The 151st Auction

We hope you have had a tremendous Christmas and a fantastic New Year, but now the festive revelry has come to an end it is time to continue our whisky odyssey into 2024 with our now live 151st auction!

We have some really excellent bottles in this month, so if you are lucky enough to still be on holiday why not while away the hours scrolling through the auction.  And if (like us) you are back to the grind nothing beats a sip of something special to beat those post-Christmas blues.

So without further ado here is mere taster of the multitude of special bottles we have in this month.

First up is a well-travelled vintage the Ardbeg 1967 29 Year Old Kingsbury's.  Distilled over five decades ago this marvellous dram was then bottled for the Japanese market by Kingsbury's and so has undoubtedly been around the block.  Despite the air-miles this is still a marvellous specimen and a great chance to sample the legendary older Ardbeg style.

Closed in 2000 and dismantled in 2004, Hanyu's legacy lives on thanks to Ichiro Akuto who purchased the remaining 400 casks and began releasing it in the Ichiro's Malt card series. This marketing masterstroke featured a different playing card on the label, allowing people to easily remember their favourites and encouraging collectors to complete the full deck. There were only 17 years of production at Hanyu so stocks are limited and scarce. Part of the legendary Malt Card series, this is the Eight of Diamonds.

Pioneers of cask finishes, the distillery has never shied away from experimentation, and under the guiding hand of Maestro Dr Bill Lumsden they continue to release a variety of expressions to keep "The Sixteen Men of Tain" rushed off their feet.  This is amongst the rarest of Glenmorangies. Notable for being the first bottling from the distillery to carry a vintage, and also the first to receive extra-maturation, or 'finishing'. This 1963 vintage was matured in Bourbon casks for 22 years and finished in Oloroso for 1 year. That's enough to make any Glenmorangie fan weak at the knees.

Last up is a personal favourite, the Springbank 1993 21 Year Old Luvians for the 2015 Open Championship.  A bottling which is dear to many of us here at SWA.  Many moons ago an incredibly generous customer gifted us a bottle of this and suffice to say it was very popular.  Think piranhas around a hunk of meat popular, it did not last long.   Rich and smooth with a satisfying kick this is an excellent example of Springbank distilling.  You would be hard pressed to find a bottle of similar quality for the price, a real hidden gem of a bottle.

As always we have a wide range of drams with something to suit everyone, so now is the time to get moving picking out your own personal favourites for your watchlist.  Best of luck to everyone in the auction, and as always………..don’t lose your bottle.