December Auction Highlights 2025
Welcome to our December 2025 Auction Highlights blog! Our last whisky sale of the year is a bumper affair, with the auction extended to two weeks and a slew of absolutely fantastic bottles of brilliant old single malt whiskies from yesteryear, including iconic whiskies from the likes of Brora, Macallan, Port Ellen and Glenfarclas.
Official Bottlings
We’ll start our Official Bottlings highlights with one of the most ambitious limited edition series of recent memory: a single cask Macallan limited edition bottling released by the distillery at full cask strength as part of their Macallan Masters of Photography series. This bottling is #32 from the Elliott Erwitt range, the fourth chapter of Macallan Masters of Photography which was bottled in 2013.
The Masters of Photography was a sprawling series of special edition Macallans released in collaboration with six of the world’s leading photographers. Despite being in his mid-eighties at the time, the legendary photographer Elliott Erwitt travelled Scotland taking 158 photos for the book Elliott Erwitt’s Great Scottish Adventure, which is included here with a hipflask-style 35cl bottle of cask strength Macallan 1996 specially selected by Bob Dalgarno.
The Elliott Erwitt Macallan Masters of Photography was a particularly ambitious project encompassing 58 different single cask releases. Each release was a bottling of 35 sets accompanied by an individual print selected from Elliott Erwitt’s Great Scottish Adventure. This bottle came from Edition #32, which was released with a print featuring a family of sheep accompanying a bottle of Macallan from single cask 4378, which was distilled in 1996 and was bottled at its natural cask strength of 58%.
Staying with Macallan and we’ve got one of their rarest long-aged vintage releases in the form of the famous Macallan 1948 51-year-old. This prestige edition Macallan was released around the turn of the millennium in an edition of just 366 bottles, each individually numbered with one of the days of the year 1948, which was a leap year.
The Macallan 1948 51-year-old was assembled from a batch of three sister sherry casks distilled from summer barley harvested in 1947, and is particularly desirable as it carries a very noticeable woodsmokey phenolicity (a consequence of the industry’s return to the use of peat in the immediate post-war period) and was bottled at its natural strength of 46.6%. This bottle comes up very infrequently and is always fiercely contested.
Finally for Macallan, there’s also a fantastic Macallan 1971 25-year-old Anniversary Selection bottled in 1997 at a gentle but flavour-packed 43%. The now iconic sherry-matured Anniversary Selection 25-year-old Macallans had first appeared in 1983 (originally retailing for the princely sum of £25).
These stunning after-dinner drams distilled at Macallan in the golden age and bottled in the 1990s have never been surpassed in quality, with the 1960s and early 1970s vintages in particular acknowledged as among the finest Speyside whiskies ever bottled. Check out the full list of this month’s Macallan here.
Moving on to other classic official bottlings from back in the day, and we have a bottle of the legendary Talisker 1975 25-year-old Island single malt whisky bottled in 2001 at full cask strength for the first proper tranche of Diageo’s Special Releases.
This 25-year-old Talisker 1975 was the first in a string of several stunning Talisker 25-year-old editions that graced the Special Releases between 2001-2009. Talisker 1975 25-year-old was a release of 6000 bottles at its phenomenal natural cask strength of 59.9% and remains as one of the distillery’s greatest long-aged bottlings this century.
We also have a bottle of the Talisker 25-year-old Sea Chest edition Island single malt whisky from the 2007 Special Releases. The 2007 Special Release Talisker 25-year-old was an edition of 6894 bottles released from a batch of refill sherry and bourbon casks at its natural cask strength of 58.1%.
This bottling sold quite slowly when it was first released, because it was more expensive than the 2004 and 2005 Special Release Talisker 25-year-olds, which were still widely available as they had been bottled in massive quantities - remarkably, the 2004 Special Release Talisker 25-year-old was 21000 bottles, while the 2005 bottling was a batch of 15600 bottles.
To perk up sales of the 2007 release - ironically one of the finest 25-year-old Taliskers ever bottled - the bottle was repackaged by Diageo in this fancy Sea Chest wooden presentation box with a leather tube and two free glasses. Nevertheless, all three batches were easily found for several years afterwards, often priced under £100 thanks to the big discounts Diageo was forced to offer to retailers in order to shift their stock.
Switching focus now to the Highlands, and it’s a great month to be a Glenmorangie fan, with some very well known collectable bottles from the distillery coming up for grabs. We’ll start with the small batch Glenmorangie 1974 vintage Highland single malt whisky limited edition. This was released by the distillery in 1999, so the whisky is either 24 or 25 years old.
Labelled as ‘Original Glenmorangie’, this 1974 vintage small batch was a limited edition of 2000 half-litre (50cl) bottles made with malted barley from the distillery’s original maltings at Tain. Released at an easy drinking strength of 43%, this 1974 vintage ‘original’ Glenmorangie was the older and more prestigious of a handful of Glenmorangie special editions released to commemorate the millennium and has proven popular with both collectors and drinkers thanks to its excellent old school aesthetic and complex, peppery, biscuity old school Highland flavour profile.
We also have a bottle of the small batch vintage edition Glenmorangie 1977 26-year-old Highland single malt whisky released by the distillery in 2003. This was a very exciting time for Glenmorangie fans - other releases the same year included the cask strength Glenmorangie 1988 Madeira Matured and the amazing Glenmorangie 1975 Tain L’Hermitage.
Matured in American oak casks and bottled towards the end of a remarkable run of Glenmorangie hits, this 1977 vintage 26-year-old was described by the distillery at the time as having the the most distinctive rich aroma of any Glenmorangie ever produced, and remains one of the best of the distillery’s releases this century.
Staying in the Highlands, we have a prestige limited edition Fettercairn 1969 40-year-old Highland single malt whisky released by the distillery in 2009. A special edition of just 463 bottles, this 40-year-old Fettercairn 1969 was the oldest ever official bottle from the distillery at the time of release and came from a small batch of sherry casks that were formerly home to legendary bodega Gonzalez-Byass’s magnificent Apostoles, a 30-year-old Palo Cortado style. It’s fair to say that Fettercairn doesn’t trouble our auction highlights too often, but this superb release could easily be mistaken for sister distillery Dalmore.
The Highland highlights continue with an outstanding Tomatin 1967 40-year-old Highland single malt whisky released by the distillery in 2007. This small batch 40-year-old Tomatin 1967 came from a group of sister casks chosen by distillery manager Douglas Campbell, who had already worked for Tomatin for 46 years when he chose these seven ex-bourbon hogsheads distilled in May 1967. Tomatin 1967 was an edition of 1614 bottles released without colouring or chill filtration at a natural cask strength of 42.9%.
Lastly for the Highlands, there’s a fascinating early vintage Glen Garioch 1965 21-year-old Highland single malt whisky released as an early prestige official bottling in the 1980s. This was one of several superb 1965 21-year-old Glen Gariochs bottled at different strengths in the mid-1980s, and is one of the most sought-after from the series, having been bottled at a very sturdy 50% strength.
At the time this classic old school Highland malt was distilled, Glen Garioch was owned by Diageo forerunners Distillers Company Limited, who went on to mothball the distillery a few years later in 1968 before selling it to Bowmore’s Stanley Morrison in 1970.
Finally for Scottish whiskies in this section we have an absolutely superb old bottle of the iconic White Horse blended Scotch whisky. This edition was bottled in 1956, one of the last years of this particular presentation with the grey capsule and dark map at the top of the label, and mentions Lagavulin distillery and Glenlivet district, where Mackie’s Craigellachie distillery was located.
High quality blended whiskies in this period generally contained around 40-50% single malt whisky content, and as well as including Lagavulin and Craigellachie in the recipe, these beautiful old White Horse whiskies from the 1950s are a racing certainty to include malt whisky from the near-mythical Islay distillery Malt Mill, which was still active within the grounds of Lagavulin when this whisky was bottled.
Moving away from Scotland, we have a wonderful old bottle of John Jameson 15-year-old Very Special Old Whiskey. These long-aged Jameson whiskeys were bottled in this brown label presentation from the 1970s onwards and were discontinued around the late 1980s.
These 15-year-old Jameson bottlings are particularly poignant and historically significant as the contents were among the last whiskeys to be distilled at the old Jameson Bow Street distillery in Dublin that closed in 1971, and generally show biscuity, minerally and metallic notes, usually with a strong hint of sherry wood influence.
There’s also an old 1980s bottle of Jameson 12-year-old Special Reserve blended Irish whiskey. This Jameson was a prestige blend launched in the early 1980s and has been building an increasing following recently thanks to its rich, exotic fruit flavours, which combine beautifully with the intense coppery pot still whiskey notes and the sweet long-aged grain whiskies used in the blend. This 12-year-old Jameson contains top class Irish whiskeys that would have been distilled in the 1970s at either or both of the Bow Street and Midleton distilleries, and remains one of the best blends from a particularly difficult era for the Irish whiskey sector.
Finally, for the Cognac fans we have an incredibly rare Jarnacaise bottle of Courvoisier Erté - La Part Des Anges cognac. This bottling was a special edition commemorating the launch of the seventh decanter in the limited edition Courvoisier Erté Collection. La Part des Anges was produced in 1994 and was originally planned to be the final bottling of the Courvoisier Erté Collection, but the success of the series led to an eighth bottling (Inédit) the following year.
This Jarnacaise edition of Courvoisier Erté - La Part Des Anges is screenprinted with a detail from Erté’s design for La Part des Anges and was never for sale to the public. The bottle was produced for use at launch events, and the remaining stock was gifted to VIPs in early 1995. This is one of a handful of Jarnacaise editions of Courvoisier Erté produced in the early 1990s towards the end of the series, and it’s likely that only a couple of hundred bottles of each were ever made.
Courvoisier’s original text for this bottle includes the following info:
“This special edition Jarnacaise bottle (not for sale) commemorates the launch of the seventh and final decanter in the limited edition Courvoisier Collection Erté. Called "La Part des Anges" (the angel's share) it continues an artistic pilgrimage by Erté, the master of Art Deco, which celebrates the creation of fine cognac from grapes of the Charente region. It contains the same rare blend of selected Grande Champagne cognacs, some dating back to 1892, the year of Erté’s birth.
La Part des Anges is Erté’s artistic interpretation of a heavenly reception for the glorious essence which evaporates from casks of ageing cognac. He celebrates this mystical assimilation by depicting joyous angels welcoming the ascending perfume, which is symbolised by a graceful woman, into paradise.”
Independent Bottlings
There are so many amazing Independent Bottlings in this month’s auction that picking highlights is almost entirely arbitrary, but it’s certainly safe to say that it’s a good time to be a fan of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS).
We'll kick off with a single cask Glen Grant 1965 32-year-old Speyside single malt whisky bottled in 1998 at full cask strength without colouring or chill filtration by The Society with the SMWS code 9.24. This Glen Grant 1965 was named ‘Christmas Cake and Furniture Polish’, and, combined with its remarkably dark colour, it’s safe to say this was probably a sherry cask. Christmas Cake and Furniture Polish weighs in at a colossal natural cask strength of 58.1%, so all this classic old school 1960s sherried Speyside character should be very well preserved, and has benefited from nearly three decades of bottle ageing.
Another great Society bottling is the single cask Glenfarclas 1966 36-year-old Speyside single malt whisky released back in 2002 with the code SMWS 1.100 - indicating that this was the 100th release from Glenfarclas, which was the first distillery bottled by the Society.
This celebratory 36-year-old Glenfarclas 1966 was subtitled Blackcurrant Jam and Cigar Boxes, a name which, when combined with the exceptionally dark colour, indicates that this was likely a sherry cask of the highest quality. SMWS 1.100 was bottled without colouring or chill filtration at its tantalising natural cask strength of 47%.
Going back a little earlier, there’s a single cask Macallan 1977 10-year-old released back in 1988. This 10-year-old Macallan 1977 was bottled with the SMWS code 24.8, and is unusual as it was one of only a handful of SMWS codes that were used twice, presumably due to an internal error. Macallan 1977 SMWS 24.8 was bottled from a sherry cask without colouring or chill filtration at its natural cask of 57.7% and will be a spectacular dram for fans of young Macallans from the golden era.
The fun doesn’t end there for Speyside fans, either. We’ve also got a single cask Glenlivet 1966 34-year-old released by The Society in 2001 with the SMWS code 2.37. Indie Glenlivet is exceptionally rare, and indie bottlings from 1960s vintages even more so, so this is a real treat. Subtitled Dried Dark Fruits & Burnt Sugar, this 34-year-old Glenlivet 1966 was bottled without colouring or chill filtration at its frankly phenomenal natural cask strength of 64.6% - remarkably, this was the lowest strength of the four magnificent 1966 Glenlivets bottled by the Society at the turn of the century.
Finally, we’ll go back once more to where it all began for the Society: Glenfarclas. We’re delighted to have a bottle of the Glenfarclas 1970 27-year-old Speyside single malt whisky released by The Society back in 1998 with the SMWS code 1.81. This was one of a series of around a dozen incredible sherry casks of 1970 vintage Glenfarclas bottled by the SMWS between 1997-2007 and was bottled at its natural strength of 55.6% without colouring or chill filtration.
SMWS 1.81 is one of the rare but glorious ‘Green Glenfarclas’ bottlings, with the Society’s own notes putting it best: “...curiously green in colour - reminiscent of Swarfega, the antiseptic hand wash jelly. Even stranger, it smells a bit like Swarfega; this and syrup of figs, liquorice and cut grass from an oily lawnmower. Your guests might be pressed to identify it as whisky. But the flavour is splendid; very sweet and clean, with perfume and almonds when taken straight; more waxy when reduced.”
Closed Distilleries
We’ll kick off our Closed Distilleries section with a stone cold classic: A bottle of the fantastic Port Ellen 1978 25-year-old 4th Release Islay single malt whisky bottled in 2004 at full cask strength for Diageo’s legendary annual Special Releases series. The 4th Port Ellen Special Release was an edition of 5100 bottles and was released at its potent natural cask strength of 56.2%.
This whisky was from the same vintage as the other early even-numbered bottlings in the Special Releases series, and collectively these 1978 bottlings were considered by many fans to have a slight edge over the odd-numbered 1979 vintage Special Release editions, sharing the same phenomenal phenolic power and coastal-tinged austerity but with perhaps just a touch more nuanced complexity and roundness once the elemental onslaught subsides.
Anyone looking for a comparative tasting, meanwhile, could go for the single cask Port Ellen 1979 18-year-old Islay single malt whisky released by indie bottlers Signatory Vintage as part of their famous Silent Stills series. This series featured outstanding casks from Scotland’s ghost distilleries and today these bottlings are fiercely sought-after by whisky fans.
This 18-year-old Port Ellen 1979 was distilled in the same year as most of the odd-numbered Diageo Special Release Port Ellens, but was bottled several years earlier in 1997 from single cask 274, yielding just 190 bottles at its hefty natural cask strength of 56.3%. A particularly desirable PE for both drinkers and collectors.
From the same Silent Stills series, we also have a single cask Banff 1978 18-year-old Highland single malt whisky released in 1997. This 18-year-old Banff 1978 came from single cask 4618, which was bottled without colouring or chill filtration and yielded 260 bottles at a remarkable natural cask strength of 58.8%. Like many of its fellow lost Highland distilleries, the vast majority of Banff’s challenging but delicious spirit was lost to the blending vats: this top class Silent Stills bottling from Signatory is one of the best of the survivors.
The Silent Stills range was one of Signatory’s most collectable series of whiskies, as each bottle came in a set with a miniature of the same whisky and a commemorative wooden bung made from the cask it came from. We’ve got a few Silent Stills bottlings in this auction, including a rare single cask Glen Flagler 1972 24-year-old vintage Lowland single malt whisky released in 1997.
This 24-year-old Glen Flagler 1972 came from single cask 228444, and was one of 230 bottles released at a hearty 52% natural cask strength. Glen Flagler is one of the most obscure of the lost Lowland distilleries, and only a few dozen casks of their single malt were ever bottled - this 1972 cask from Signatory is among the very best of them, and was one of only three known bottlings from this vintage.
Up next for the remarkable selection of Silent Stills whiskies this month is this single cask Linlithgow 1975 22-year-old Lowland single malt whisky released by Signatory in 1998. Bottled without colouring or chill filtration, this 22-year-old Linlithgow 1975 came from single cask 96/3/01, which yielded 335 bottles at a very promising natural cask strength of 51.7%. Now that Rosebank, Port Ellen and Brora are open again, Linlithgow - which was also often bottled as St. Magdalene - is not just the greatest of the extinct Lowland distilleries but one of the greatest of all of Scotland’s distilleries lost in the culls of the 1980s, and this is a brilliant example, picking up 92 points from Serge Valentin’s Whiskyfun.
Finally for this section, we have a single cask of Glenugie’s famed 1966 vintage. This Glenugie 1966 30-year-old Highland single malt whisky was released by indie bottlers Signatory Vintage in 1996 and was bottled without colouring or chill filtration from single cask 848, yielding 180 bottles at its extraordinary natural cask strength of 58%.
Although its name is synonymous with quality in learned whisky circles, Glenugie is one of the less well known lost distilleries, as very few casks escaped the blending vats after its closure in 1983. Typically a rich, fat, oily and fruity whisky, Glenugie’s first official bottling did not appear until 2010, almost 30 years after the distillery’s doors had closed for the final time.
Single Casks
We’ll start with a pair of terrific official Single Cask editions from Tomatin. Tomatin is an extremely well-run distillery with an enviable inventory of long-aged whisky - the distillery has been releasing fantastic single casks on a regular basis since the early 2000s.
We’ll kick off with a single cask Tomatin 1984 30-year-old Highland single malt whisky. This was a prestige single cask edition released by the distillery in 2014 from single cask 6207, a bourbon cask that yielded 207 bottles at a great drinking strength of 44.5%.
We also have the very special Tomatin 1971 50-year-old single cask released by the distillery as a prestige edition to celebrate their 125th anniversary in 2022. This magnificent 50-year-old Tomatin was an edition of just 125 hand-blown Glencairn crystal decanters presented in a leather-lined wooden box and accompanied by a solid brass stopper for the decanter, a book signed by distillery manager Graham Eunson and an extra miniature of the whisky.
This 1971 Tomatin matured in single cask 30040, a first fill Oloroso sherry cask bottled at its natural strength of 44%, and is a very strong contender for the best official bottling of Tomatin ever released.
Over in Speyside, meanwhile, we have a prestige single cask Glenfarclas 1977 43-year-old Speyside single malt whisky released by the distillery in 2021. Housed in an elegant engraved Glencairn crystal decanter, this deliciously fruity 1977 Glenfarclas was matured full term in a fourth fill Oloroso sherry hogshead that allows the distillery’s magnificent spirit full expression, and was one of just 215 bottles released at a tantalising 43.1%.
Back down in Campbeltown, meanwhile, there’s the small matter of this superb single cask Springbank 1966 32-year-old Local Barley edition. This iconic Campbeltown single malt whisky was released in 1998 at its natural cask strength towards the end of the astonishing original run of the Local Barley series.
These late 1990s Local Barley Springbank 1966s were from a string of phenomenal ex-bourbon casks and have long passed into legend thanks to their otherworldly complexity, and a magnificently deep, contemplative, multi-layered character stuffed with dried exotic and orchard fruit, herbal and patisserie spice notes, and a generous, oily mouthfeel. Released at its natural strength of 56.9%, Cask 491 is an unforgettable dram.
Going now to the indies, and single cask highlights include a Macallan 1968 36-year-old released at cask strength by independent bottlers Duncan Taylor back in 2005 as part of their superb Rare Auld series. This 36-year-old Macallan came from cask 5589, which was one of over a dozen stunning single casks from the distillery’s 1968 vintage released by Duncan Taylor between 2002-2006. Cask 5589 yielded just 151 bottles of this magnificent old Macallan at its very impressive natural cask strength of 54%.
There’s also a single cask Dufftown 1965 35-year-old Speyside single malt whisky released by indie bottlers Douglas Laing in 2001 as part of the Old Malt Cask range. Bottled without colouring or chill filtration, this 35-year-old Dufftown 1965 came from a single sherry cask that turned out just 227 bottles at a natural cask strength of 49.6%, and still packs plenty of flavour and power despite its extensive maturation. Dufftown distillery in 1965 had only two stills and still used its own floor maltings, so this is a very special old school Speyside of a style not even the distillery themselves could reproduce today.
Finally, we have a single cask Lagavulin 1990 35-year-old Islay single malt whisky released in 2025 by indie bottlers The Syndicate, the mysterious cabal of Islay whisky insiders.
The Syndicate don’t release very many bottlings, but all of their whiskies are superb. This 1990 Lagavulin 35-year-old is the fifth Syndicate bottling of this vintage, and was one of 64 bottles released from cask 4396 at its natural cask strength of 42.7%. Interestingly, this is the second Syndicate bottling from this cask - a previous 96 bottles from cask 4396 were released as a 30-year-old in 2020 at 45.5%.
As ever, there's plenty more outstanding single cask bottles in this months whisky auction, including official bottlings from Macallan, Bruichladdich, Old Pulteney and Longrow, alongside indie gems from Springbank, Glenlivet, Talisker and Highland Park.
That's it for this month's December 2025 Whisky-Online Auction highlights - check out the full sale here, Good Luck and Happy Bidding!