 1950 Handwritten Label selling for £5,000.
To end back where we began on the beautiful island of Islay, the surprise bidding battle of the evening was on this Ardbeg 30 Year Old, which just kept going to an eventual hammer price of £1,900 and a no doubt delighted seller it soared beyond recent sale prices for this bottle.
See the full auction results here.
See our past auction roundups here.
