August Auction Highlights 2018

Mortlach 1938 Crystal Decanter 60-Year-Old

Taking the spotlight in our August auction is a very special and historic whisky that was ahead of its time when bottled in 1999. We’ve not seen this bottle appear in an online auction since we last auctioned it back in 2012.

Talisker Rare Old Liqueur Whisky

After an anxious 10 months, we’re eager to share with you these two extraordinary bottles of Talisker Whisky. Whenever we quote Old, Rare & Obscure whisky these two bottles define exactly that. This class of whisky turns up once in a lifetime and even after nearly 30 years handling old & rare whisky we’ve never laid our eyes on such interesting and beautiful bottles.

Bottled by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries Ltd. Park Brewery, Wolverhampton – we believe these were distilled at Carbost, Isle Of Skye in February 1940 and filled into sherry casks that were left to mature for at least 17 years until they were bottled in March 1957.

These two identical bottles were given to the vendor by their father over 30 years ago. They have been stored in what we assume could be their original wooden crate ever since. The vendor believes that their father purchased a whole case of 12 back in the 1950s and consumed most of them over the years.

These aren’t official bottlings but it was very common back in the day for breweries to own casks of whisky and bottle Scotch & other spirits under their own label. These sort of whiskies rarely made it out of the town where they were supplied. They often found their way into local pubs, groceries and private households where they were consumed.

I imagine a local artist designed the very quirky and original label which states it’s a ”RARE OLD LIQUEUR 70 PROOF and interestingly quotes ”IT’S A FINE SPEERIT THE TALISKER; THERE’S NO A PETTER MADE”. The label design itself is nothing like you see today; even the top of the cap is branded with FIDE DE FORTITUDINE meaning Fath & Fortitude.

The liquid itself we can only imagine will be remarkable; Talisker from this period is virtually non-existent and those who have ever tasted any of the G&M bottlings distilled in the 1940s will agree these should be equally as stunning if not better. These are whiskies even the diehard malt maniacs dream about. A once in a lifetime opportunity!

Cardow 100% Pot Still

Another incredibly rare old bottle that has never seen the light of auction is a 100% Pot Still Cardow Highland Malt Scotch Whisky. Cardow is the former name of Cardhu and was used between the 1950s to approximately 1965. Cardow/dhu bottled during this period is almost impossible to find. The nearest example I can think of is a run of official 8-year-olds that first appeared in 1965 and even those turn up once in a blue moon.

What Else To Look Out For…

The early noughties appears to be a period where so many quality whiskies were being released.  The following are a handful you will find in this sale – starting with a rather rare 1962 41-year-old Auchentoshan. We’ve never seen this variation until now; and with just a mere 112 bottles produced, there’s no surprise why!

Next, we have a particularly appetising 1965 Springbank Local Barley bottled in 2001. There was a run of these from numerous sister casks and must be from one of the last parcels of stock from 1965 that was bottled by the distillery. An epic era for Springbank that’s sadly long lost.

Then we have the fabled 1968 Bunnahabhain Auld Acquaintance bottled in 2002; that unsurprisingly due to its sheer excellence has not appeared in one of our auctions since February 2017.

Another rarity that hardly sees the light of auction is the first official release of Brora 30-year-old bottled in 2002. This consists of whiskies distilled in the greatest vintage for Brora, the early 1970s.

Finally one of my favourite drams. The Ord 30-year-old bottled in 2005 by Diageo for their annual Special Releases. Ord seems to be one of those distilleries that gets overlooked and I don’t understand why. Even their old 12-year-old bottlings are fantastic.

Old Blended Whisky

As always we have managed to unearth several interesting old blends. You will find another Benmore, but this time a slightly more interesting example given it prominently states Dallas Dhu Distillery on the label.

Dallas Dhu distillery was owned by Benmore Distillers from 1921 until 1930. It was mothballed in 1929 and sporadically until it finally closed in 1983. Rumour has it that the distillery is going to be revived but only time will tell. This will certainly contain a proportion of whisky distilled at the Dallas Dhu distillery. Anyone interesting in Dallas Dhu or old whisky for that matter should definitely give this one a whirl.

My pick of the bunch has to be the Duffs Liqueur Scotch Whisky. We collected this bottle from the vendor’s house in Kirkintilloch – northeast of central Glasgow. If you’re thinking you have seen this label before, you’re right. It is pretty much identical to a ‘Black Bottle’ we auctioned in 2017. When we uplifted this, there was an old hanging tag around the neck of the bottle where the vendor’s Grandfather had written the following note…

”Given to my grandfather
First World War 1914-1918
DO NOT OPEN”

Although we would love this to be a First World War whisky, we’d be more comfortable indicating c.1930. Nevertheless, this is a beautiful looking old bottle and I can only imagine the whisky would be a memorable one.

All the best from all of us here at Whisky Online Auctions.