The 161st Auction

A warm autumnal welcome everyone to our now live 161st auction!  We have scoured the United Kingdom and beyond to put together a strong auction this month, with seven thousand bottles to choose from as well as some more ‘Buy it Now’ options from our friends at American Single Cask.  So, without further ado let’s delve into some of the highlights this month.

To begin with we have an excellent opportunity to buy an entire cask, a BenRiach 2014 Hogshead #25 currently being held at Whisky Broker.  Since it’s reinvigoration by Billy Walker Benriach has been going from strength to strength and produced some truly exceptional whisky.  If you have been looking for a chance to own your own cask of delicious whisky, then this could be the one for you.  Recently re-gauged at 62.6% and 153 litres this cask is currently held at Whisky Broker and the winning bidder will need to set up an account at Whisky Broker if they don’t already have one.

Next up is a jaw-droppingly old expression from one of the most collectable distilleries out there, this is the Macallan 1928 50 Year Old 75cl.  It’s hard to fathom just how old this liquid is, it was distilled the best part of a century ago and to put it into context John Logie Baird was transmitting the first transatlantic television signal while this delicious looking dram was coming off the still.  Finally bottled in 1983 this is a certified time capsule which offers the buyer a bona fide taste of a bygone era.

Our first highlight was a hard act to follow, but this Talisker 45 Year Old Glacial Edge will give it a go.  A truly unusual expression this one with an incredible back story.  Twelve heavily charred American oak casks were taken onto a voyage into Arctic ice fields in Canada. With the ends of the casks removed, they were left exposed to sub-zero temperatures for 96 hours! This allowed the extreme cold to fracture the wood which in turn increased the surface area of the casks that the whisky was able to interact with during the finishing period in Scotland.  At forty-five years old this unique dram is well-aged and well-travelled.

Now we have a terrific dram indeed from arguably Ireland’s finest distillery, this is the Redbreast 38 Year Old Dream Cask #38404 Zenith Edition.  Just when you were thinking “Glacial Edge” was a cool name for a whisky along comes the “Zenith Edition”.  The Dream Cask Series has produced some absolute belters but as the title suggest this one is at the top of the tree.  Aged for almost four decades in a single Oloroso Sherry cask and one of only 822 bottles produced this is one of the finest examples of Irish single pot still distilling there is.

Last but not least we have a something special from one of Scotland’s heavyweight distilleries, this special bottling is the Glen Grant 1956 Gordon & MacPhail Decanter.  Distilled way back when in 1956 and only bottled in 2015 by famed indie bottler Gordon & MacPhail, this lusciously dark dram is one of only 218 decanters made.  The decanter itself is a thing of understated beauty and is festooned with Insular Celtic images from the iconic manuscript, The Book of Kells. 

As always, we have a wide range of high-quality drams available from budget drinkers to blockbuster beauties and everything in between, so now is the time to delve into this month’s offerings and start building that watchlist.  Best of luck to everyone in the auction, and as always………..don’t lose your bottle.