January Auction Highlights 2020

Welcome to our Auction Highlights! We’ve got some incredible stuff this month…

CLASSIC & RARE MACALLAN

There’s an avalanche of mouthwatering Macallans in this auction, both old and new, official, semi-official and independent bottlings. Recent-ish bottlings include the Macallan 1824 Collection MMXI, Macallan 22 Year Old Flask Edition, Macallan 1997-2018 Exceptional Cask 11, Macallan Easter Elchies 2008, Macallan Easter Elchies 2011, Macallan Genesis 2018, Macallan M 2013, Macallan M 2017, Macallan Folio Archival Series 1, Macallan Folio Archival Series 2 and the Macallan No.6 Decanter.

Masters of Photography bottlings, meanwhile, include Macallan Albert Watson, Macallan Steven Klein Print 8, Macallan Steven Klein Print 10, Macallan Rare Cask Black Steven Klein and Macallan Elliott Erwitt.

Moving to the older bottlings, there’s a phenomenal Gordon & MacPhail Macallan 1939 bottled in the 1970s, Macallan 1974-1992 Jacobite Edition and a slew of Macallan Anniversary 25yos including Macallan 1957-1983, Macallan 1958-1984, Macallan 1974-1999, the rare red wooden box Macallan 25 Year Old and the equally rare blue wooden box Macallan 30 Year Old.

Along with the all-time-classic peaty Macallan 1946 52 Year Old which we’ve spoken of before, the undoubted highlight of this month’s recent Macallans has to be a trio of Macallan Lalique decanters: Macallan 60 Year Old Lalique, Macallan 65 Year Old Lalique and best of all the Macallan 60 Year Old Lalique Linley Edition – just three of these units were ever made, containing 60 year old Macallan from the 1950s in a stunning Lalique crystal decanter. Bidding will be fierce.

There’s a pair of real show-stoppers in this month’s old Macallans as well: First up, this incredible Macallan 15 Year Old 100-proof bottled in the early 1970s by Gordon & Macphail.  With that strength and that colour this is sure to be an absolute superstar and it’s very rare that one of these comes to auction, so no doubt there’ll be very keen interest.

Secondly, and even rarer, is this early independent Macallan As We Get It, bottled in the 1960s by Inverness merchant Macfarlane, Bruce & Co. Most whisky fans will be aware of other Macallans in this series, but this bottle is the earliest we’ve seen and at 103.7 proof (59.2%) we’re sure the liquid will be fabulous. 

Modern-day indie Macallans this month include several Gordon & MacPhail Speymalts, most notably the remarkable Macallan Speymalt 1945-2013, bottled from a first fill sherry cask at an astonishing 68 years old, plus Hunter Laing’s Macallan 1985-2015, a Moray Golf Club bottling of Macallan 14 Year Old from 2005 and the not-confirmed-but-we-all-know-it-is Crabbie 25 year Old.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Some real treasure now: this wonderful bottle of Sheriff’s Bowmore 7 Year Old, a 1960s distillery bottling for the Italian market. With its iconic label and lofty reputation this is an incredibly rare old Bowmore and will attract serious interest.

Next up is an auction first: this glorious 1940s spring-capped US bottling of the legendary Mackie’s Ancient Brand blended Scotch, made by White Horse in the 1940s and rumoured to contain whisky from the fabled Malt Mill distillery. We opened a very similar bottle at the Glasgow Old & Rare Whisky Show a few years ago and it really lives up to the hype. This bottle is complete with presentation box and is in remarkable condition for its age – we can’t wait to see how it does.

Staying with blends, check this marvellous Islay Mist 8 Year Old from the early to mid 1960s: pretty certain to contain a chunk of 1950s Laphroaig. The shortcap has preserved the contents of this bottle brilliantly, with the level high in the neck.

GORDON & MACPHAIL RARE OLD & PRIVATE COLLECTION

Gordon & MacPhail’s Rare Old series definitely does what it says on the tin, being home to prestige bottlings of venerable malts from little-seen or closed distilleries, many of which are gone forever.

Brief highlights of this month’s Rare Olds include Brora 1982-2015, Clynelish 1972-2016, Convalmore 1975-2015, Glenglassaugh 1986-2015, Glenlochy 1979-2012, Glenury Royal 1984-2012, Port Ellen 1980-2016, Rosebank 1990-2014, and St. Magdalene 1982-2015. There’s loads more if you look…

Moving up a step, there’s some outrageously dark old monsters from G&M’s Private Collection Single Casks: Glen Mhor 1966-2010, Glen Elgin 1969-2010 (only 50 bottles made), Linkwood 1970-2013 (83 bottles made), and Longmorn 1964-2010. Sherryheads take note.

MISCELLANEOUS OLD GLORIES

So many this month, but we’ll single out this marvellous single hogshead Auchentoshan 1965 36 Year Old, a single cask Glenglassaugh 1963-2014, the wonderful Berry Bros Smith’s Glenlivet 1957-1983, and plenty from the First Cask series including Bowmore 1982 22 Year Old, Brora 1982 21 Year Old, Caol Ila 1981 21 Year Old, and a pair of dark sherried lovelies: Glenallachie 1981 22 Year Old and Longmorn 1973 21 Year Old.

OLD FAVOURITES, BARGAINS AND CURIOS

We’ll start with Lagavulin – alongside this early Syndicate bottling of Lagavulin 15 Year Old there’s a couple of classic bottlings: Lagavulin 1985-2007 21 Year Old and the Lagavulin 25 Year Old from the 2002 Special Releases. 

Another masterpiece from the Special Releases is the Talisker 1982-2003 20 Year Old, a truly fabulous dram. There’s also several overlooked gems from Diageo’s Rare Malts including Caol Ila 1975 20 Year Old & Teaninich 1973-1997 alongside the classic Glenury Royal 1970-1999 and Rosebank 1979-1999.

Balvenie’s Tun 1401 series is one of this century’s major success stories, so we’re delighted to have Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 1 Batch 2, Batch 4 and Batch 5. Balvenie enthusiasts will also be keeping tabs on the Balvenie Rose 1991 First Edition.

There’s some great malts from Springbank this month too, with one of the first bottlings of the iconic Longrow 1973 at the top end, and several indie or private cask bottlings that are more within reach: Springbank 1993 26 Year Old, Springbank 1996-2012, Springbank 1996-2014, and Springbank 1993-2016 from Hunter Laing.  

The latter also bottled this impressively dark Probably Speyside’s Finest 1966-2016, which should align with Glenfarclas fans’ interests, and while we’re on Glenfarclas there’s this late 1970s square bottle Glenfarclas 15yo at 46% (!) and another of the very rare Glenfarclas 40 Year Old for Pol Roger – only 55 bottles of that one were ever produced.

Finally, while the big boys fight over the instant classic Highland Park 50 Year Old from 2010, many value-conscious fans will be eyeing up the tall bottle Highland Park 18 Year Old from the late 1990s/early ‘00s, a reliably fantastic everyday drinking dram.