May Auction Highlights 2026
Welcome to our May 2026 auction highlights. This month's auction features plenty of exciting single malts, blends, champagnes and a special rum dating back to the 1940s.
The standout Lot in this auction is undoubtedly a bottle of KFM Celebrated British Guiana Demerara Rum, which we have whittled down to be from the 1940s. This is not just an old bottle — it’s a genuine surviving example of early-to-mid 20th century British merchant Demerara rum, from a style that has largely disappeared and is well worth a closer look. We've dug into its history, so please head over to this Lot for more details.
Moving onto Scotch, you will find an increasingly hard-to-find 1975 Ardbeg bottled by Douglas Laing for their Old Malt Cask series. This particular example was one of a dozen 1975 Ardbegs bottled by Douglas Laing and one of two bottled for the US market.
Douglas Laing bottled an endless amount of whiskies under their Old Malt Cask label during this period, and they were generally sub £150. This one still has the original price tag of £141.95 on the box. We've been fortunate enough to try some of these Old Malt Cask Ardbegs, and the 1975s are highly complex, old-school, heavily peated, salty, and briny whiskies that are out of this world — this one is certainly well worth a look.
Talking of sub £150 we have the legendary 1964 Black Bowmore 1st edition. This bottling did arguably more than any other individual whisky to kick off the renaissance in Islay single malt and catalysed the luxury whisky market at the same time.
It's become a bit of a cliche to talk about how this bottle cost £70 upon release in 1993 but it goes to show just what a legendary whisky it is and how important it was as a bottling in formulating the early mentality of serious whisky enthusiasm.
This particular bottle features a well-preserved filling level and the original wax seal. It is important to note that many of these bottles were historically re-worked and resealed with lead capsules by the distillery, as the original wax seals frequently failed or broke. Consequently, this is one of the few examples you will find in such well-preserved condition.
There doesn't seem to be an auction that goes by recently where we've not had an old Gordon & MacPhail Talisker featuring the iconic black label and gold eagle.
In this months auction we have a 1973 vintage that was bottled in the very late 1970s or early 1980s. While it is not a very old whisky by chronological standards, many of the most renowned whiskies in the world are sub 12-years-old.
These old G&M Taliskers are truly iconic, highly regarded heavily-sherried single malts with a complex profile of rich sherry, dried fruits, and industrial maritime notes, all beautifully balanced with peat, pepper, and a distinctive waxy, salty maritime character.
Another notable bottle from Gordon & MacPhail is an early semi-official 10-year-old Macallan bottled at the rare 100-proof (57%).
G&M were one of several trusted UK independent distributors that were licensed to bottle Macallan in the 1970s before the distillery took all official bottlings in-house. If you are interested in high-octane whiskies, then this one is certainly well worth a look.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society
This auction features an exceptional lineup of early bottlings from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS). Topping the bill is undoubtedly a 1965 Springbank with the Society cask number 27.22. This marks only the 22nd Springbank ever bottled by the Society. While there were eight 1965 Springbanks released by the SMWS, this particular bottling is one of two that we have never had the privilege of featuring in our auctions before.
Another notable highlight includes a 1982 Port Ellen, Society cask number 43.13, quirkily titled "Sweaty Gymshoes." These SMWS Port Ellens are incredibly rare; there were only 15 releases in total, and they rarely surface on the market. In fact we've never come across this one and the last time we featured a Port Ellen from the SMWS in one of our auctions was back in early 2016, making this an unmissable highlight for any serious collector.
Beyond these heavy hitters, the auction boasts a remarkable selection of other SMWS bottlings including:
Islay Icons: Ardbeg (33.45, 33.49), Bowmore (3.46), Bunnahabhain (10.39), Bruichladdich (23.26), Caol Ila (53.27), Lagavulin (111.16), and Laphroaig (29.11, 29.25).
Highland & Lowland Gems: Glenfarclas (1.132), Glengoyne (123.1), Inverleven (20.24), Rosebank (25.41, 25.34), and Royal Brackla (55.8).
Whether you are looking to complete a vertical, fill a gap in your collection, or secure a piece of whisky heritage, there's some nice releases in this collection.
New-era, mid- to high-aged expressions
Our latest auction features a strong selection of official well-aged Scotch whiskies from renowned distilleries across Scotland, with a particular focus on new-era, mid- to high-aged expressions.
A key highlight of this auction is the impressive number of 25-year-old releases, including:
Highlands: Dalmore 25-year-old (2023 Release), Glen Scotia 25-year-old (2022 Release), and Glencadam 25-year-old “The Remarkable” Batch 7. You will also find the collaborative Glenmorangie 23-year-old – Dr Bill Lumsden x Azuma Makoto (2024 Release).
Islay & Islands: Ardbeg 25-year-old (2023 Release), Highland Park-year-old (2022 Release), and the Arran-year-old (2024 Release).
Speyside: Glenlivet 25-year-old “The Sample Room Collection” and the Macallan 25-year-old Sherry Cask (2022 Release).
We also have several noteworthy 30-year-old and older expressions, such as the Macallan 30-year-old Double Cask (2022 Release) and Glenturret 30-year-old (2024 Release), Rosebank 31-year-old (2024 Release), and the Highland Park-year-old from around 2010. Additionally there's a Glenfarclas 40 Year Old, Glenrothes 42-year-old, and the Tomintoul 1974 40-year-old.
You may also be interested in some of the single casks and exclusive bottlings, including the Glenfarclas 2000-2024 24-year-old in a Glencairn Crystal Decanter and the Tomatin 2001-2022 20-year-old UK Exclusive to name but a few.
Classic old official bottlings
There's plenty of older official expressions from days gone by in this auction to get your teeth into, featuring interesting releases from the 1960s thought to the 1990s.
Highlight from the 1960s:
Sherriffs Bowmore: A lovely old 'Ship Label' bottle of Sherriff's Bowmore, bottled most likely around the end of the 1960s. These Sherriff's bottles usually contained whisky distilled before the 1963 takeover of the distillery by Stanley P. Morrison and are known for their elegance, with gentle phenols playing second fiddle to waves of tropical fruit flavours.
Highlight from the 1970s:
Glen Flagler 8 Year Old: Glen Flagler was not a standalone distillery. It was actually the name given to a specific pair of malt pot stills housed within the massive Moffat grain distillery complex in Airdrie. Built by Inver House Distillers, the complex housed Garnheath: Grain whisky still, Killyloch: A short-lived malt distillery (decommissioned in the early 1970s). Glen Flagler: The main malt distillery that began operating in 1965.
While the vast majority of the malt spirit produced at Glen Flagler was used as a blending component for Inver House’s popular blended whiskies (like Mac Arthur's and Pinwinnie), the 1970s saw this 8-Year-Old expression officially bottled and released as a single malt.
Highlights from the 1980s include:
Bowmore 12 Year Old Dumpy (1 Litre): A lovely old litre bottling of Bowmore 12-year-old in the classic 1980s long-necked dumpy bottle. These old 1970s-distilled Bowmore 12-year-olds at 43% are usually medium-bodied with a noticeable sherry influence and are generally gentle and sophisticated with notes of wet turfy peat, ripe and cooked fruit, metal polish, saltwater, ash, copper, walnuts and herbal bitters. A wonderful old-school Islay dram.
Macallan 12 Year Old Sherry Cask (1 Litre): An extremely rare early one-litre 1980s bottling of Macallan 12-year-old. The 12-year-old was originally produced exclusively for the duty-free and travel retail markets.
The Macallan 12-year-old has long been highly prized among collectors, and these early bottle shape examples with the metal twist caps are especially significant. Released soon after Macallan took all their official bottling operations in-house, they remain among the hardest examples to find today.
Laphroaig 10 Year Old (1987 Release):
These 10-year-old Laphroaigs bottled during the late 1980s have grown significantly in popularity over the years and are becoming increasingly difficult to source and truly lives up to its lofty reputation. Offering an irresistible combination of gentle smoke, bandages, wet sand, diesel, iodine, lemon juice, and saline. Most notably, it features a super-abundance of sweet tropical fruits—including melon, grapefruit, kiwi, mango, guava, and pineapple. Stunning whisky that everyone should attempt to try at least once.
Highland Park 12 Year Old:
One of the classic dumpy bottle Highland Park 12-year-olds released in the 1980s. These earlier screen-printed editions are highly sought after today by whisky fans as one of the greatest ever entry-level official bottlings from the era. The whisky in this bottle would have been made no later than the early 1970s, when the distillery was making some of its best ever spirit, and these lovely old dumpies are packed with a remarkable density of flavour.
Other notable 1980s bottlings in this auction include: Tullibardine 10 Year Old, Tamdhu 10 Year Old, Glengoyne 10 Year Old, Glen Scotia 8 Year Old, Glenlivet 12 Year Old, Auchentoshan 10 Year Old, Glenturret 1976-1986 (High Proof 102.8 Proof).
Highlights from the late 1980s/early 1990s:
Macallan 10 Year Old Sherry Cask (100 Proof): A wonderful old bottle of Macallan 10-year-old 100-Proof (57%) dating from around the turn of the 1990s - a period when even the distillery’s more humble official releases like this were achieving a quality that few if any distilleries have met before or since. These 100% sherry-matured late 1970s/early 1980s Macallan distillates benefited from maturation in fresh sherry casks of the very highest quality and remain the high watermark for sherried Speyside.
Springbank 21 Year Old (Archibald Mitchell Label): The rarely-seen Archibald Mitchell Springbank 21-year-old was a short-lived edition bottled between the mid-to-late 1980s and the very early 1990s and was one of the first Springbanks with the dumpy bottle and ‘parchment’ label presentation.
Despite being distilled in the golden era of the late 1960s or very early 1970s, these 21-year-old Springbanks are often underrated. An elegant, mesmerising old beauty.
Other notable late 1980s early 1990s bottlings include: Laphroaig 10 Year Old - 1 Litre, Linkwood 12 Year Old, Glendronach 12 Year Old Original, Glendronach 12 Year Old - Traditional.
Historical American whiskey
We've got a couple of interesting old American whiskies worth mentioning starting with a one quart bottle of Federal Club 90 Proof Choice American Blended Whiskey from the 1970s. This is a 6-year-old blend consisting of 40% Straight Whiskey and 60% Grain Neutral Spirits, which was likely distilled in the 1960s.
The second bottle is a John Gibson & Co. Ancient Special Reserve 12-year-old Pennsylvania Pure Rye Whiskey, distilled in 1916 and bottled in bond in 1928 during Prohibition.
It was produced at Distillery No. 77 by The Philadelphia Pure Rye Whiskey Distilling Co. for the Gibson Distilling Co. in West Brownsville, PA, and was bottled at 100-US-proof. These 1-pint bottles are incredibly interesting pieces of American medicinal-era rye whiskey.
