It was The Macallan Fine & Rare that headlined the September auction yet it was Japanese Whisky that brought the most bidders out, we saw top prices across the category and several record hammer prices too. Elsewhere we can report great results for independently bottled whiskies from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society as well as top-end rum.
You can view the full results in our Past Auctions and here are some of our personal highlights:
Macallan 1974 30 Year Old Fine & Rare Cask No. 929038
The Macallan Fine & Rare series prices only ever seem to go in one direction: up, but then last year The Macallan Fine & Rare 1926 smashed the world record for the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold at auction. Since then, fueled by demand from collectors, demand for The Macallan Fine & Rare has only grown, and the accelerated effect on prices has continued to gather momentum ever since.
We sold another bottle of this back in April 2020 for £11400. That’s quite some growth in just a few months.
Winning Bid £14200
Karuizawa 1968 Cask 6955, Bottled 2010 – La Maison Du Whisky
LMDW has a knack for picking rather good casks and buyers tend to like that. This whisky ticks several other boxes too, it’s long aged, from a closed distillery, from Japan, aged in a single sherry cask. Prices for Japanese whiskies are rising again, Karuizawa in particular. Other record prices this month included the Karuizawa 1976 32 Year Old Noh Cask 6719 and Hanyu 2000 Cask 919.
Winning Bid £9000
Van Winkle Special Reserve 1975 19 Year Old Corti Brothers – Stitzel-Weller
For the second month running, the special Van Winkle 1975 bottled for Corti Brothers in Sacramento finished in excess of £6500. Clearly August’s price was no fluke. Again, here is a bottle that ticks all the boxes: aged bourbon, from Van Winkle, Corti Brothers, vintage statement, seldom seen on the UK market… so it should be no surprise to see these bottles performing so well.
Winning Bid £6600
Again (following great SMWS results in April) prices just kept climbing and the Brora-like Glen Garioch was the pick of the bunch. A great review from whiskyfun.com and 95 point score didn’t do any harm either.
Winning Bid £3700
Ballantine’s 14 Year Old The Seated Fisherman, Bottled 1960s – Collector Originals
It might be time to check the back of your cupboards for ceramic decanters. Bidding in the final moments took this fellow over £1500. It is one of a number of quirky ceramic bottlings of Ballantine’s released in the 1960s.
Winning Bid £1550
Longmorn 1964 Single Cask 1034 Gordon & MacPhail, Bottled 2010 – La Maison du Whisky
There were plenty of keen bidders on this seldom seen and very dark sherried whisky from Longmorn. It is one of a number of 1960s sherried Longmorn bottlings which have acquired an awesome reputation so keep a look out for more.
Winning Bid £1550
Lagavulin 12 Year Old, Bottled 1980s – White Horse Distillers
We finish with a classic bottling of Lagavulin 12 Year Old from the 1980s, bottled by White Horse Distillers. It was in the late 1980s that these Lagavulin 12 Year Olds were replaced by Lagavulin 16 Year Old. In April’s auction roundup we spoke about the rising prices for Lagavulin 16 Year Old and here is yet another example of long term success for a whisky which has an excellent reputation. When the whisky is good and the release price is entry level you can assume that the majority of these bottles would have been consumed, and these Lagavulin 12 Year Olds are indeed becoming harder to find, so gradually there has been a corresponding increase in prices.
Winning Bid £1300
Complete September 2020 Auction Results
