Demeter Collection

Whisky Auctioneer hosted the first Demeter Collection in collaboration with the OurWhisky foundation, to honour women in whisky. The sale of the 19 lots, as well as the buyer’s commission donated by Whisky Auctioneer, totalled £49,064.75.

The highest bid was for a 44-year-old Dalmore created in celebration of Margaret Nicol’s fifth decade in the whisky industry. The bottling sold for £12,500.

Karuizawa 1999-2000 Three Wise Monkey Collection

Over at whisky.auction, a set of three Japanese whiskies sold for £7,000 in the aftersale of its March auction. The Karuizawa Three Wise Monkey Collection of three single malt whiskies was distilled between 1999-2000 and bottled in 2020.

Included in the collected was the Mizaru See No Evil (60.7% ABV), Kikazaru Hear No Evil (60.8% ABV), and Iwazaru Speak No Evil (60.9% ABV). Just 35 of each bottle was released, presented in a ‘Three Wise Monkeys’ wooden box.

Ardbeg 1959 Cadenhead’s 25 Years Old Sherry Wood

The top bid from Whisky Auctioneer’s March auction, which closed on 8 April, was a 25-year-old Ardbeg bottled by Cadenhead’s, sold for £15,000.

Distilled in 1959, the whisky was aged in sherry casks for 25 years before it was bottled in 1985 in the bottler’s signature brown glass ‘dumpy’ style bottles. The whisky was sold alongside further Cadenhead’s bottlings, including those from Laphroiag and Glen Ord.

Yamazaki Genmu and Hitomi

The first auction in Bonham’s Hong Kong spring sales season is Finest and Rarest Whisky, to be held on 16 May.

The auction includes a four-bottle set of Yamazaki Genmu and Hitomi. These were the product of a friendship and partnership between former Suntory master blender Seiichi Koshimizu and chef Kenichi Hashimoto. The creative journey began with a request from Hashimoto for a blend of sherry and mizunara cask-aged whiskies, resulting in Yamazaki Hitomi. The collaboration continued with Genmu Premium Red Edition, just 40 bottles of which were released in 2012.

Gordon & MacPhail and Talisker

The April sale at Whisky Auctioneer, which began last Friday, features a selection of 19 Talisker single malts bottled by Gordon & MacPhail. Mainly comprised of bottles from the 1950s and 70s, the single malts for auction act as a record of the two brands’ partnership.

Gordon & MacPhail announced last year that it would cease buying in spirits and focus on production from its own distilleries.

Bowmore 1967 Largiemeanoch

Drawn from three sherry casks after ageing for 12 years, the Bowmore 1967 Largiemeanoch was bottled under the Largiemeanoch label for The Howgate Wine Co, Edinburgh.

Much younger than many of Bowmore’s own releases from the 1960s, this whisky is still said to be on par with the best of them, according to Whisky Auctioneer. This is the first time the bottling has been seen at the auction house, and it is one to watch. 

In their April auction, Whisky Auctioneer has over 125 bottles of 40+ Years Old single malt. This is testament to some of the exciting high-age releases in recent years such as the Glen Grant 70 Years Old, as well as older releases such as the Ben Nevis 1926 Single Cask 63 Years Old #322, bottled in the late 1980s.

Japanese whisky is also well represented in the selection, including the Yamazaki 55 Years Old and Karuizawa 1968 Single Sherry Cask 50 Year Old #6223 Water of Life.