The 166th Auction

Welcome one and all to our now live 166th auction!  We have some really interesting drams this month from just about every whisky producing nation on earth, not to mention a wide selection of other spirits and tipples to whet your appetite.  We also have some good news for our US customers this month as we can now ship to an additional 17 states, for a full list of available states check here.  So, without further ado, here are a few of the highlights from this month’s offerings.

This is the earliest-known single vintage Japanese whisky ever bottled, and as such is a tremendous rarity, this is the Shirakawa 1958.  Shirakawa Distillery was built in Fukushima in 1939 and was demolished in 2003. It became one of the first distilleries in Japan to produce malt whisky in 1951 and it continued to do so until 1969. In 2019, single malt whisky from the distillery was discovered after being sat in one of its parent company’s warehouses for decades, and this fine bottling is the result.  One of only 1500 bottles released this is a must-have for any collectors of Japanese whisky.

Next up we have a bottle which is the very definition of quirky, this fantastic little oddball is the Old Fitzgerald Prime 1971 Rip Van Winkle Porcelain Decanter.  As any bourbon aficionado will attest, Old Fitzgerald is a supremely well-balanced bourbon and as such is held in high regard for the exceptional craftsmanship evident in its production.  And what’s better than a vintage Old Fitz?  An Old Fitz in a porcelain representation of Old Rip Van Winkle himself that’s what, calmly snoozing off the effects of some mightily strong liquor.

It wouldn’t be a highlight reel without something delicious and well-aged from Scotland too, so here is a mighty fine Springbank 1969 40 Year Old Signatory.  Distilled in the same year Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, this unctuous dram has spent 4 decades ageing to perfection in a refill sherry butt and is one of only 356 bottles produced.  Springbanks of this age and vintage are notoriously hard to find so this bottling is as rare as it is enticing.

We opened with a Japanese rarity from a silent distillery so let’s close with one too, this beauty is the Karuizawa 35 Year Old Emerald Geisha Cask #8518.  Bottled by Elixir Distillers exclusively for The Whisky Exchange, this is one of two bottlings, it’s counterpart being a single cask 33 year old Sherry aged single malt, suitably crowned the Golden Cask which you can also find here in this month’s auction.  The Geisha series of Karuizawas combine rare well-aged Japanese whisky with classy design and have been commanding a premium on the secondary market since their first appearance on the scene.

As always, we have a tremendous lineup of top-shelf drams on offer, but we also have a wide range available from more modest drinkers to these more salubrious tipples, 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.