Whisky Auctioneer sales surpass £50m

Online site Whisky Auctioneer has reported total year sales of more than £50 million (US$60.6m) for 2022.

Headquartered in Perth, Scotland, Whisky Auctioneer welcomed more than 10,500 new registered users in 2022, and has seen 2.2m bids across 115,000 lots in the year to date. The winning lots were shipped to buyers in 67 countries around the world.

The company also saw the opening of a new London office this year, allowing for increased capacity to support the whisky community within the UK.

Whisky Auctioneer founder Iain McClune said: “2022 was another year of progress at Whisky Auctioneer, with the opening of our London office, record-breaking results and the development of new and continued partnerships across the whisky industry.

“As we reflect on 2022, it is amazing to look back on everything Whisky Auctioneer has achieved. 2023 will be our 10th anniversary, which we are excited to celebrate and I can’t wait to see how the next decade unfolds.”

New auction records were set for distilleries across the industry, including a 12-year-old Port Ellen whisky bottled for Queen Elizabeth II’s visit in 1980. The bottle was sold to a bidder in Hong Kong for £100,000 (US$121,288).

Meanwhile, a 1974 vintage Ardbeg also became the most expensive bottle ever sold by the Islay-based distillery, attaining a hammer price of £35,000 (US$424,50).

The first bottle of White Peak distillery’s inaugural Wire Works whisky sold for a hammer price of £9,900 (US$1,200), becoming the most expensive bottle of English whisky sold at auction.

Whisky Auctioneer’s final sale of 2022 will go live tomorrow (22 December) and will feature nearly 10,000 whiskies and spirits.

Highlights include a 63-year-old Ben Nevis distilled in 1926, and more than 400 Springbank expressions, including a 1952 vintage, which is one of only 24 bottles in the world.

The auction will also include ‘spectacular’ Italian independent bottlings from Samaroli, including a 12-year-old Islay malt, generally assumed to be Port Ellen, that has never been offered at auction before.

Whisky Auctioneer will also partner with Scottish drinks industry charity The Ben to host a spotlight charity auction in this sale.

The Ben has received bottle donations from companies across the industry, and all funds raised will to go to supporting those in the drinks industry.