The 153rd Auction

As we sail into the uncharted waters of 2024 why not steady the ship with a bottle of something special from our now live 153rd auction.  They say the only two things certain in life are death and taxes, well you can add in a third, come rain, hail or shine the unflinching juggernaut that is Scotch Whisky Auctions will always produce an unrivalled selection of bottles, on time, every month!  We have some really fantastic bottles in this month with every style, region and flavour profile represented, so to narrow your search we've picked out a few special expressions to get you started.

One of the oldest single malts ever bottled, the incredible Mortlach 1939 75 Year Old Gordon & MacPhail Generations was nurtured and cared for over seven decades by whisky legends Gordon & MacPhail. Cask number 2475 was filled on the 17th of November 1939 on the instructions of John Urquhart, who was the first member of the family to be involved in Gordon & MacPhail.  Four generations of the Urquhart family watched over the cask until it was finally bottled in a limited run of only one hundred handmade Glencairn crystal decanters. The decanters have 75 hand-carved grooves in them representing the years the whisky spent in this one-of-a-kind cask.

A terrifically rare and highly sought after bottling now, the Springbank 1967 20 Year Old Prestonfield 75cl.  Bottled for the uber-swanky 5-star Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh this delicious looking Springbank comes from a single cask and was aged for two decades before being bottled.  Springbanks of this sort of vintage are notoriously hard to find and single casks even more so, we can expect this bottle to be fought over by the legions of Springbank fans out there.

Next up is a bottle from arguably the distillery which started it all in terms of single malts as opposed to blends, this is the Glenfiddich 1939 50 Year Old.  A quite magnificent dram this expression was regarded as one of the finest single malts ever produced when it was bottled in 1991.    The label is signed by Alexander Grant Gordon, chairman of the company and great-grandson of William Grant and includes a scroll authenticating the spirit and deeming the bearer to be a `Freeman of the Glenfiddich Distillery`. This lot also comes with a wooden presentation case and a certificate which is signed by the entire production team responsible for this absolute gem of a bottle.

We started with a grand old septuagenarian so why not finish with one, this is the always impressive Macallan 72 Year Old Lalique Genesis Decanter.  Distilled in the 1940s, the whisky comes in a frankly stunning Lalique crystal decanter, which is housed in a case designed by Burgess Studios and handcrafted by renowned cabinet maker NEJ Stevenson.  A thing of genuine beauty this expression was one of the oldest Macallan single malts ever produced when it was released in 2020 to mark the opening of Macallan's new jaw-dropping subterranean distillery premises.

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.