The 182nd Auction

An unusually warm summer has led to drought in many parts of our fair kingdom, but while rain is in scarce supply whisky is most certainly not, if the thousands of bottles in our now live 182nd auction are anything to go by.  We have a plethora of fantastic drams on offer this month and what better way to enjoy the summer sun than with a dram in hand, so without further ado, here is just a small sample of this month’s offerings.

A rare indie bottling from a silent distillery to kick things off, this is the SMWS 90.1 Pittyvaich 1976 14 Year Old 75cl.  This was the first cask of Pittyvaich ever bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and was bottled a mere 3 years before the distillery’s untimely demise in 1993.  Its rarity is evidenced by the fact that in 181 auctions (that’s more than 850,000 bottles sold and counting), this is only the 4th time this little gem has ever crossed our path, a must-have for any SMWS aficionados out there!

Next up, we have some pretty splendid-looking and well-aged Cuban Rums bottled for the Japanese market.  Rum has often flown under the radar of many collectors, but those days are over and it is now certainly seen as a viable alternative to whisky in the secondary market for many collectors.  We have here a 1973 49 Year Old Cuban Rum and a 1978 44 Year Old Cuban Rum, both bottled by the discerning folks at Kyoto Fine Wine and Spirits.

Staying in Japan we now have this terrific Karuizawa 1981 35 Year Old Fazzino Single Cask #6412.  The relatively small Karuizawa distillery (which was mothballed in the year 2000 before being demolished in 2016), has went from strength to strength in the secondary market with collectors clamouring to acquire well-aged bottles from this now silent Japanese distiller.  This particular dram is certainly well-aged at 35 years old and features a striking engraving by acclaimed 3D artist Fazzino.

Let’s go out with a bang, this absolute cracker is the Glenfarclas 1953 63 Year Old Sapphire Pagoda.  This unbelievably old Glenfarclas (over six decades in a single sherry butt!) is housed in a unique pagoda-style bottle with crystal stopper.  Created to pay homage to Glenfarclas distillery’s own pagoda roof which was initially installed to vent out smoke and heat while drying the barley grain, this release is a triumph of design as well as distilling and a nod to the architectural history of the Speyside behemoth, which still has a pagoda-style roof over its visitor centre.

As always we have an enormous selection of drams to suit every budget on offer this month, 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.