July Whisky Auction Highlights 2024

Welcome to our July/August Auction highlights! There’s some truly magnificent whisky coming under the hammer in this sale from the likes of Bowmore, Talisker, Rosebank, Ardbeg and many more, but let's start with a bang: We've got another single cask in bond coming under the hammer this month!

Bruichladdich 2003 Cask 132 is currently in storage in one of the distillery's warehouses on Islay. This hogshead cask was filled on 12th May 2003, so the whisky has therefore recently celebrated its 21st birthday. Cask 132 was regauged on 14th June this year, at which time it held 145 bulk litres at a strength of 57.3%, which would yield around 207 bottles at full cask strength, and is an absolutely delightful dram that could potentially age a few more years if you so desire. Click here for more info and tasting notes provided by Gateshead's finest, Lee Connor.

There's plenty of other (already-bottled) whisky this month too, so we’d best crack on…

Distillery Bottlings

We’ve got some wonderful old official distillery bottlings from the golden age right up to the present day in this month's whisky auction. We’ll start with old Diageo bottlings and there’s some beauties like a 1966 bottling of Cardhu 8-year-old - a very dark one suggesting plenty of sherry influence, and bottled at 75 Imperial proof, the equivalent of 43% alcohol by volume.

We also have a pair of top class Taliskers from 2005 - the 1992 Talisker Distillers Edition finished in Amoroso casks, and the magnificent Talisker 25-year-old from the 2005 Special Releases, an absolutely massive, rich, spicy dram bottled from refill casks at a phenomenal 57.2% - equivalent to 100 Imperial proof, coincidentally enough.

Other interesting Diageo official bottlings this month include the Benrinnes 1985 23-year-old from 2009’s Special Releases and several superb whiskies from the Rare Malts which preceded the Special Releases, including Dailuaine 1973-1996, Glen Ord 1973-1997, Caol Ila 1975-1996 and the legendary 'B297' South African version of the most desirable Rare Malt ever: Clynelish 1972 23-year-old, a truly glorious dram weighing in at exactly 57%.

Let’s check out this month’s Macallans - highlights include the 1974 and 1981 vintages of the classic blue ribbon Macallan 18-year-old and a rare multi-vintage Macallan 25-year-old Anniversary Selection, distilled in 1958/59 and bottled in 1985. This was in the early years of the Anniversary Selection bottlings and there were a handful of multi-vintage editions in 1984 and 1985, presumably in response to higher-than-expected demand in some markets.

Other interesting Macallans this month include an early edition of the discontinued Macallan Fine Oak 21-year-old, plus Macallan Rare Cask releases from 2020-2023, Macallan Folio 5 from 2019 and the return of a pair of truly magnificent Macallan legends in the shape of Macallan Private Eye and the glorious first release of Macallan 18-year-old Gran Reserva, distilled in 1979 and bottled in 1997. The latter was one of the last of the truly classic golden era Macallans and is a must-try for serious connoisseurs.

Moving to Islay and there’s an absolute embarrassment of riches this month, with all-time legends like Ardbeg 25-year-old Lord of the Isles, Lagavulin 16-year-old White Horse and Bowmore 30-year-old Sea Dragon rubbing shoulders with more recent gems like the Ardbeg Kildalton 2013 edition and interesting historical curios like Octomore Futures and Ardbeg Blasda.

This month’s Islay selection is dominated, however, by Laphroaig, with a stream of absolute classic golden-era bottlings. The full list is too long for this blog, but selected highlights include the 2007 edition of Laphroaig 25-year-old, Laphroaig 10-year-old Original Cask Strength (the famous Green Stripe edition at 57.3%), Laphroaig 30-year-old from around 2000, and the fantastic Laphroaig 40-year-old, distilled in 1960 and bottled in 2001.

There’s lots of minor Islay classics this month too, including 1990s Bowmore 17-year-old, Ardbeg Mor, Lagavulin 1980 Distillers Edition, the excellent Feis Ile 2007 Laphroaig 1989 17-year-old and many, many more - check out all this month’s Islay drams here.

Miscellaneous official bottlings worth keeping tabs on this month include Aberlour 1964 25-year-old (an early prestige bottling from the late 1980s), the marvellous Oloroso sherry-finished Glen Moray 1974 28-year-old, Tomatin 1966-1992 - the distillery’s first ever official 25-year-old - plus the famous 'Clock edition' Glengoyne 30-year-old bottled for the Millennium and the splendid Glen Grant 30-year-old bottled back in 1990 for the distillery's 150th anniversary.

We've also got the likes of Ben Nevis 1962 40-year-old, Glenlivet 30-year-old Cellar Collection (an absolute superstar bottling from 2001), Old Pulteney 1983 21-year-old, the legendary Jameson 15-year-old Pure Pot Still released in 2001, and the first ever bottling (Batch 1) of Glendronach 18-year-old Allardice from 2009.

Independent Bottlings

We’ve got some fantastic indie bottlings in this month’s whisky auction. Highlights from Gordon & MacPhail include an amazing dark sherry Miltonduff 1969 bottled in 2010, and there’s an even older Linkwood 1946, bottled under the old black and white eagle label around the turn of the millennium after over half a century of ageing - a venerable, beautifully intricate and complex old school sherried Speyside whisky from the very top drawer.

There’s even more early G&M treasures from days gone by this month, with a Bruichladdich 1969 27-year-old bottled at cask strength in 1996 and a wonderful pair of contrasting 1970s-bottled 100-Proof (57.1%) editions: a very clean-looking Glen Grant 15-year-old 100-Proof, likely from refill casks filled no later than the early 1960s; and a very promisingly dark Talisker 1967 100-Proof in the beautiful thistle-stencilled bottle with the classic black label and golden eagle. What an incredible comparative tasting these two would make.  

Miscellaneous indie bottlings this month include an intriguing half-bottle of Macallan 1979 bottled in 1991 by Cadenhead’s at 55.2%, a private bottling of Glenlivet 1974 25-year-old and the highly desirable SMWS 4.49, a 17-year-old Highland Park distilled in 1980 and bottled in 1997.

Closed Distilleries

There’s some very interesting bottles from closed distilleries in this month’s sale. Official bottlings from lost distilleries this month include Rare Malts editions of Hillside (Glenesk) 1970, Glen Albyn 1975, Glen Mhor 1979, and the amazing Rosebank 1981 20-year-old bottled in 2002 at a phenomenal 62.3%.

There's a superb Signatory Vintage Linlithgow (aka St. Magdalene) 1975 24-year-old bottled in 1999 at a tempting 51.5%, but Gordon & MacPhail lead the indie offerings from closed distilleries this month with their Glenury Royal 1972, a beautifully rich, complex Highland whisky bottled in 2002, and a lovely rare young Connoisseurs Choice Rosebank 1989 bottled way back in 2000 - these early-milennial bottlings of the marvellous spirit made at Rosebank in the final years of its last incarnation are frequently superb despite their comparative youth.

Single Casks

We have some superb single casks coming under the hammer this month. Official single cask highlights include the likes of the Highland Park 1977 Cask 4258, chosen by/for the Scottish Field Merchants in 2003, plus Ardbeg’s magnificent Ardbeg 1972 32-year-old Cask 866, selected by defunct wine retailers Oddbins back in 2004, and the more recent Glenallachie 1978 Cask 10296, a 39-year-old sherry butt selected by Billy Walker in 2018 to celebrate the distillery’s 50th anniversary.

Another very special OB single cask this month is Glendronach 1968 Cask 2628. This particular version of this bottling is extremely rare, as it was done as a small private run for staff and VIPs at Allied Distillers in the 1990s, and differs from the later official release as it's labelled as 75cl / 49%, while the eventual public release was in 70cl bottles at 48.7%. Anyone who knows anything about Glendronach will be well aware that 1968 was a miracle vintage for the distillery - this rare, dark sherried, staff-only full strength single cask edition will attract fierce bidding.

Going a bit further afield, we also have a legendary Japanese single malt whisky single cask: Nikka Yoichi 1987 23-year-old Cask 112814, a monstrous sherry butt bottled in 2010 for la Maison Du Whisky at its natural cask strength of 59%. 1987 was a great vintage for Yoichi - we've tried several single casks from this vintage and they are always out of this world. 

We’ve also got some great private bottling single casks up for grabs, including Springbank hogshead single casks from 1989 and 1992, plus a private 18-year-old Ben Nevis 2005 hogshead bottled at 53.5% and a Port Charlotte 18-year-old matured in a Rivesaltes hogshead cask and bottled at a potent 57.1%.

Indie single casks in this month’s sale, meanwhile, include Douglas Laing’s Old & Rare Platinum Ardbeg 1991 19-year-old, a fantastic refill hogshead bottled in 2010 at its natural strength of 53.1%, and the remarkable Directors’ Cut edition of North British 1962, one of only 150 bottles from a refill butt cask 9783 bottled in 2013 as a 50-year-old at a very promising cask strength of 53.3%. There’s also Murray McDavid’s superb Lagavulin 1979 24-year-old and some great 1980s and 1990s vintage single casks bottled by Duncan Taylor including the likes of Springbank 1991 14-year-old and an extraordinarily dark Cragganmore 1993 bottled in 2019.

That's it for this month's auction, but of course we've only scratched the surface in this brief blog - check out the full auction here, Good Luck and Happy Bidding!