S otheby's October Spirits auction in New York is led by many of the most sought after and rare Scotch and American whiskies ever produced, including a number of bottles from The Macallan Fine & Rare Collection, considered amongst the best and most collectible whiskies ever produced at The Macallan.
Also offered from The Macallan is a 50 Year Old whisky, The Macallan Millenium Decanter, alongside the highly coveted and extremely rare The Macallan Handwritten Label Opimian Society, distilled in 1973.
The American whiskey selection is exceptional, with highlights from the 'American Export Collection' which includes a generous amount of Stitzel-Weller Van Winkle bottlings exported to Europe and the UK. The sale also offers ultra-premium American whiskey from Willett including a 25 Year Old Rye selected by Toddy's Liquors in Bardstown, KY, and many of the Legendary Ryes distilled in the 1980's.
The auction also includes the rarely seen early EBRA barrel picks from Heaven Hill, bottled at some of the highest proofs ever seen in Whiskey.
The Macallan bottles in this auction include the stunning 1949 vintage Macallan Millenium Decanter 50 Year Old alongside a number of bottles from The Macallan Fine & Rare collection, aged for between 29 and 49 years. The sale also includes many other illustrious bottles from the Speyside distillery, not least The Macallan Handwritten Label Opimian Society, specially bottled for The Opimian Society in Canada and the rarest from this series, as well as different vintage releases from The Macallan 25 Year Old Anniversary Malt series and bottle of The Macallan 18 Year OId Grand Reserva.
Willett Distillery is the darling of the American Whiskey category amongst enthusiasts and has outgrown many of its older bourbon piers in terms of interest, prestige, and value. This sale includes some of the most sought-after Willetts ever released, including a 25 Year Old Rye distilled in 1983, and several sets of sister bottles distilled in the 1980s and early 1990s; Doug's Green Ink & Black Ink, Swiss spirits retailer Glen Fahrn White & Black Wax, and three separate Dug'z and Willy'z releases distilled in 1989, 1990, and 1991.
These three single barrels all hail from a tiny, yet globally famous liquor store located in the heart of Bourbon Country, Toddy’s Liquors, just a short drive south of Louisville, KY, in Bardstown. Toddy's is an unassuming place and has never fancied itself a specialty bourbon outlet. It’s just a regular package store that has somehow become a must-do for travelers on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
These legendary 22 Year Old bottlings were all distilled on the same day, bottled at the same proof, and are collectively some of the most coveted rye whiskeys ever released. Selected personally by Doug Phillips and friends, Doug's Green Ink was the first Willett single barrel rye to be released, and many say the best. The whiskey inside is rumored to have been distilled at Bernheim.
Distilled on 4th October 1984 and selected for Glen Fahrn GmbH by Doug Phillips, this release came in two different wax colors. Bottles 1-60 were dipped in black wax and the whiskey inside was left unfiltered; bottles 61-218 were dripped in white wax and the whiskey was filtered through cloth. Both are exceptionally rare Swiss imports and finding them in the USA presents an incredible opportunity for avid collectors.They both hail from the same batch of 'Legendary Rye' that include releases such as the Rathskeller Rye and Doug's Green Ink.
The two 17 year old barrels were distilled on the same day in 1991 and are considered some of the best American Single Barrel Bourbons ever bottled. They fall into the so-called 'hazmat' proof, a rare occurrence where the whiskey is bottled at 140 proof or higher. The 18 year old was distilled a year earlier and picked by the same famous aficionado, Doug Phillips.
Heinz Taubenheim, also known as “Mr. Bourbon,” of Griebelschied, Germany, has one of the largest American whiskey collections in the world. These barrel picks are known around the world as some of the very best.
In the 2000s, LeNell Santa Ana Camacho owned a specialty liquor store in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Ahead of her time, she reveled in American whiskey: She not only carried brands like Pappy Van Winkle in her shop, but she traveled to Kentucky to see how she could source more. On one of those trips, she met Drew Kulsveen of the Willett distillery; they got to talking, and soon the two were selecting four barrels of rye whiskey, aged between 23 and 24 years and bottled at cask strength. It was a great choice: the barrels come from a legendary run of whiskey distilled at the Bernheim Distillery, in Louisville, in the early 1980s.
A significant number of bottles in the American whiskey selection come from 'The American Export Collection', which includes a generous amount of older Stitzel-Weller Van Winkle bottlings, and a vast amount of the collection coming from bottles originally exported to Europe and the UK. The anonymous collector spent many years in Europe in the mid 2000's, noticing that there wasn't much of an apetite for American whiskey abroad. He took the opportunity, searching far and wide for American whiskey and amassing one of the largest Van Winkle collections in the world. The collection comprises an amazing amount of Stitzel-Weller distilled liquid. Many of the bottles are also from the limited 70cl variation bottles only found overseas around the early 2010's.
The Van Winkle company’s history divides in two: There is the whiskey produced after Julian Van Winkle III began distilling and bottling at Buffalo Trace, in 2003, with its uniform age statements and bottle designs and there is also the wide range of ages, designs and even sources he used before that, namely Stitzel-Weller. While the whiskey made for him at Buffalo Trace is outstanding, the earlier bottles he released are true unicorns and among the most sought-after American whiskies in the world.
The European Bourbon & Rye Association is a Swiss-based spirits collector group. Founded in 2008, EBRA bottles its releases according to Swiss Law, which allows them to re-barrel spirits bottles after they're purchased for additional aging before releasing them again under their own label. Their bottles are extremely rare, especially in the USA. This sale includes the first six single cask bourbon selections from Heaven Hill.
American Whiskey makes up the heart of this auction and features bottles from multiple eras of American distillation ranging from pre-prohibition, the gilded age of the 1950s, through to the legendary whiskeys made during the glut era of the 1980s, and extra-aged whiskeys bottled in the 2010s.
Offerings include a Dowling Bros. distilled in 1916 and bottled in 1929, Dougherty's 13 Year Old Rye distilled in 1917 and bottled in 1930, Japanese exports that helped keep the bourbon industry alive during the 1980s such as Jazz Club 20 Year Old Bourbon, and the oldest bourbon ever bottled, James Thompson & Brother Final Reserve 45 Year Old. Together these bottlings represent nearly every major era of American distilling.
