In 2019, Jonny Fowle, based in London, became the first-ever spirits specialist at Sotheby’s, and secured the single-owner consignment auctioned off in “The Ultimate Whisky Collection” sale-the one with the $1.9 million bottle and close to 400 other lots that sold for a combined total of $9.85 million. “We felt, OK, well, there’s an interesting market to develop here. But that ticked up to 6 percent in 2017, Ritchie said, thanks to sales of some valuable bottles of scotch whiskey and Moutai-a brand of Chinese baijiu, a fermented spirit with an expansive range of tastes-at auctions in Hong Kong. Though Sotheby’s has been selling spirits since 1970, they were traditionally mixed in with wine sales and historically made up less than 1 percent of the house’s Wine & Spirits department’s business. It’s an interesting world-there’s lots of nuance.” “We’ve seen huge growth of interest in whiskey in the last two years, and we believe that there’s good growth to come. “This is an area we’ve definitely invested in,” said Jamie Ritchie, worldwide head of wine at Sotheby’s New York. And those collectors are responding not just to whiskeys themselves but to the creative and curated ways that distilleries and auction houses are presenting them.īottles from a batch of whiskey dating back to a barrel filled in Scotland in 1926 have set records at auction. Scotch whiskey is at the top of the market, by a considerable measure, but collectors are also paying higher and higher prices for whiskeys from Japan, Ireland, the United States, and Taiwan. Long a tacked-on addendum to sales of wine and more prestigious spirits like cognac, whiskey has become a dominant force as buyers’ tastes have changed and interest has grown across the globe. Other bottles from the same batch dating back to a barrel filled in Scotland in 1926 had broken records around the world-leading to the moment when the buyer of the latest milestone, a collector who had traveled to London for the sale from his home in Taipei, revealed himself bottle in hand in an Instagram post bearing the message: “I am holding 4 Ferrari in my hand… #macallanfineandrare1926 #macallan1926 #mostexpensive #bestofthebest.”Īs auction houses in the b usiness of selling art expand their activities in other categories-adding collectibles of various kinds to the more traditional stock of watches, jewelry, and cars-sales of whiskey have garnered new allure. The subject of the 10-minute bidding war was not a painting or a sculpture but a bottle of highly coveted and exceedingly rare single-malt whiskey.
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Sotheby's Auctions Three Rare Bottles of Booze for CharityĪs the price rose, murmurs in the room gave way to cheers, first when it became clear that the £1 million threshold (at the time, in 2019, around $1.3 million) would be eclipsed, and then again when the hammer fell on a sale of £1.45 million ($1.9 million, inclusive of standard auction house fees), nearly four times the lot’s high estimate and a new record in a growing category. This is a true connoisseur’s dream.įirst published on Sir Peter Blake Became Britain's Preeminent Pop Art Star There was just 70 bottles of this extraordinarily rare Irish whiskey produced.
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Chapter Two is a 46-year-old single pot still Irish whiskey distilled in 1973. Old Midleton Distillery operated from 1825-1975. It was made in the Midleton Distillery, Co. The Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Collection Chapter Two was the second release in Ireland’s oldest ever whiskey collection. Just three bottles of this rarity went on sale this month for €40,000 each.
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The sale of this whiskey ushered in a new era for ultra-rare luxury Irish whiskey. The Most Expensive Irish Whiskey – Midleton Very RareĪnd of course we have the most expensive Irish whiskey.
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It was left to age in a cask of English oak from the Queen’s Sandringham Estate. The whiskey itself is a blend of grain and malt whiskies, all distilled in 1952. Only 60 bottles were ever made, making this limited-edition whiskey very valuable. It is held in a diamond-shaped crystal decanter made by Baccarat, with a silver collar set with a half-carat diamond. Assuming that there are 28 drams in a bottle, that’s around $8,590 grand a dram. Johnnie Walker Diamond Jubilee Whiskey is a snip at $240,500 per bottle.