Under the hammer

Online whisky auctions are growing in popularity, but the kudos of owning bottle number one could cost whisky collectors a pretty penny,

The world of whisky-specific auctions is an increasingly exciting space. Despite the pandemic, records are continually being set and then smashed. When one thinks of auctions traditionally you might think of Sotheby’s and Christie’s, both with very active whisky and wine departments, but they now also compete alongside a flourishing online-only world of whisky auctions. The secondary market leader by some way is WhiskyAuctioneer.com, based in Perth.

Whisky Auctioneer was the first online auction to sell a million-pound bottle of whisky. In 2021, over two million bids were placed on the Whisky Auctioneer platform on more than 100,000 lots across 24 auctions. The winning bidders had bottles dispatched to around 80 countries across the globe. In a move to avoid Brexit-related bureaucracy they opened an office in Germany last year.

Since their first auction back in 2013, they’ve supported and raised awareness for a wide range of charities and causes. In 2021, more than £350,000 was raised for charity through their auctions and many whisky companies are now turning to Whisky Auctioneer to host charity auctions for special bottles.

Not to be outdone by the world of online auctions, the spirits department at Sotheby’s have recorded some impressive results over the last year with sales of over £15.4 million in 2021 in spirits conducted at both in-person and online sales.

One of the most exciting auctions in recent years was the Worshipful Company of Distillers ‘One of One’ auction, hosted by Sotheby’s in December 2021. With just 42 incredibly special lots, each lot a unique ‘one of one’ bottle or cask, never to be seen again. I was watching the livestream of the auction from Barnbougle Castle and also telephone bidding on behalf of a private client. It was an incredibly exciting auction with a few stand out lots. New auction records were set for Bowmore, Balvenie, Glenfiddich, Ladyburn and Talisker. The Glenfiddich lot of four bottles of rare 1950s whiskies had a low estimate of £220,000, ending up selling for £1.03 million after an intense 30-minute bidding war. Over £3 million was made in sales that day, more than double the low auction estimate, with £2 million going to charity.

Many distillers are now turning to the likes of Sotheby’s to auction off bottle number one of new and rare editions, typically choosing that the proceeds go to charity. Other recent examples include the Gordon & Macphail 80-year-old Glenlivet bottle number one which was auctioned by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. The first decanter of the oldest whisky ever bottled sold for £142,000 with the proceeds going to Trees for Life, a rewilding charity.

Christie’s also set a new record in December last year. They sold the first three casks from Ardross Distillery, a relatively new distillery which has been producing since 2019. The combined total price for the casks (ex-bourbon cask, sherry cask and Japanese mizunara oak cask) was £245,000. This was the first time Christie’s had sold casks at auction.

According to Rare Whisky 101, a specialist consultancy that tracks whisky bottle data at UK auctions, the volume and value of bottles sold has never been higher, with Macallan leading the way. Their database currently has some 864,707 records tracking 67,918 bottles.

The RW101 Full Year 2021 estimate shows a record breaking 172,500 bottles will have been sold at auction in the UK last year. In 2016, only 58,758 bottles were sold. The value to sales has shot up dramatically too. In 2016, £14.2 million of whisky sold at auction in the UK and the Full Year 2021 estimate is that it will be closer to £75 million sold last year.

There has also been a considerable increase in the number of bottles selling that are worth more than £10,000. In 2015, just 17 bottles of whisky worth more than £10,000 sold at auction in UK. By 2019 this had increased to 530 bottles.

According to RW101, ‘£43 out of every £100 spent at auction in the UK on single malt Scotch whisky is being spent on Macallan’. An impressive position for Macallan but the market is increasingly interested in Ardbeg, Springbank, Bowmore and Port Ellen bottlings.

It’s an exciting time for whisky in the auction space. It is interesting to see how newer distilleries are fitting into this world, and how some collectors can boldly claim that they own bottle or cask number number one from a certain distillery. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out in the years to come.

“Volume and value of bottles sold has never been higher, with Macallan leading the way