March Auction Highlights 2026
A warm welcome to our March 2026 Auction Highlights blog! There’s lots to tell you about with some superb whiskies from the likes of Springbank, St. Magdalene, Bowmore, Talisker and Glendronach coming under the hammer this month, so we’d best get cracking.
Distillery Bottlings
We’ll kick off our pick of this month’s Distillery Bottlings with some old school Diageo Special Releases. For starters, there’s a famous official bottling of Oban 1969 32-year-old Highland single malt whisky, an edition of 6000 bottles from a relatively large batch of casks that was bottled at an impressive natural cask strength of 55.1%. This was released by owners Diageo in 2002 as part of the first full slate of Special Releases and remains the distillery’s oldest official bottling and the only official release of 1960s vintage Oban. This is a highly complex, coastal, pleasingly earthy Oban, with ginger and citrus peel flavours alongside peppery hot bakery spices like clove and cinnamon, soot, sweet fruit and some strong, highly refined polished oak notes.
There’s also a wonderful old small batch Glen Elgin 1971 32-year-old bottled for the 2003 Special Releases at its naturally low cask strength of 42.3%. Glen Elgin was on a bit of a roll at the time this Special Releases edition appeared, with the distillery’s Flora & Fauna edition having been discontinued to make way for a proper official 12-year-old bottling in the first wave of Diageo’s Hidden Malts series when they launched in 2002. This 32-year-old Glen Elgin was an edition of just 1500 bottles and remains the oldest official bottling ever released from the distillery.
While we’re on Diageo, it’s definitely worth mentioning that we’ve got some really terrific Rare Malts Selection whiskies this month. Highlights include a renowned old Caol Ila 1978 23-year-old Islay whisky released in 2002 towards the end of the Rare Malts series, when the Special Releases were taking over as the company’s main outlet for prestige single malts. This superb 23-year-old Caol Ila was bottled without chill filtration at its phenomenal cask strength of 61.7%, a strength that has perfectly preserved the distillery’s knife-like citrus notes. Despite its age this whisky still retains a blisteringly dry, smoky phenolic intensity, along with a deliciously full, contrastingly creamy, oily mouthfeel.
There’s also an old Rare Malts bottling of Linkwood 1974 30-year-old released at cask strength in 2005 as one of the very last of the Rare Malts series. This was the fifth and oldest of the 1970s Linkwoods bottled for the Rare Malts range and was released without chill filtration at its natural cask strength of 54.9%. Official bottlings of Linkwood at the time were limited to the Flora & Fauna editions, so these long-aged cask strength bottlings were for many whisky fans the first time they had encountered the distillery’s superb character at the height of its spicy, citrussy powers.
Moving on to Campbeltown, there’s a marvellous old official Springbank 15-year-old released in the distillery’s iconic 1980s ‘pear shape’ bottle. These old pear shape Springbanks are like catnip to Campbeltown aficionados and anyone who has tried them will know why. Released in the early to mid 1980s, this wonderful old Springbank would have been distilled somewhere between the late 1960s and early 1970s, and it’s amazing how much incredible Campbeltown character the distillery managed to pack into these glorious 46% whiskies.
Macallan fans, meanwhile, will be chasing an early bottling of Macallan 18-year-old. This version of the classic was distilled in 1967, just a couple of years after the distillery’s first major expansion to 12 stills, and was bottled in 1985 - very early in the history of the blue riband Macallan 18-year-old editions, which had made their first appearance the previous year.
There’s also a superb and unusual Macallan 1965 17-year-old from the Special Selection series. This US import bottle is particularly rare as it bears a special back label marking it as Duty Free For Diplomatic Use Only. This bottling was released in 1984, and must have been one of the very last of the Special Selection range - a later batch of Macallan 1965 was released the same year as the first edition of the blue riband Macallan 18-year-olds.
Macallan in those days made sure that their casks had aged proper, real sherry for at least two years before filling them with whisky, ensuring the oak had absorbed generous quantities of top quality sherry, and these fabulous 1960s 18-year-olds still remain the gold standard for classic sherried Speyside whisky. Check out all this month’s Macallans here.
Old school standards this month include the likes of a lovely old official bottling of Tamdhu 15-year-old released in the 1980s by former owners Highland Distillers in a dumpy decanter-style bottle. This was the oldest official Tamdhu bottling at the time of release in 1985, and the whisky would have been distilled around the very late 1960s, certainly no later than 1970. This unassuming 15-year-old Tamdhu has a lofty reputation among fans of old Speyside whiskies - although it was bottled at a modest 43%, it packs an amazing amount of absolutely delicious old school classical sherried flavours onto the palate. A hidden treasure, this old Tamdhu is now difficult to find and usually fiercely-contested by in-the-know whisky fans.
In the same vein, we also have an old 750ml bottle of Glenfarclas 8-year-old 105 released in the 1980s at a whopping 60%. Glenfarclas 105 was one of the first modern official distillery bottlings of cask strength whisky when it was introduced in 1968, and these old editions, which would have been distilled in the late 1970s or early 1980s, are always fantastic whiskies, with the high alcohol preserving the delicious sherry notes and Glenfarclas’s immaculate spirit shining through.
This auction’s limited edition OB’s include some great small batch limited edition Glenmorangies, such as the Glenmorangie 1993 Burr Oak Reserve, which was released by the distillery in 2004 at full cask strength. One of the most successful of the young Bill Lumsden’s wood experiments, this whisky was matured full term in a handful of charred new oak casks made with Missouri burr oak (quercus macrocarpa), a large oak native to North America that boasts the biggest acorns of any native oak species. Glenmorangie Burr Oak was a limited edition of just 1152 bottles released at its natural cask strength of 56.3%. A particularly bourbonesque ‘Morangie, Glenmorangie Burr Oak sold out immediately on release and subsequently became highly sought-after among Glenmorangie fans.
For the grain whisky fans, meanwhile, we have a very rare one-off limited edition Carsebridge House blended grain whisky from Diageo. Just 120 bottles of this cask strength grain whisky were made, as it was a valedictory bottling that was gifted to staff at Diageo’s Carsebridge facility in Alloa in 2019, following the announcement of the final closure of the warehousing operations. Carsebridge House was bottled at its natural cask strength of 48.2% but this special bottling was never for sale to the public. The Carsebridge grain whisky distillery itself had closed in 1983, with the main cooperage and warehouses being shuttered in 2011, and sadly the beautiful B-listed Carsebridge House portrayed on the label of this commemorative bottling - originally the distillery manager’s home - was unlawfully torn down by its housing developer owners in 2024 shortly after a suspicious fire had destroyed the roof.
There’s some gems this month for blended whisky fans, including a splendid old bottle of the Haig Gold Label blended Scotch whisky. From the King George VI royal warrant on the label and the old springcap closure it seems very likely that this bottle dates from 1936-1952. Haig was far more high profile back then as one of the most famous whiskies in the world at the time, and the best blends had a far higher malt whisky content in the mid 20th century too, most of which would have been distilled during or in the immediate aftermath of the war. This will be a magnificent drop, as these old Haig blends are typically very waxy, minerally and metallic with hints of engine oil, diesel fumes, herbs, syrup and spices.
Finally, we have another brilliant old blended whisky: a fantastic old bottle of Teacher’s Highland Cream released in the 1950s with the classic gold-tinged label and beautiful tall-lettered font of the day. Teacher’s is a historic blend first created in the mid-19th century and this 1950s edition would have been composed around a generous helping of malt whisky from the company’s Ardmore distillery, which was built by the family of the original William Teacher to supply their blend in 1898 and remains at the heart of Teacher’s today.
Independent Bottlings
We’ll begin our Independent Bottlings highlights with an iconic heavily sherried Talisker 1967 bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in the late 1970s with the classic black and gold eagle label. This is one of the hugely desirable higher strength editions bottled at 100 imperial proof, aka 57.1%, and still bears a price sticker showing that its first owner bought it at an establishment named John Hogg & Sons for the princely sum of £8.39. Thankfully, for some foolish reason that person chose not to drink it.
Although not particularly old by today’s standards, these remarkable 1970s G&M bottlings of vintage Taliskers possessed exceptional character and extraordinarily rich flavour profiles thanks to the raw, oily, minerally power of the spirit and the quality of the sherry casks used. Today, however, now that it has become abundantly clear that the quality of those 1960s and 1970s sherry casks can never be replicated, these old school sherried Taliskers are increasingly highly prized.
Staying with G&M, we have a very rare Mortlach 1936 45-year-old released in the early 1980s for the Connoisseurs Choice range during its imperious brown-and-beige era. In the 1930s the G&M directors, including John Urquhart and his young son ‘Mr. George’ Urquhart, who joined the business in 1933, bought up a huge volume of young single malt whisky in the last few years before WWII. This far-sighted move paid off in spades, both for the company and for happy whisky fans, with long-aged gems like these appearing frequently from the 1970s onwards. Mortlach 1936 was bottled by G&M under various labels from at least as early as 1972, but this particular edition would have appeared in 1981 or 1982 - predating the legendary Book of Kells 50-year-old Mortlach 1936 that appeared in 1986 by four or five years.
There’s also a very rare decanter of small batch Glendronach 1970 bottled by Signatory Vintage. In July 1990, Signatory’s head honcho Andrew Symington vatted together a small batch of Glendronach comprising half a dozen sister casks from the 1970 vintage numbered 513-518. The bulk of this batch was released in the company’s now-famous dumpy bottles at cask strength, but a very small amount of the whisky was retained and reduced to 43% before being bottled as a special edition in the same handsome cut crystal decanters that had been used a decade or so earlier for one of the Dalmore 50-year-old bottlings. This gorgeous, elegant, heavily sherried Glendronach makes a great after-dinner sipper at this strength.
Finally for this section, there’s a rare indie single cask Macallan 1991 12-year-old released by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in 2003. This Macallan bears the bottling code SMWS 24.72 and the subtitle Classic Sherry Speyside, so you know what you’re in for here. This is a big, chewy vintage Macallan at a hefty 56.5% natural cask strength, and shows classic patisserie, citrus, chocolate and spice notes. Indie Macallans were even rarer back then than they are now, so this is a great find for Macallan fans.
Closed Distilleries
Our Closed Distilleries section this month is dominated by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. We’ll start with a very rare single cask St. Magdalene 1975 bottled by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in October 1987, a month before its 12th birthday. This St. Magdalene was bottled with the SMWS code 49.1, indicating that this was the first ever Society bottling from the St. Magdalene distillery, which was also sometimes known as Linlithgow. St. Magdalene had already been closed for a few years by the time this historic bottling was released, and Cask 49.1 was the first of only a dozen or so Society bottlings from this classic lost Lowland distillery. SMWS 49.1 was almost certainly a hogshead cask, as only 293 bottles were released, and is a phenomenal old school, austere St. Magdalene at an astonishing 64.6% natural cask strength.
Also from the SMWS, we’ve got a single cask Dallas Dhu 1975 released in 2003 as a 27-year-old with the Society code 45.10 and the subtitle ‘Exotic fruit and nutshells’, which is a good indicator as to which of the various styles of 1970s Dallas Dhu this one aligns with. Bottled without colouring or chill filtration at its natural cask strength of 49.9%, this is one of the marvellous waxy fruit style mid-1970s Dallas Dhus, with the lower natural strength ensuring that your water jug will probably not be required.
Continuing the fruity theme, there’s a Glenugie 1980 24-year-old released in 2005 by the Society with the SMWS code 99.8 and the subtitle Fruity Baker’s Shop. Bottled from a refill hogshead that yielded 358 bottles at its natural cask strength of 51.4%, this is one of only a tiny number of Glenugie casks that made their way to the indie bottlers after the distillery’s closure in 1983. The surviving bottlings of Glenugie’s single malt are almost without exception superb whiskies, while their scarcity ensures they are always keenly contested at auction.
Next up is a single cask Inverleven 1979 23-year-old Lowland single malt whisky made on pot stills at Hiram Walker’s Dumbarton grain distillery and bottled by the Society in 2003 with the SMWS code 20.19 and subtitled ‘A Divine Treat’.
Single malt whisky production ceased at Dumbarton in 1991 and fewer than 150 bottlings of Inverleven’s malt have ever been released, with the vast majority of the Inverleven whisky always destined for the Ballantine’s blend. SMWS 20.19 was an edition of just 193 bottles yielded from a single barrel at its natural cask strength of 52.6%.
Dumbarton’s original Inverleven pot stills were replaced in 1972; after falling silent in 1991 they were purchased in 2005 by infamous erstwhile Murray McDavid head honcho Mark Reynier for Bruichladdich, where for many years the wash still sat outside to greet visitors from a patch of grass next to the distillery gates. Reynier must have loved the Inverleven pot stills, as after leaving Bruichladdich he bought them again for his Waterford distillery in Ireland in 2015, where they ran for nearly six years before finally being replaced by another set of replicas in 2021. After Waterford’s unfortunate recent failure it remains to be seen where the new replica stills will end up next.
Finally for now, there’s a Rosebank 1992 11-year-old released by the Society in 2003 with the SMWS code 25.32 and the subtitle Bath Salts and Raspberry Jam. Like most if not all of the remarkable 1990s vintage Rosebanks released by indie bottlers in the early years of this century, this Rosebank 1992 is an outstanding whisky that demonstrates the utter absurdity of Diageo predecessor United Distillers’ decision to shutter the distillery the following year at the height of its powers. This Rosebank was finished in a port pipe before bottling, which explains the Raspberry Jam of the title (and the whisky’s extraordinary dark colour), and was an edition of just 211 bottles at a natural cask strength of 54.3%.
Single Casks
Official Single Cask bottlings this month include a rare single cask Glenmorangie 1988 15-year-old released at cask strength without chill filtration after full term maturation in a ‘drum’ cask that had formerly been home to the Portuguese fortified dessert wine Madeira. Drum casks are relatively large, even compared to sherry butts, and Cask 3078 yielded a generous 856 bottles at its natural cask strength of 56.6%. Glenmorangie were on a roll in the early to mid-Noughties, and were at the forefront of the trend for maturing or finishing whiskies in fortified wine casks; this is one of the finest examples from the distillery.
Over in Cork, meanwhile, there’s a very rare single cask Redbreast 1999 20-year-old single pot still Irish whiskey released at cask strength in 2021. Cask 30114 was an Oloroso sherry butt released at its massive cask strength of 60.3% in an edition of just 552 bottles and was only available to visitors at Irish Distillers’ Midleton and Bow Street distilleries in Cork and Dublin. Single pot still whiskeys of this age are rare indeed, particularly sherry casks, but this is ample evidence of Redbreast’s outstanding quality and is still highly sought after by Irish whiskey enthusiasts.
Turning to the indies, and of course there are some superb single casks from Signatory once again. We’ll start with this fantastic old single cask Glenlivet 1973 25-year-old released back in 1998 in Signatory’s famous ‘inkpot’ dumpy bottles. This wonderful old (and very rare) indie Glenlivet was bottled from single cask 3307, a sherry butt that turned out an impressive 570 bottles at a remarkable 57.2%. Independently bottled Glenlivet has never been abundant, but this cask strength 1970s single cask is a classic old school sherried Glenlivet of the highest order.
Signatory also bottled a superb single cask Glendronach 1976 23-year-old, distilled the same year that owners W.M. Teacher ceded stewardship of the distillery to Allied Breweries, and released back in 2000 when the distillery was in mothballs and very few whisky fans knew or cared much about Glendronach’s whisky at all. This 23-year-old Glendronach 1976 was an edition of 232 bottles from an ‘oak cask’ - so likely a refill hogshead - at a hearty 49.9% cask strength.
Next up there’s a single cask Dallas Dhu 1975 33-year-old released by Signatory in 2009 from single cask 1899, a hogshead that yielded 181 bottles at a natural cask strength of 46.7%. Dallas Dhu from the 1970s is difficult to pin down, with a lot of variation in style and quality evident in the distillery’s whiskies from this era - this is one of the good ones, with waxes, fresh herbs, oily rags and prominent lemon and grapefruit citrus notes.
Finally for now, there’s this single cask Bowmore 1972 36-year-old Islay single malt whisky released in 2008 as part of Signatory’s Cask Strength Collection series. Bottled a month after its 36th birthday, this 1972 Bowmore came from Cask 3890, a fresh Oloroso sherry butt that yielded 540 bottles at its natural cask strength of 45.4%. This superb whisky was the first of a renowned quartet of sister casks of 1972 Bowmore bottled by Signatory Vintage, the most recent and famous of which was the 45-year-old Cask 3882 bottled for Signatory’s 30th anniversary in 2018.
That's it for our March 2026 Whisky-Online Auction Highlights - as ever, check out the full sale here, Good Luck and Happy Bidding...