July Auction Highlights 2018

Dalmore 50 Year Old, Crystal Decanter

Highlighting our July auction is the magnificent Dalmore 50 year old.  This whisky is regarded as the best Dalmore ever bottled and probably the best 50 year old in the World. This was distilled during the 1920s and bottled back in 1978. There’s very few whiskies distilled in this period combined with such great age. Dalmore, along with a handful of other distilleries revolutionised the whisky industry and demonstrated how great certain whiskies can be at such an age. Even today there’s distilleries that have never reached this age. Not that all whiskies need to be old to be good! What’s interesting about this whisky is the fact it’s bottled at a hefty 52%, which is very unusual for such an old whisky. All this history is wrapped up in a hand-cut crystal decanter and bespoke wooden presentation box which is accompanied with a certificate of authenticity hand signed by Richard Patterson. Due to the value of this whisky until recently, there’s been plenty of these opened and with only 60 produced makes this one of the hardest official Dalmore’s to find nowadays.
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Macallan 1946, 56 Year Old, Fine & Rare

Joining the Dalmore Fifty at the top of this sale is a 56 year old Macallan distilled just after the War ended, in 1946. This has been bottled under the distilleries Fine & Rare series which displays Macallan at its best. This is one of the oldest bottlings in the Fine & Rare series that was an original, cask strength and fully matured release rather than a re-bottling. This coupled with the fact of the lack of coal due to the post-war years makes this one of the true gems of this fabled series and perhaps one of the most desirable and hardest to obtain.
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Springbank

If you follow us on Facebook you may already know we have a small haul of Springbank in this sale. A few highlights include two official releases bottled by the distillery in the 1990s. A 25 year old Sherry Cask and a 21 year old under the Archibald Mitchell label.

These are joined by two Dumpy Cadenhead bottlings. A 1973 18 year old – this was matured full term in a Rum Butt rather than just a finish as we tend to see in later bottlings. I assume from the information on label this was drawn from a single cask. Topping this is an incredibly rarer and harder to find Springbank Cadenhead bottling. This one was bottled at least before 1977 and therefore will certainly contain whisky distilled in the early/mid 1950s. The vendor bought this bottle from their local ‘wholesalers’ named Foster’s several decades ago and it’s interesting to see the original price tag (£9.45p) is still stuck on the top of the cap. How things have changed, aye!

Equally as rare is the 1964 31 year old bottled under Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection. This is a whisky I’ve been wanting to try for some time now and I missed my opportunity earlier this year at the Old & Rare! I believe this is a very impressive Sherry matured Springbank and is supposed to be up there with the official 1966 Local Barley’s.

Elsewhere from Springbank you will find numerous examples distilled in the sixties such as a 1967 by Duncan Taylor, a 1968 by Chieftain’s and a 1969 by Signatory.

Old Is The New New 1980s

Older whiskies are what we are all about here at Whisky-Online and we pride ourselves on uncovering a good selection each month. In this sale you will find a nice array of official single malts from the 1980s. These include a 1 litre Bowmore 12 year old. This is a fantastic whisky that’s silky smooth, fruity, peaty, flora and fresh. But be careful, you could easily bury a whole bottle in one session. You could say the same for the ‘Unblended’ Laphroaig 10 year old too. These are joined by several other 1980s bottlings such as a Isle Of Jura 8 year old, a Classic 18 year old Balvenie and a dumpy 12 year old Highland Park.

1970s

From the seventies we have a very rare semi-official Pulteney, one of several produced between the 1970s and 1980s for the Caithness Club under the original Pulteney ‘Lion’ label. Heading over to Clynelish with a very beautiful 12 year old. This livery was introduced in 1977 and the liquid itself is from the pre Brora Clynelish Distillery. This period displayed low levels of peat because it was no longer needed for Islay blends as Caol Ila was back in full production. Or if you’re wanting peat, take a look at the 1939 Glenlivet by Gordon & MacPhail. These pre-war single malts were noticeably smokier and peatier but with an equally intense and fruity character.

Old Blended Scotch Whisky

We always love to mention the old blends we have avalible each month. and standing out in this sale is a White Horse bottled in 1947. This will contain a high proportion of whisky distilled at the Lagavulin distillery in the 1940s. These early dated examples hardly ever turn up in auction and it’s great to see this one in such great condition with a well preserved filling level. A more obscure brand and one that you’d be lucky to find is a Benmore Liqueur Scotch Whisky. Blended & bottled by Benmore Distilleries Ltd. BDL have a long background in the whisky industry dating back to as far as 1920. This is when they purchased a now long lost Distillery named Benmore. – Benmore is one of thirty four lost distilleries in the Campbeltown area which closed in 1936. The company also owned the Dallas Dhu distillery from 1921 which was later mothballed in 1929 and sporadically until it finally closed in 1983. The distillery is now a museum and attracts thousands of visitors from around the World each year. Interestingly in 1921 the company also purchased the Lochindall distillery on Islay. This was a fairly short affair as it was sold off in 1929 to DCL who were starting to dominated the distilling industry. All old blends from before the 1950s are becoming very hard to find nowadays and as more and more enthusiasts realise how different this style of whiskies is, they’re only going to continue to become rarer and even more valuable.

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