We have a pretty impressive line up of whisky from Diageo in our current auction. Below we will travel through some of their most renowned series.

United Distillers, the early years

Manager's Dram

The Manager's dram series was first released over 30 years ago by United Distillers and has long since been a very controversial success. Produced for and limited to purchase by members of staff and never sold to the general public. This created a deadly influence on collectors from day one. Not to mention the fact that these were bottled at natural cask strength and therefore appealed even more to drinkers from around the World. From my point of view, this series pioneered marketing in the whisky industry and credit to the marketing team who executed it perfectly.

The series is still ongoing and we always look forward to seeing which distillery they decide to bottle each year; especially when they haven't released one from each of the distilleries in their portfolio (yet). The majority of the best whiskies in this series were produced under United Distillers. Most popular examples often include the Glen Elgin 15-year-old, Caol Ila 15-year-old, Aberfeldy 19-year-old & Oban Bicentenary to name but a few. So, if you're missing a particular expression from your collection or drinks cabinet, we've pretty much got you covered in this sale.

United Distillers, times nearly up

Rare Malts Selection

The Rare Malts Selection was launched in 1995 and as with the Manager's Drams, the series was also pioneered whilst still under United Distillers. But let's not give United Distillers all the credit as they were only involved for 2 years; until Diageo took over in 1997. To be fair to Diageo, they did a pretty good job taking over the series and continued to bottle some impressive whiskies. Unlike the Manager's Drams, these were released to the public, with the World market in mind. From memory, they were all released around the £50 mark regardless which distillery it was. In today's market, prices have gone through the roof, especially for desirable distilleries such as Brora, Clynelish, Glenury Royal and St Magdalene all of which you can find in this sale.

Diageo on their own

Managers' Choice

Moving on to a series that Diageo developed on their own. The Managers' Choice. These were produced in 2009 and consist of all 27 distilleries Diageo owned at the time. The whiskies were selected by a panel of expert experts and distillery managers themselves. Each whisky was produced at natural cask strength from a single cask.

There was a lot of hype surrounding this series at the time and I remember getting excited myself. However, this series just didn't take off as expected. They lingered on retail websites for years. Why you may ask? From my point of view, it was basically down to price ratio. Having said this, I believe there is still time for this series to come into a league of its own. All 27 expressions can be found in our current auction.

PORT ELLEN ANNUAL RELEASE

1ST EDITION THROUGH TO 12TH EDITION

Featuring in this sale is a set of Port Ellen from the notorious Special Releases. This set was painstakingly collected over 12 years by the seller. They always tried to buy two of each, one to drink and one to keep. However, like many of those collecting the series at the time, they called it a day after the 12th release due to dramatic price increases each year. Diageo should have always ended this series at around the 10th release and go on to revolutionise a fresh series with their liquid gold.

The Special Releases from Diageo was always one of the most exciting events in the whisky calendar. You knew their line-up was always going to be 'special' and you knew from the previous year, prices were going to be reasonable. For around 10 years this series was awesome; they were producing some very good whiskies at drinkable prices. It wasn't until after 2010 when things started to go down-hill.

Now we all expect some level of price increase. However, Diageo being Diageo started to exploit the success of this series. For example, prices in 2010 for a Port Ellen was £250, then in 2011 £300; which you could say is palatable. Then in 2012, the price doubled to £600 followed by a bigger increase in 2013 when the RRP was £1,500. Then in 2014 things really started to get out of hand when the RRP was set at an eye-watering £2,200. Now, you can understand why the set of Port Ellen above was cut short in 2012.

MORE ANNUAL RELEASES

Alternatively to Port Ellen, you may be interested in other distilleries from the Special Releases glory days. In no particular order, you will find two Rosebank's, a 21-year-old from 2011 & a 25-year-old from 2007. From Lagavulin, there's the famous 1985 25-year-old, as well as the 1977 from 2002. Bottled for the distilleries 200th Anniversary, we have both the 25-year-old and the 1991 single cask. From Brora, there's two 35-year-olds, one from 2011 and another from 2012. Moving on to Talisker and we have the stunning 35-year-old; for me, this was the highlight from the 2012 line-up. And finally, we have both the 30-year-old Glenury Royal & Linlithgow.

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