September Auction Highlights 2025

Welcome to our September 2025 Whisky-Online Auctions highlights! There’s dozens of wonderful whiskies to tell you about this month from distilleries including Talisker, Glenfarclas, Macallan, Hanyu and Brora, so we’ll get straight into it.

Casks In Bond

We have a pair of casks of pot still whiskey from Ireland's Boann distillery coming up for grabs in this month's whisky auction! Boann 2021 Cask 214432 is a bourbon barrel and was regauged in July when it held approximately 181 bulk litres at a strength of 57.52%, while sister cask Boann 2022 Cask 222750 is a Cognac cask that held approximately 374.27 bulk litres in July at a strength of 61.98%.

Distillery Bottlings

We’ll start our Distillery Bottlings section with one of the most famous Brora official bottlings ever released. This magnificent Brora 1972 22-year-old was one of a trio of Broras from the fabled 1972 vintage released as part of United Distillers’ Rare Malts series in 1995, a full 12 years after the distillery had closed. These Rare Malt editions were the first ever official bottlings of Brora from the former Clynelish distillery, and this particular 1972 Brora was the strongest of the lot at a staggering 61.1% cask strength. A gloriously complex maelstrom of peatsmoke, rich, waxy honeycomb, fruit and farmyard flavours, these legendary Brora 1972 editions defy description. An iconic Highland malt whisky that remains remarkably approachable.

Moving to Speyside and we’ve got a bottle of the superlative Macallan 1963 Special Selection, released in the early 1980s soon after Macallan had belatedly begun officially bottling their own single malt whiskies. These early 1960s vintage Macallans were generally bottled at around 16-18 years old - this early edition likely dates from around 1980 as the label lists both imperial and metric values, and is therefore probably either 16 or 17 years old. 

The Special Selection editions from Macallan were quite short-lived, however, and were soon replaced by the more recognisable ‘blue ribbon’ Macallan 18-year-old vintage bottlings in 1984. There’s a few of those in the sale too, from vintages including 1972, 1979, 1980 and 1982. The quality of the sherry casks being filled in the 1970s and early 1980s was still far, far better than those available to distilleries today, and these 1990s bottlings of Macallan 18-year-old vintages from the 1970s and 1980s are justly revered nowadays for their pristine sherry profile and fascinating complexity.

We have some great modern Macallans too, including 2018’s Macallan Genesis bottling celebrating the design of the new distillery, plus the special staff-only Macallan Edrington New Home Queen Street released in 2017.

The latter was a rare celebration edition Macallan released by the distillery’s owners Edrington in 2017 to celebrate their move to swish new corporate premises on Glasgow’s Queen Street. This commemorative bottling of aged Macallan was an edition of just 2000 bottles available to Edrington staff only and, as with all similar staff-only bottlings that never got a general release, it is rather hard to find and consequently extremely popular with Macallan collectors. 

Back in the Highlands, meanwhile, we have a fascinating early vintage 21-year-old official bottling from Glen Garioch distillery. This was one of several superb 1965 Glen Garioch 21-year-olds bottled at different strengths in the mid-1980s, and is often referred to by collectors as the ‘dark vatting’ edition as it clearly used a higher proportion of sherry casks in the mix.

Glen Garioch was owned at the time by Diageo forerunners Distillers Company Limited (DCL), who went on to mothball the distillery a few years later in 1968 before selling it to Bowmore’s Stanley P. Morrison in 1970.

While we’re in the Highlands, there’s also a famous single cask Edradour 1973 released as a 30-year-old in 2003 shortly after the distillery had been purchased by Andrew Symington’s Signatory Vintage.

This Edradour has an interesting story, being a sherry butt from a small parcel of 30-year-old casks that were uncovered during a warehouse review by Symington and then distillery manager Iain Henderson after they got the keys to the distillery. Cask #97 was originally filled for Allied Distillers and had been earmarked for a 30-year-old blend, but ended up becoming the first ever official Edradour 30-year-old single malt, yielding 539 bottles at a natural strength of 53.4%.

Moving along, it must be said that this is a great month for Talisker fans, with highlights including a great Talisker 30-year-old bottled for owner Diageo’s Special Releases in 2009, meaning the whisky would have been distilled at the end of the 1970s. 

This edition was the fourth Talisker 30-year-old bottled for the Special Releases and was the penultimate cask strength edition before the unfortunate decision to standardise the strength a couple of years later in 2011. A small batch of just 3000 bottles, this 2009 edition Talisker 30-year-old weighs in at a lip-smacking 53.1% and is an unusually gentle and fruity Talisker with plenty of multi-layered heft - an overlooked Special Releases classic.

There’s also a splendid small batch Talisker 1977 bottled as a 35-year-old at full cask strength for the Special Releases in 2012. This was the oldest ever official bottling of Talisker at the time of release and remained so until the arrival of the Bodega Series in 2018. A rich, chewy, oily Talisker, this 1977 vintage 35-year-old was a small batch of just 3090 bottles at its natural cask strength of 54.6%.

Over on Islay, meanwhile, we have an old bottle of Bowmore 22-year-old bottled by the distillery at 43% in the mid to late 1990s in a beautiful midnight blue ceramic bottle depicting seagulls flying over Loch Indaal under a crescent moon.

This is a renowned Bowmore 22-year-old, originally called Moonlight by the distillery but known less romantically to most aficionados as Seagulls. The whisky inside would likely have been distilled no later than the early 1970s and is every bit as good as you’d expect. A tropical fruity classic from Bowmore with very gentle peat and a mellow sherry presence.

Miscellaneous Islay OBs this month include gems like Bowmore Bicentenary, a gloriously dark 1980s pre-Classic Malts Lagavulin 12-year-old White Horse edition, the magnificent Laphroaig 30-year-old bottled just after the turn of the millennium and several great 1980s ‘Unblended’ Laphroaig 10-year-olds.

Independent Bottlings

Not for the first time, this Independent Bottlings section will be dominated by Elgin indie heroes Gordon & MacPhail, which is always good news. We’ll start with an absolutely glorious Glen Grant 1954 bottled back in 2012 when the spirit would have been 57 or 58 years old. 

This Distillery Labels edition of Glen Grant was bottled from a small batch of sherry casks originally filled by G&M’s legendary ‘Mr. George’ Urquhart and has a pristine sherry profile and an extraordinary flavour intensity that belies the 40% strength. This masterpiece was one of several spectacular 1954 Glen Grants from G&M, the most recent being the final Mr George Legacy Series edition, a sister cask to this batch that was bottled as a 70-year-old in 2025.

Staying in Speyside, we also have some amazing long-aged Strathisla from G&M, including a Strathisla 1960 released in the Noughties as part of the series that would later become known as the Distillery Labels. This fabulous sherried edition is from 2004, making the whisky either 43 or 44 years old. 

Strathisla is one of the whiskies that has become synonymous with Gordon & MacPhail - founder James Gordon was a shareholder of the distillery and the famous Elgin warehouses were stockpiling casks from Strathisla even before WWII, leading to a reliable flood of long-aged semi-official Strathislas bottled under license from the 1970s onwards. These early millennial bottlings from the 1960s vintages are always absolutely delicious whiskies, and the auction also features a 1963 Strathisla bottled by G&M in 2009 at over 45 years old.

Glenburgie is another distillery heavily favoured by G&M, and this month we have a top class Glenburgie 1964 from the licensed bottling range that later became the Distillery Labels series. This edition was released in 2004, making the whisky 39 or 40 years old, and was the first of a handful of excellent Glenburgies from the 1964 vintage bottled by G&M in the early years of this century. A delicious old Speyside showing generous sherry influence.

Moving to the Highlands, there’s a lovely old bottle of Tomatin 1964 bottled by G&M in the early 1990s for their Connoisseurs Choice range under the classic old Map Label presentation. As this is a 75cl bottle, this Tomatin 1964 is likely the edition bottled in 1991, making the whisky 26 or 27 years old. Tomatin in 1964 was in the middle of a colossal expansion - the distillery had 10 stills in 1964, up from just two in 1956 but some way short of the eventual 23 stills it had grown to by 1974, at which time it was the largest malt whisky distillery in Scotland. 

Finally for our G&M highlights, we must mention the remarkable Glenlivet 1946 bottled in 1982, and the iconic heavily sherried Talisker 1973 bottled around the same time in the early 1980s. These black label ‘Golden Eagle’ Taliskers are legendary and this is one of the hugely desirable higher strength editions bottled at 100-Proof, aka 57%. Although not particularly old by today’s standards, these remarkable 1970s vintage Taliskers possessed exceptional character and extraordinarily rich flavour profiles thanks to the raw, oily, peppery, minerally power of the spirit and the surpassing quality of the sherry casks used.

Miscellaneous indie bottlings to look out for this month include a very rare full strength indie Balvenie ‘As We Get It’ bottled at a mighty 106 UK proof / 60.5% and a superb single cask Glenfarclas 1965 40-year-old released in 2005 by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society with the SMWS code 1.131 and subtitled ‘Older than 39’ - perhaps a reference to the fact that this particular cask was among the last of around 20 Glenfarclas casks from the 1965 vintage bottled by the Society in 2004-5, with many being 39 years old. This cask was a refill hogshead and yielded a total of 194 bottles at a natural cask strength of 53.9%.

Closed Distilleries 

This is one of the best months we’ve seen in a while for collectors of Closed Distilleries. There are far too many to mention in this little auction highlights section, but we’ll start with one of the legendary Card Series Hanyu vintage single casks. These were bottled by the modern master of Japanese whisky Ichiro Akuto using the stocks he saved from his grandfather’s Hanyu distillery after it closed down in the early years of this century. This particular Hanyu is from the 2000 vintage and was bottled in 2011 after finishing in a Madeira hogshead. Cask 463 yielded just 295 bottles at its whopping natural cask strength of 61%. A remarkable Japanese single malt.

Moving to Scotland, and official bottlings from closed distilleries this month include a pair of classic Special Release 36-year-olds in the form of Glenury Royal 1970 and Convalmore 1977. There’s also Rare Malts bottlings of Glen Albyn 1975 and Glen Mhor 1976, and a deliciously rich, fat, oily Rosebank 8-year-old released by Diageo forerunner DCL’s distribution arm The Distillers Agency back in the 1980s.

Staying in Inverness, there’s a Connoisseurs Choice Millburn 1976 and a very rare 1965 vintage Glen Mhor bottled by Elgin indie bottlers Gordon & MacPhail for their splendid Rare Vintage series. This edition was released at 43% in 2005, making the whisky either 39 or 40 years old. G&M released several very good bottlings of Glen Mhor 1965 between 1991-2007, but most were at 40%; this 43% version from 2005 is a gentle, but richly-flavoured, old school Highlander with the distillery’s characteristic austerity mellowed after four decades of maturation.

Back down in the Lowlands there's a famously delicious single cask Littlemill 1989, bottled as a 22-year-old by the short-lived Belgian importers and independent bottlers Thosop BVBA back in 2011 for their splendid Handwritten Labels series. This was a particularly active refill sherry cask that yielded just 227 bottles at a sturdy 55.4% and the cask evolved Littlemill’s funky Lowland spirit delightfully to produce a fantastic chocolatey, spicy and exotic fruit-soaked classic - one of the best sherried Littlemills ever bottled.

Miscellaneous indie bottlings from closed distilleries this month include First Cask editions of Littlemill 1983 and Dallas Dhu 1978, a Connoisseurs Choice bottling of Imperial 1969, some early Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask bottlings of Lochside 1979 and Coleburn 1980 and, for the grain whisky fans, a 32-year-old single cask of the 1986 vintage from extinct grain distillery Dumbarton bottled by up-and-coming indie outfit Claxton’s in 2018.

Single Casks

There’s some superb Single Casks coming under the hammer in this month’s whisky sale. Official single cask bottlings this month include a superb UK exclusive Pedro Ximenez sherry puncheon cask of Glendronach 1990 released as a 23-year-old in 2013, and a gloriously dark, intense Lagavulin 1995 European oak single cask bottled at full strength for the Feis Ile (Islay Festival) in 2009.

We also have some of the excellent hand-filled single cask bottlings of the type many distilleries now provide for determined visitors to their gift shops, with a full strength 20-year-old Oloroso sherry cask Bowmore 1996 and a bourbon cask Balblair 1997 bottled in 2016 looking among the most promising.

Alongside privately-bottled single casks of Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte and Springbank, this month’s auction also has some fantastic single cask bottlings from the indies. Hunter Laing are well represented this month, with single cask gems including a 21-year-old Longmorn 1992 and a 20-year-old Bowmore refill hogshead from the glorious 1996 vintage.

Not to be outdone, Signatory Vintage have some absolutely mouth-watering long-aged 1990s vintage single casks from distilleries including Longmorn, Clynelish and Ben Nevis, while older gems include a very temptingly chestnut-coloured Strathisla 1979 24-year-old bottled by First Cask in the early Noughties - this looks like it must have been a sherry cask, and at the First Cask standard strength of 46% it should be absolutely delicious.

That's it for September 2025's Whisky-Online Auction Highlights - check out the full sale here, Good Luck and Happy Bidding!