November Whisky Auction Highlights 2024
Welcome to our November 2024 Whisky-Online Auction Highlights blog! There’s some amazing whiskies to tell you about this month from the likes of Ardbeg, Dalmore, Rosebank, Laphroaig and many more, so let’s get cracking.
Distillery Bottlings
We’ll start this month’s whisky auction highlights with some marvellous official Distillery Bottlings. Let’s kick off with Islay, and there are some real beauties coming under the hammer, like the legendary Ardbeg 1980 Kildalton - the first and still the best of the experimental Ardbegs made with very lightly peated malt. Released in 2004, Ardbeg Kildalton 1980 was a limited edition of 1300 bottles at its natural cask strength of 57.6%, and while it may originally have been seen by many as little more than an oddity, over the years this increasingly scarce bottling has been rightly recognised as a leftfield classic.
There’s plenty more for Ardbeg fans this month, with other official bottlings of note including early editions of the legendary Ardbeg 17-year-old, Ardbeg 1977 and Ardbeg 1990 Airigh nam Beist alongside a 2016 release of Ardbeg 21-year-old bottled for the Ardbeg Committee. This was a small batch of one of the oldest official Ardbegs since the demise of the Lord of the Isles - and we’ve got a bottle of that too!
Staying on Islay’s south coast, interesting Laphroaigs this month include the delicious Laphroaig 1977-1995 and the 30-year-old Laphroaig Cairdeas released for the 2008 Feis Ile, while Lagavulin fans will be chasing the superb Lagavulin 18-year-old from Feis Ile 2016 and there’ll no doubt be plenty of interest in Bruichladdich’s 29-year-old Black Art Edition 10.1 from 2022.
Moving on to the mainland, we have some delightful long-aged vintage single malts. Highlights include the extremely handsome Tomatin 1976 45-year-old that rounded off the Warehouse 6 Collection in 2022, and a pair of great old vintage Glen Morays from the days when the distillery was still owned by Glenmorangie: a 26-year-old Glen Moray 1960 bottled in 1987 and a 28-year-old Glen Moray 1971 bottled in 1999. These are both very complex aged Speyside malts, waxy, minerally drams brimming with old school herbal liqueur notes and dry oak spices, with the 1971 in particular showing an obvious sherry influence.
While we’re talking about them, Glenmorangie are also well-represented this month, with the obvious highlight being the superb Glenmorangie 1971 released for the distillery’s 150th anniversary in 1993. Staying in the Highlands, there’s also some delightful old bottlings from some of the region’s greatest distilleries, with vintage highlights including Glengoyne 1971-1996 and historical treats such as the amazing 1960s Dalmore 8-year-old, a black label official bottling from when the distillery had recently been taken over by Whyte & Mackay but official bottlings were still licensed to Duncan Macbeth Ltd.
Time for this month’s Macallans! Recent Macallan releases in this month’s whisky auction include the amazing special edition Macallan Time:Space Mastery, released earlier this year to commemorate the distillery’s 200th anniversary after being assembled from classic European oak sherry-seasoned casks. This bottle’s amazing presentation box is filled with 200 origami tips representing each year since 1824.
There’s also a welcome return for recent gems Macallan Genesis and Macallan A Night on Earth, while classic Macallans from the golden age include the sought-after Macallan 10-year-old Cask Strength from around 1990 and the beautifully elegant Macallan 1962 25-year-old Tudor decanter bottled a few years earlier.
Other Speyside whisky auction highlights this month, meanwhile, include a very promising early 1980s official vintage bottling of Linkwood 1969 12-year-old, while other official bottles worthy of your Watchlist include Hazelwood 105 1990 16-year-old, also known as the first ever bottling of Kininvie single malt whisky, plus the first batch of Balvenie Tun 1509 from 2014 and more recent long-aged glories including Glenallachie 30-year-old and Glenfarclas 40-year-old.
Away from Scotland there’s more fantastic whisky coming up for grabs. This month’s auction has the Inaugural Release from London’s Bimber distillery, alongside some great Japanese whiskies including Nikka Taketsuru 21-year-old, and there’s also a particularly strong collection of old American whiskey. Brief highlights from the latter include a couple of dozen Jack Daniel’s and Jim Beam collectables, a 1970s Wild Turkey, and a fascinating old pre-Sazerac Eagle Rare 10-year-old bottled back in 1979 in the days when the whiskey was made at Old Prentice distillery (now Four Roses).
Fans of old and unusual American bourbons will also be keeping tabs on an exceptionally rare boxed edition of Maker’s Mark Gold Label bottled for Japan and a great bottle of the classic Old Crow ‘Traveler Fifth’ in excellent condition despite being bottled in 1968.
There are some fabulous old Irish whiskeys in this month’s sale too, including a 17-year-old Bushmills 1982 single cask bottled in 1999 to celebrate the Millennium and the very first edition of Midleton Very Rare, blended by Barry Crockett and released back in 1984.
Moving into other spirits and there are some truly outstanding Cognacs in this month’s auction. Highlights include a turn of the 1990s bottling of Rémy Martin Louis XIII in the classic Baccarat decanter, the sought-after gold bottle Hennessy XO gift edition from 2011 and a beautiful (and very old) bottle of Delamain 30-year-old Pale & Dry - a very unusual one, being a Fine Champagne cognac rather than a Grande Champagne cuvee.
Independent Bottlings
As ever, there’s a splendid lineup of independent bottlings to choose from in this month’s whisky auction. Classic releases coming up for grabs include Gordon & MacPhail’s Connoisseurs Choice editions of Ardbeg 1974-1993 - an early harbinger of this magnificent vintage from the Islay giant - and the Elgin indie masters also chip in with a beautiful Glen Grant 25-year-old bottled in the 1990s and therefore containing whisky likely distilled no later than the mid-1970s.
Elsewhere, there’s a rare indie Macallan 1973 from Direct Wines’ First Cask range, a chestnut-coloured dram bottled in 1993 at 46%, and the very welcome return of the magnificent Highland Park 1961 Dragon, which was an independent single cask bottling from Orkney retailer Robertson’s of Kirkwall released in 1997 at its cask strength of 48.1%, and quickly became an all-time classic for fans of the Orcadian behemoth.
Peat fans, meanwhile, will be keeping tabs on G&M’s Secret Stills Bowmore 1989-2006, a lively, gently fruity dram assembled from a small batch of sherry hogsheads, plus a stunning Ardbeg 1973 18-year-old bottled by the SMWS in 1992 and The Syndicate’s extraordinary Laphroaig 1988, a blisteringly beautiful 35-year-old single cask bottled at a sturdy 45.8%, equivalent to the old 80 UK imperial proof.
Closed Distilleries
There’s a very shiny selection of whiskies from Scotland’s lost distilleries this month. Highlights include the top class Rare Malts edition of Hillside 1970 25-year-old, a monstrous 60.1% dram from the distillery formerly known as Glenesk, and while we’re talking about the Rare Malts there’s also the small matter of the supreme Rare Malts Brora 1972 22-year-old - the rarest and most sought-after of the legendary 1972 Brora Rare Malts, weighing in at a colossal 60.02%. Don’t miss your chance to bid on one of the very greatest Broras ever bottled.
Elsewhere we have Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice bottlings of North Port-Brechin 1981 and Rosebank 1979 and a G&M Distillery Labels edition of Dallas Dhu 1982.
It’s a good auction for Dallas Dhu fans this month, as we also have the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s 27-year-old Dallas Dhu 1975 bottled in 2003, and Historic Scotland’s particularly historic Dallas Dhu 1983, bottled at 48% from Cask 327, which was the very last cask ever filled at the distillery before its closure in 1983.
Miscellaneous Closed Distillery bottlings this month include a Signatory Vintage Millennium Edition bottling of Port Ellen 1975, a pair of early 1990s vintage Rosebank casks from SMWS, a 1979 Glen Albyn from First Cask and a 22-year-old Caperdonich 1996 from Carn Mor, who also chip in with a long-aged single grain whisky: a single cask of the Garnheath grain distillery’s 1974 vintage bottled as a 45-year-old in 2019 at a palate-friendly 47.2%.
Single Casks
There’s a great selection of single cask whiskies in this month’s whisky sale. Recent official distillery-bottled single casks coming under the hammer this month include the likes of a Bruichladdich 2004 17-year-old Valinch celebrating La Reserve and Murray McDavid co-founder Simon Coughlin, or a glorious Bowmore 1999 19-year-old, a hand-filled Distillery Exclusive first fill sherry cask at a hefty 55%.
We also have an older single cask from Old Pulteney - a 1990 vintage 18-year-old bottled in 2008 at a sturdy 53.6% for subscribers to the distillery’s Official Line newsletter - and are delighted to welcome back one of the greatest single cask bottlings of all time: the truly legendary Ardbeg 1976 Single Cask 2392 - a sherry butt of utterly exquisite quality bottled for the Ardbeg Committee in 2000 at its natural strength of 55%.
Elsewhere, we have some great 1980s and 1990s vintage official single casks including a 15-year-old Fettercairn 1989, a 21-year-old port-finished Edradour 1983, and a 29-year-old Glenturret 1987 selected by distillery manager Neil Cameron to celebrate being named Distillery Manager of the Year in 2015. There’s also a crop of excellent Glendronach single casks from the 1990s and the Inaugural Release bottling from Chain Pier, the experimental distillery set up by John Crabbie when construction of their Bonnington distillery was delayed - this was the first official single malt distilled in Edinburgh for over a century at the time of release in 2022.
Rounding up the official distillery bottlings we have some great non-Scottish single casks, with some excellent stuff from English whisky distilleries including a slew of cracking Bimber single casks and one of the most famous and significant single casks in Irish whiskey history: the legendary Kilbeggan 1946 34-year-old, bottled in March 1980. This was the last known cask from the original Kilbeggan distillery, which was also known as Brusna or Locke’s and had ceased distillation in 1953 before being revived by Cooley in the late 1980s.
Indie single cask bottlings are as plentiful as ever, with a lively sherry hogshead of Glen Garioch 1992 from Blackadder and a very tempting 28-year-old Mannochmore 1990 bottled from a single bourbon barrel by Carn Mor in 2019. Older indie single casks this month include First Cask’s Old Pulteney 1974 19-year-old, the SMWS’s Laphroaig 1991 11-year-old, which is promisingly subtitled ‘Wet Spaniel After Beach Walk’, and a fantastic Springbank 1972 21-year-old bottled at 46% for Mark Reynier & Simon Coughlin’s La Reserve wine merchants back in 1994 - a few years before the pair teamed up with Springbank’s Gordon Wright to form Murray McDavid.
That's it for November's Whisky-Online Auction Highlights, but as ever this was only a small selection of the hundreds of fantastic bottles coming under the hammer - check out the full auction here.