May Whisky Auction Highlights 2023

Time once again for our Whisky Auction highlights! There’s oceans of top class whisky in this month’s auction with brilliant drams from the likes of Glenmorangie, Glendronach, Port Ellen and Macallan, so we’d better get cracking.

Monthly Macallan Highlights

As ever, we’ve got a plethora of superb whiskies from Speyside’s shiniest star. Modern Macallan highlights include the 2020 edition of Macallan Easter Elchies Black, the 2021 edition of Macallan Rare Cask, the welcome return of Macallan X Sir Peter Blake and various recent sherry cask 18-year-olds and 25-year-olds.

Classic older Macallan bottlings in this month’s whisky auction include Macallan 1974 25-year-old Anniversary Malt, an early 2000s litre bottle of the much-loved Macallan 12-year-old sherry cask, a smattering of Macallan Replicas and Exceptional Single Casks and, rarest of all, the Macallan 1949 Fine & Rare edition bottled in 2002.

We also have plenty of indie Macallan this month, with great examples from Cadenhead’s, Douglas Laing and Signatory Vintage, plus long-aged undisclosed Macallans from Prometheus and Crabbie. Check out all of this month’s Macallan here.

Islay Magic

So much good stuff from Islay once again in this month’s sale. We’ll start with Ardbeg, whose highlights include the 2020 release of Ardbeg 19-year-old Traigh Bhan Batch 2, Ardbeg 1974 Provenance and Ardbeg Lord of the Isles 25-year-old, plus a nice Ardbeg 1974 from Gordon & MacPhail.

Bruichladdich fans have plenty to choose from this month, too, with Bruichladdich 1992 Black Art 9.1, Octomore 2009 Islay Barley 6.3 and several bottles of the privately-bottled Port Charlotte 16-year-old, matured in what was evidently a very active sherry hogshead and bottled at its whopping 60.6% cask strength.

Back on the south coast, Lagavulin fans will be chasing the Lagavulin 1986 Distillers Edition (bottled in 2002), the excellent Lagavulin 11-year-old Managers Dram released back in 2013 and the magnificent Lagavulin 1985 21-year-old from the 2007 Special Releases, while Laphroaig aficionados will be keeping tabs on the famous Laphroaig 10-year-old Royal Warrant bottling and the earlier pre-warrant Laphroaig 15-year-old, complete with its presentation tin.

Miscellaneous Islay bottlings worth checking out this month include a rare 55% version of Caol Ila Cask Strength marked Only For Use On Johnnie Walker Mentoring, a pair of Gordon & MacPhail’s Rare Old Port Ellens distilled in 1979 and various other very tempting indie PEs from the likes of Signatory, Douglas Laing and Hunter Laing.

Sherried Treasure

There’s some delicious sherry monster whiskies in this month’s auction. As ever, there’s a string of great Glendronach single casks up for grabs, joined this month by Batch 1 of the stunning Glendronach Grandeur 31-Year-Old, which debuted in 2010. Perennial favourites Glenfarclas have some great drams in the sale as well, including a superb Glenfarclas 1965 Family Cask edition bottled in 2014.

Classic sherried drams this month include the legendary Managers Dram Clynelish 17-year-old released in 1998 - one of forty Managers Dram bottles in this month's sale! - and some top-rank belters from Gordon & MacPhail including Glen Grant 1958 54-year-old, Strathisla 1953-2010 and the G&M Cask edition Mortlach 1980-2002 bottled at a phenomenal 63.8%. 

Finally, there’s some very promising indie sherry monsters worth keeping an eye on this month, including Queen of the Moorlands Glenglassaugh 1984 bottled in 2006, First Cask’s Strathisla 1979 24-year-old, Glentauchers 2007 12-year-old Distillery Reserve and an intriguing private bottling of Arran 2008 ‘Anaffafish’ bottled from a single sherry hogshead at an impressive 59.2%.

Favourites & Curios

There are some all-time legends in this month’s sale, with the Rare Malts Glenury Royal 1970 29-year-old, the phenomenal Glendronach 1964 12-year-old and Gordon & MacPhail’s timeless Strathisla 1937 heading the bill, along with lesser-known little gems like the Glengoyne 1968 25-year-old Cask Strength, Glenlivet 1963 21-year-old For The Chairman and Knockando 1973-1996 Extra Old Reserve.

Springbank fans will be pinching themselves this month, as the legendary Cadenhead’s rum-matured Springbank 1973 is up for grabs alongside an absolutely magnificent black label Springbank 21-year-old 100-Proof official bottling from the late 1960s - a very hard to find bottle in extremely good condition for its age.

There’s a lot of great Glenmorangie in our May whisky auction as well, with classics such as the Glenmorangie Culloden joined by some rare wood finish editions from the early Noughties including Glenmorangie 12-year-old Chateau de Meursault Finish, Glenmorangie 12-year-old Cote de Beaune Finish and Glenmorangie 15-year-old Sauternes Finish. 

Lost distillery highlights this month include the Glen Mhor 1970 25-year-old Campbell & Clark bottling, Gordon & MacPhail’s Coleburn 1972-2013, Signatory’s Linlithgow 1975 28-year-old and Douglas Laing’s Glenugie 1984 20-year-old.

Away from single malts, there’s the very rare Cameron Brig 25-year-old special edition single grain whisky bottled for the Cameronbridge distillery’s 175th Anniversary in 1999. There’s also some terrific blended whisky this month, with recent releases like 2022’s Royal Salute 30-year-old Key To The Kingdom rubbing shoulders with an old 1980s Ballantine’s 30-year-old and various Johnnie Walkers including 2015’s Johnnie Walker Private Collection, Johnnie Walker Directors Blend 2011 and the hard to find Johnnie Walker Odyssey. 

Moving away from Scotland there are some superb Japanese whiskies in this month’s sale including an early 2000s edition of Yamazaki 12-year-old, the highly sought-after Hibiki 17-year-old and 30-year-old and the beautiful Kacho Fugetsu limited edition Hibiki 21-year-old from 2015.

Elsewhere, Irish whiskey fans will be chasing the likes of Bushmills 1988 Distillers Reserve, Midleton Very Rare 1992 and Teeling 18-year-old Renaissance 1, while American whiskey fans will be scrapping over some top-end bottlings from Buffalo Trace’s Antique Collection, with various Thomas H. Handys and Sazerac Ryes. For the Stitzel-Weller aficionados there’s also a very rare old edition of Old Weller 7-year-old Special Reserve released all the way back in 1977.

Finally, world whisky fans will be chasing a great selection from the likes of Israel’s Golan Heights, some rare limited editions from Mackmyra and The Lakes Distillery, and a handful of highly desirable Paul John bottlings from the SMWS. Away from whisky altogether, there’s vintage champagne from Veuve Clicquot, Pol Roger, Charles Heidsieck, Cristal and Dom Perignon and some superb Cognac from Remy Martin, Hine and Martell, plus Armagnac from Laubade, Chabot and Domaine D’Ognoas among others.

As ever, this is just a tiny selection of the many treats, bargains and classic drams in this month's whisky auction - register now if you have'n't already done so and check out the full May 2023 Whisky-Online Auction here - Good Luck & Happy Bidding!