May Whisky Auction Highlights 2025
Welcome to our May 2025 Whisky-Online Auctions highlights blog! We’ve got lots to tell you about from distilleries including Macallan, Strathisla, Daftmill and Highland Park, so we’d better crack on.
Distillery Bottlings
There’s a wide selection of great official Distillery Bottlings in this month's whisky sale. We’ll start on Islay, where there’s some iconic bottles. Laphroaigs this month include a 1987 release Laphroaig 15-year-old distilled in the early 1970s, and a 43% litre bottle of Laphroaig 10-year-old from 1988, which would have been distilled in the late 1970s when Laphroaig’s spirit was at its least phenolic.
This month’s Bowmores meanwhile, include a pair of the delicious Bowmore 12-year-old dumpy bottlings from the 1980s, plus a 1990s Bowmore 17-year-old in the famous screen-printed bottle and a more recent Bowmore 24-year-old subtitled Dragon’s Prey. Miscellaneous Islay whiskies worth keeping tabs on in this sale also include a wonderful white label Lagavulin 12-year-old White Horse from the early 1970s and a delicious old Bruichladdich 10-year-old released in the 1980s during Invergordon’s tenure.
Moving to the mainland, and we’ll start with Macallan. Post-millennial releases from the Speyside giants include recent 25-year-old and 30-year-old Sherry Cask editions alongside old favourites like Macallan Rare Cask Black, Macallan Estate Reserve and Macallan Whisky Makers Edition and rare limited editions like the distillery-only Macallan 12-year-old re-awakening from 2009.
Older Macallans in this month’s sale include Macallan 25-year-old Anniversary bottlings from vintages including 1958/9 and 1975, plus bottles of the early 1980s Macallan 1963 Special Selection, the all-time classic Macallan 1979 18-year-old Gran Reserva and some fascinating licensed official bottlings from before the distillery took their bottling operations in-house. These latter include 10-year-old and 15-year-old Macallans bottled in the 1970s by Campbell, Hope & King, and a very rare brown glass Macallan 10-year-old by Hall & Bramley.
Staying on Speyside, we have a very rare and absolutely beautiful official Strathisla 10-year-old bottled by owners Chivas Brothers in the 1970s, using the same label as the more famous Gordon & MacPhail licensed bottlings, plus early prestige editions like Knockando 1958-1973, Balvenie 18-year-old Classic and a pair of magnificent Glenfarclas 1961 editions bottled around the turn of the 1990s, including the very rare Glencairn Crystal decanter version, which was one of just 250 bottles.
Over in the Highlands we have one of Glenmorangie’s first ever wine finishes, the Glenmorangie 1975 Port Finish limited edition bottled in 1994, and from the same era there’s also the exceptionally rare Deanston 25-year-old, the distillery’s first prestige bottling, which was released in the early 1990s soon after Deanston had been taken over by Burn Stewart. Old school Highland malt fans will also be keeping tabs on a fantastic 1970s Ord 12-year-old in the famous green dimpled bottle, a rare late 1960s Glen Garioch 8-year-old dumpy and a splendid Glenturret 1967 bottled at its natural cask strength of 50% in 1988.
Miscellaneous distillery bottlings worth watching out for this month include Springbank’s iconic pear shape 10-year-old from the 1970s and the Springbank 25-year-old Millennium edition, plus cult whiskies like the first Talisker 1986 Distillers Edition, Jack Daniel’s Monogram and the Midleton Very Rare 2017 - this was the first ever bottling of Midleton VR in its new fancy bottle shape and occurred mid-year so there were much fewer of these than later releases.
Independent Bottlings
We have some absolutely outstanding Independent Bottlings for you in this month’s whisky auction. We’ll start with Elgin institutions Gordon & MacPhail as there’s a fantastic lineup of bottles from their legendary era in the 1970s-1990s.
Highlights from this amazing collection of G&M bottlings include the prestige Book of Kells decanter Mortlach 1936 50-year-old and early 1970s editions of both Macallan 1937 and Strathisla 1937. All three of these whiskies exist thanks to the famously far-sighted strategy of John and George Urquhart in the mid to late 1930s, when they stockpiled casks of new make whisky after realising war was inevitable.
Other G&M highlights this month include the likes of Macallan 15-year-old and Glenlivet 15-year-old 100-Proof in the beautiful 1970s screenprinted thistle bottles, plus the 70-proof and 100-proof versions of Talisker 1957 with its iconic black Eagle label, Ardbeg 1974-2003 and a very rare brown label Connoisseurs Choice edition of Glenlossie 1968 14-year-old.
Elsewhere, we have another fantastic selection of single malts from First Cask, the now-defunct whisky label from mail order behemoth Direct Wines. With casks supplied by Signatory Vintage, these single cask whiskies were bottled at 46% throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s and subsequently garnered a cult following. This month’s First Cask highlights feature a slew of top class casks including Glenlivet 1974, Balblair 1975 and temptingly dark 1976 vintages from Glen Grant and Tomatin.
Miscellaneous indie bottlings worth keeping an eye on this month include the likes of Adelphi’s Mortlach 1993 25-year-old, Murray McDavid’s Mission Gold series Macallan 1990 17-year-old, which was bottled at cask strength after finishing in casks from Chateau Haut-Brion, and a 25-year-old Bowmore 1989 from Whiskybroker.
Closed Distilleries
There’s a fantastic selection of rare old single malts and single grain whiskies from Closed Distilleries coming up for grabs in this month’s whisky auction. Brief highlights include several official bottlings of Littlemill 8-year-old (including a rare clear glass Littlemill 8-year-old), plus the classic Rosebank 12-year-old Flora & Fauna and Lochside 10-year-old official bottlings from the 1980s and 1990s.
There’s another all-time classic official bottling in the form of the legendary Rare Malts Edition Glenury Royal 1971 23-year-old. Weighing in at a scarcely credible 61.3%, this was the first ever official cask strength Glenury Royal and was an outlier in the Rare Malts Editions by being sherry matured. Released in 1995, a dozen years after the distillery had closed for good, this bottling was one of a handful of top class Glenury Royal Rare Malts, and carried off the Best Single Malt Whisky award at the 1996 International Wine & Spirit Competition.
Moving to the indie bottlers and Gordon & MacPhail have another classic Glenury Royal, this time from the 1972 vintage bottled for the now-defunct Rare Old range in 2002. There’s a treasure trove of absolutely magnificent whiskies from closed distilleries bottled by G&M in this month’s sale, with brief highlights including an 8-year-old sherried Glen Mhor bottled in the late 1970s alongside Connoisseurs Choice bottlings of St. Magdalene 1965, Glen Albyn 1968, Dallas Dhu 1968, and 1970s vintages of North Port, Millburn and Glenlochy.
Not to be outdone, Signatory Vintage have got a more recent Glenlochy 1980 35-year-old hogshead cask bottled at a tantalising 51.1% alongside a trio of absolutely outstanding long-aged single grain whiskies: Carsebridge 1982 34-year-old, Cambus 1991 30-year-old and Port Dundas 1996 25-year-old.
Elsewhere, there’s the return of the famous 88-proof Rosebank 34-year-old bottled by Aberdeenshire retailer George Strachan and the Scotch Malt Whisky Society weigh in with a pair of Rosebank single casks of their own from the phenomenal 1990 and 1991 vintages. First Cask, meanwhile, have some great stuff including a sherried Dallas Dhu 1974 and 16-year-old bottlings of Port Ellen 1980 and Convalmore 1981, while Number One Drinks have the last word for this section with a special Karuizawa 1978 bottled as a 35-year-old for La Maison Du Whisky in 2014 at a staggering cask strength of 63%.
Single Casks
This month’s sale features an abundance of superb examples of Single Cask selection by both the distilleries themselves and the best independent bottlers. Highlights from among the official single cask bottlings in this month’s whisky auction include a bottle of the Highland Park 20-year-old Rebus single cask released in 2007 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the hugely popular fictional Edinburgh detective John Rebus, who first appeared in author Ian Rankin’s 1987 novel Knots & Crosses - which are themselves represented on the hefty wooden box.
The Highland Park 20-year-old Rebus was a limited edition of just 150 bottles signed by Rankin - a known whisky connoisseur, like his detective - from a cask he had selected himself, and bottled at its natural strength of 44.7%. These Highland Park Rebus bottles have proven extremely popular on their rare appearances at auction ever since as none of them were originally for sale to the general public, with most being gifted by the author to his friends and only a handful available to the fanbase via draws and competitions. Further 10-year-old and 30-year-old Highland Park Rebus editions were bottled a decade later in 2017 on the detective’s 30th anniversary.
Other top class official single casks this month include one of the very first Daftmill single casks, a Daftmill 2006 vintage first fill bourbon barrel released as a 12-year-old in 2019 for retailer Royal Mile Whiskies, and an interesting single cask Glengoyne 1994 finished in a claret wine cask and bottled in 2005 for the Ayr-based independent retailer Robbie’s Drams to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the town of Ayr being given its Royal Charter in 1205.
We also have a trio of early Balvenie 15-year-old Single Barrel bourbon hogshead single cask editions from the 1979, 1980 and 1981 vintages released in 1995/6 at the standard Balvenie Single Barrel strength of 50.4%, while from further afield there’s great Irish whiskey single cask whiskeys including one of Bushmills’ 1975 single casks released in 2000 for the millennium celebrations and the legendary Midleton 1973 30-year-old Master Distillers’ Private Collection, a pure potstill single cask chosen by Barry Crockett in 2003 and bottled at its natural strength of 56%.
Privately-bottled single casks this month include a Cragganmore 1985 released as a 22-year-old in the mid-Noughties for the Royal Bank of Scotland at its natural cask strength of 51.6%, plus some very tempting long-aged Springbanks from the late 1980s and early 1990s bottled in the last few years.
There’s an incredibly strong lineup of independently-bottled single casks this month too, with gems including more Springbank - this time an incredibly rare 1977 cask strength edition from Cadenhead’s famous white Distillery Label series released in the 1990s at a whopping 58.6% - plus a pair of cask strength 18-year-old Macallan 2005 sherry casks from Gordon & MacPhail and Signatory Vintage.
Finally, there’s some mouthwatering older single cask whiskies including a glorious 40-year-old Caol Ila bottled for Elixir Distillers’ prestige Director’s Special series in 2022 and a fantastically dark 36-year-old Glenfarclas 1966 released by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in 2002 with the memorable sobriquet ‘Hymn Books and Morello Cherries’.
That's it for this May 2025's Whisky-Online Auction Highlights - check out the full sale here, Good Luck and Happy Bidding!