March 2019 Auction

Ardbeg 1972 Kingsbury 28 Year Old / Hand Writing

This is a fantastic independently bottled Ardbeg, from Japan's Kingsbury.

Kingsbury are Japan's most sought after independent bottler. They were founded in 1989 by Eaglesome, the high-end deli in Campbeltown that was purchased by J & A Mitchell & Co of Springbank distillery, and turned into one of the region's finest whisky merchants. They initially bottled Kingsbury's exclusively for the Japanese market using their Cadenhead's stock, before the label was acquired by native firm, the Japanese Import System. They have released a number of some of the most collectible whiskies, including a Bowmore 1966, and two dark sherry casked Ardbeg.

This is part of a beautifully labelled series called Hand Writing, perhaps an affectionate nod to a similar Samaroli series around 10 years earlier?

Distilled in 1972 and bottled at natural cask strength after 28 years.

Ardbeg 1974 Provenance 4th Release 75cl / US Import

One of the legendary Ardbeg Provenance bottlings, distilled in 1974 and matured for around 25 years before bottling in September 2000.

This is the hard to come by 4th release in the series, and was exclusive to the US and Asian markets.

These whiskies are highly acclaimed and desirable, including certificate and tartan insert.

Bottle number 6086.

Ardbeg 1974 Samaroli 15 Year Old

One of two releases of a 1974 vintage Ardbeg bottled for Silvano Samaroli. At 240 bottles, this is the much rarer of the two.

Samaroli is perhaps Italy's most revered independent bottler of Scotch whisky. With an impeccable taste in single cask whiskies, and an eye for aesthetics (if not English spelling at times!), he is regarded by many as a visionary. Many of his bottles now occupy deserved sports in pantheon of whisky greats.

This bottling was bottled for Samaroli in Scotland by R.W. Duthie & Co. in 1990, and is bottle number 97.

Ardbeg 1975 Intertrade 13 Year Old Sherry Wood

A stunning vintage Ardbeg, distilled on 26th June 1975 and bottled at cask strength on 13th July 1988 for Intertrade.

Intertrade was established in Italy in the early 1980s by Nadi Fiori, a contemporary of Silvano Samaroli and Moon Import's Pepi Mongiardino. His company is perhaps less well known than theirs, but bottled some of the most well-regarded and collectible whiskies on the market.

This is one of two cask strength 1975 vintage Arbeg bottled for Fiori. This sherry cask by Gordon & MacPhail, and another from a new oak hogshead.

Bottle number 444 of 543.

Ardbeg 1975 Single Cask #4718

Vintage Ardbeg is a rare find these days and we are lucky to offer this 1975 vintage.

Sing sherry cask #4718 was filled on 26th December 1975 and bottled 20th October 1999

Bottle number 8 of 238.

Ardbeg 1976 Single Cask #2392

Distilled in 1976 and matured for 24 years in a sherry butt #2392.

This bottle was hand-bottled at cask strength by distillery manager Stuart Thomson and is number 526 of 528 bottles.

Ardbeg 1976 Single Cask #2394

A very highly sought after Ardbeg, distilled on 24th November 1976 and bottled on 18th July 2000.

Exclusively bottled by hand for the Ardbeg Committee this single cask sherry butt yielded only 466 bottles, this is bottle number 441.

Signed by Stuart Thomson.

Ardbeg 1974 Single Cask #2740

A Single Cask Ardbeg filled on 14th June 1974 and bottled at cask strength 29 years later, on the 11th August 2003

Cask No.2740, one of 120 bottles.

Ardbeg 1973 Single Cask #1143

Vintage Ardbeg is a rare commodity these days and we are lucky to offer this 1973 vintage single cask.

Distilled on the 16th of March 1973 and bottled on the 22nd of December 2006 from single bourbon hogshead #1143.

Bottle Number 48 of 216.

Ardbeg 1992 Single Cask #2780

A single cask Ardbeg, distilled on 1972 and bottled at over 30 years old on 2004.

Bottle number 160 of 216 drawn from single cask #2781, a bourbon hogshead.

Very Xtra Old Fitzgerald 1955 Bonded 10 Year Old 100 Proof / Stitzel-Weller

We don't see vintage Old Fitzgerald very often, so we are particularly excited about this bottle which was distilled in 1955 and bottled in 1965.

Distilled at Stitzel-Weller distillery when it was under the management of the legendary Julian 'Pappy' Van Winkle and bottled in the year of his death by his son, Julian II who had taken over the year prior.

These pure Van Winkle era Stitzel-Weller bottlings are rare gems and incredibly sought after.

Presented in a lockable fel-lined box with two glasses.

Ardbeg 1975 Single Cask #1378

Vintage Ardbeg is a rare commodity these days and we are lucky to offer this 1975 vintage single cask.

Distilled on the 28th of March 1975 and bottled on the 8th of November 2006 from a single sherry butt #1378.

Bottle Number 10 of 453.

Van Winkle 1985 Family Reserve Rye / Un-Chillfiltered European Exclusive

Blink and you might miss it, but this is not the standard 13 year old Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye that at first glance it may appear. Labelled simply as the 1985 vintage, this was released in 2001 when the Family Reserve was actually 15 years old. Although it is commonly known as a 13 year old, the rye actually continued to age in cask until 2004 when it was eventually tanked at Buffalo Trace. 

The Family Reserve Rye is presumed to have been distilled at Medley in Owensboro, with Cream of Kentucky rye from Bernheim blended through it after it was tanked in 2004. More recent bottlings are also expected to contain whiskey distilled at Buffalo Trace. This however is the unblended Medley liquid.

Bottled by Julian Van Winkle III at Old Commonwealth distillery in Lawrenceburg, he has personally confirmed that this un-chillfiltered version was an experiment for the European market, at the request of a French customer. Un-chillfiltering is unheard of with bourbon in the US, but is the preference here. Van Winkle also noted that he believes this release does have some flavour lost in the regular chillfiltered product.

Bottled at the higher strength of 100 proof, this is a particularly rare gem.

Bottle number A2580. 

Van Winkle 1985 Family Reserve Rye / Un-Chillfiltered European Exclusive

Blink and you might miss it, but this is not the standard 13 year old Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye that at first glance it may appear. Labelled simply as the 1985 vintage, this was released in 2001 when the Family Reserve was actually 15 years old. Although it is commonly known as a 13 year old, the rye actually continued to age in cask until 2004 when it was eventually tanked at Buffalo Trace. 

The Family Reserve Rye is presumed to have been distilled at Medley in Owensboro, with Cream of Kentucky rye from Bernheim blended through it after it was tanked in 2004. More recent bottlings are also expected to contain whiskey distilled at Buffalo Trace. This however is the unblended Medley liquid.

Bottled by Julian Van Winkle III at Old Commonwealth distillery in Lawrenceburg, he has personally confirmed that this un-chillfiltered version was an experiment for the European market, at the request of a French customer. Un-chillfiltering is unheard of with bourbon in the US, but is the preference here. Van Winkle also noted that he believes this release does have some flavour lost in the regular chillfiltered product.

Bottled at the higher strength of 100 proof, this is a particularly rare gem.

Ardbeg 1963 Sestante 30 Year Old / White Crest

A very, very rare Ardbeg indeed, distilled in 1963 and bottled by the world renowned Italian bottlers, Sestante in 1993.

Released as part of the White Crest label series, which included a number of releases from Ardbeg as well as other distilleries. The range was bottled from the 1980s all the way through to the early 2000s.

The Sestante import company was founded in the 1970s by Ernesto Mainardi, and he bottled his first single casks under the name in 1985. Alongside his contemporary, Silvano Samaroli, Mainardi pioneered giving his customers a choice of both standard 40-46% bottlings, and cask strength releases from the same casks. Along with his other brand, Silver Seal, Mainardi's bottlings are incredibly sought after.

Ardbeg from this period are so hard to come by these days, and it is well worth investigating these older bottlings, even more so when they are from bottlers such as Sestante.

Ardbeg 1976 Samaroli

A very highly sought after Ardbeg, distilled 1976.

Samaroli is perhaps Italy's most revered independent bottler of Scotch whisky. With an impeccable taste in single cask whiskies, and an eye for aesthetics (if not English spelling at times!), he is regarded by many as a visionary. Many of his bottles now occupy deserved sports in pantheon of whisky greats.

This bottling was bottled for Samaroli in Scotland by R.W. Duthie & Co. in 1993, and is the final addition to his Ardbge series. Almost unbelievably, Samaroli reportedly had great difficulty selling the first release in this series, the 1974 vintage from 1983. It was not until a few years later that demand for the peaty flavours began to increase in Italy.

This is one of the final bottlings from Samaroli's partnership with R.W. Duthie, who had to stop working with him in the early 1990s due to increasing demand from their other client, Cadenhead's.

Bottle 567 of 1020.

Van Winkle 13 Year Old Family Reserve Rye / 1999 Release

As sought after as the other members of this 'family'.

This is bottle A1857, and was released in 1999 when the whiskey was actually now 14 years old, despite the label. The Van Winkle Family reserve rye actually continued to age in cask until 2004 when it was eventually vatted. They are all labelled as 13 years old regardless.

The Family Reserve Rye is presumed to have been distilled at Medley in Owensboro, with Cream of Kentucky rye from Bernheim blended through it after it was tanked in 2004. As of 2018, the rye batches have been distilled and bottled at Buffalo Trace.

Bottled at the Old Commonwealth distillery in Lawrenceburg by Julian Van Winkle III. 

A.H. Hirsch Reserve 1974 16 Year Old 1990s / Squat Gold Wax for Velier

A legendary bottle of bourbon that has had a whole book written about itself: The Best Bourbon You'll Never Taste by Charles K Cowdery.

Distilled in Spring 1974, this bourbon is bottled from a single 400 barrel batch commissioned by Adolph Hirsch and distilled under contract at Michters distillery (then known as Pennco), just outside Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania. Hirsch was a former Schenley executive who had briefly worked at Michter's during his time there, and it is believed he commissioned the whisky as financial favour to the distillery, and actually had little plans for its use. So, it lay aging in the warehouses for much longer than generally expected for a bourbon at the time. 

With the closure of Michter's distillery, the bourbon was sold by Hirsch to Gordon Hue in 1991, who set about bottling it immediately.

Responsibility for the early bottling was entrusted to Julian Van Winkle III at his Old Commonwealth site in Lawrenceburg. However, his partnership with the Sazerac Company and creation of the Pappy Van Winkle brand in 2002, also saw bottling of the Hirsch Reserve moved briefly to Buffalo Trace. This is one of Van Winkle's earlier 1990's bottlings. Van Winkle's ledgers show that he was drip-fed orders for the Hirsch Reserve, and only produced limited case numbers to order when requested by Hue. This has lead to a variety of different bottlings at different ages. This gold wax topped \"squat\" bottle was filled at a slightly lower proof than others. This is essentially the same release as the \"squat black wax,\" however it was bottled for Velier and the Italian market instead.

Gordon Hue, who had maintained exclusive distribution rights to the Hirsch product despite the Van Winkle and Sazerac connections, eventually sold the brand to Preiss Imports who moved the subsequent and final bottling (technically re-bottling) to Kentucky Bourbon Distillers' Willett facility.

In his book Cowdery refers to the bourbon as one of the \"best whiskeys I've ever tasted.\"

Mash bill contains 75% corn, 13% rye, and 12% malted barley.

Very Very Old Fitzgerald 1955 Bonded 12 Year Old 86 Proof / Stitzel-Weller

We don't see vintage Old Fitzgerald very often, so we are particularly excited about this bottle which was distilled in the Spring of 1955 and bottled in 1967.

Distilled at the Stitzel-Weller distillery while it was still being run by the legendary Julian 'Pappy' Van Winkle, and bottled at the distillery by his son, Julian II, who assumed control following his father's death in 1965.

This is an export Bottled in Bond bourbon, allowing it to be filled at a lower 86 US proof, rather than the domestic requirement of 100 proof set out by the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897.

Ardbeg 1975 Douglas Laing 25 Year Old

A rare independent bottling of Ardbeg, distilled in October 1975 and bottled in October 2000.

This is part of Douglas Laing's Old Malt Cask range, back when it was still part of their portfolio. Hunter Laing have bottled the label since 2013.

One of 702 bottles.

Ardbeg 1976 Samaroli

A very highly sought after Ardbeg, distilled 1976.

Samaroli is perhaps Italy's most revered independent bottler of Scotch whisky. With an impeccable taste in single cask whiskies, and an eye for aesthetics (if not English spelling at times!), he is regarded by many as a visionary. Many of his bottles now occupy deserved sports in pantheon of whisky greats.

This bottling was bottled for Samaroli in Scotland by R.W. Duthie & Co. in 1993, and is the final addition to his Ardbeg series. Almost unbelievably, Samaroli reportedly had great difficulty selling the first release in this series, the 1974 vintage from 1983. It was not until a few years later that demand for the peaty flavours began to increase in Italy.

This is one of the final bottlings from Samaroli's partnership with R.W. Duthie, who had to stop working with him in the early 1990s due to increasing demand from their other client, Cadenhead's.

Bottle number 382 of 1020.

Very Old Fitzgerald 1951 Bonded 8 Year Old / Stitzel-Weller

We don't see vintage Old Fitzgerald very often, so we are particularly excited about this bottle which was distilled in the Spring of 1951 and bottled in 1959.

Distilled at the Stitzel-Weller distillery while it was still being run by the legendary Julian 'Pappy' Van Winkle, and bottled at the distillery by his son, Julian II, who assumed control following his father's death in 1965.

Bottled in bond.

Van Winkle 13 Year Old Family Reserve Rye / 2010 Release

As sought after as the other members of this 'family'.

This is bottle B544, and was released in 2010 when the whiskey was actually now 19 years old, despite the label. The Van Winkle Family Reserve rye actually continued to age in cask until 2004 when it was eventually tanked at Buffalo Trace. They are all labelled as 13 years old regardless.

The Family Reserve Rye is presumed to have been distilled at Medley in Owensboro, with Cream of Kentucky rye from Bernheim blended through it after it was tanked in 2004. The rye was the last of the remaining reserves that Julian Van Winkle III warehoused at Buffalo Trace by the time it finally ran out in 2016. A new batch, distilled at Buffalo Trace was first bottled in 2018.

Serial number is M2731018:42

Vintage Rye 23 Year Old

Vintage Rye is a boutique brand owned by Allied Lomar in California, who's other products include Rare Perfection, Wattie Boone and Very Olde St Nick. They have been sourcing whiskey and bottling it for several decades, and they are instantly recognisable from their uniform use of the same cursive script-style typeface. Allied Lomar president, Marci Palatella, was Julian Van Winkle III's agent in the Japanese market for many years, and their early bottlings were contracted to him at his Old Commonwealth distillery.

The Van Winkle partnership with the Sazerac company in the early 2000's ended this agreement however, with the production of bottles such as this moved to Willett distillery, where they were bottled by its owners, Evan Kulsveen's Kentucky Bourbon Distillers. The stills at Willett were silent at this point and most of the well-aged rye in the KBD warehouses was the unused Cream of Kentucky distilled by Schenley at Bernheim. This is the same rye that is a constituent in some of the Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve and was bottled as early versions of the Sazerac 18 year old at Buffalo Trace.

Allied Lomar opened their own Preservation distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky in 2018.

Vintage Rye 21 Year Old

Vintage Rye is a boutique brand owned by Allied Lomar in California, who's other products include Rare Perfection, Wattie Boone and Very Olde St Nick. They have been sourcing whiskey and bottling it for several decades, and they are instantly recognisable from their uniform use of the same cursive script-style typeface. Allied Lomar president, Marci Palatella, was Julian Van Winkle III's agent in the Japanese market for many years, and their early bottlings were contracted to him at his Old Commonwealth distillery.

The Van Winkle partnership with the Sazerac company in the early 2000's ended this agreement however, with the production of bottles such as this moved to Willett distillery, where they were bottled by its owners, Evan Kulsveen's Kentucky Bourbon Distillers. The stills at Willett were silent at this point and most of the well-aged rye in the KBD warehouses was the unused Cream of Kentucky distilled by Schenley at Bernheim. This is the same rye that is a constituent in some of the Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve and was bottled as early versions of the Sazerac 18 year old at Buffalo Trace.

Allied Lomar opened their own Preservation distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky in 2018.

Ardbeg Auriverdes Gold Edition

This shiny Ardbeg Auriverdes, launched on 31st May 2014 on 'Ardbeg Day' which coincides with the 'Ardbeg Day' with the Islay Festival.  

A very rare bottle, this Auriverdes was never made available to the public, it was only given to journalists, bloggers and distillery ambassadors before the official release at the end of May 2014.

Auriverdes is a Portuguese term created by the combination of auri, meaning \"gold\" and verde, meaning \"green.\" The word is commonly used in reference to the national flag, or as a nickname for many of their sports teams on account of their uniforms. Coincidentally, these are also the brand colours of Ardbeg distillery.

Ardbeg 1974 Sestante 18 Year Old

A very, very rare Ardbeg indeed, distilled in 1974 and bottled as an 18 year old by Sestante.

Bottlings of Ardbeg from this period are like gold dust, so it is well worth investigating these older releases - even more so when they are from esteemed bottlers such as Sestante.

Avonside 1938 Gordon and MacPhail 35 Year Old / Co. Pinerolo Import

Rumour has it that Avonside was actually single malt from Glenlivet, however the title has also been used by Gordon and MacPhail for younger blends and blended malts.​

Distilled in 1938 and bottled as a 35 year old by Gordon and MacPhail for their Connoisseurs Choice range.

The black and red labelled Connoisseurs Choice labels were the very first. The range was initially devised for Edoardo Giaccone in Italy in the early 1970s, but became part of the main Gordon & MacPhail portfolio in 1979.

Bottle number 919.

Bottled for the Italian market and distributed by Co. Import, Pinerolo.

Very Very Old Fitzgerald 12 Year Old Bonded 100 Proof 1980s / Stitzel-Weller

An old bottling of the 12 year old Very Very Old Fitzgerald for the Italian market.

Bottled around 1987 at the legendary Stitzel-Weller distillery, at this point operated by United Distillers (now Diageo) and still trading under the name Old Fitzgerald distillery, which the previous owners, Somerset Imports, had changed it to.

The distillery was closed down five years later, making the \"A Collector's Item\" shoulder label, that was formerly present here, a particularly astute proclamation.

Bottled in bond at the requisite 100 US proof.

Ardbeg 1972 Douglas Laing 28 Year Old

A very rare bottling of Ardbeg, distilled in February 1972 and bottled by Douglas Laing in April 2000 as part of their Old Malt Cask range. 

One of 492 bottles. 

Very Very Old Fitzgerald 1957 Bonded 12 Year Old 86 Proof / Stitzel-Weller

We don't see vintage Old Fitzgerald very often, so we are particularly excited about this bottle which was distilled in 1957.

Distilled at the Stitzel-Weller distillery while it was still being run by the legendary Julian 'Pappy' Van Winkle, and bottled at the distillery by his son, Julian II in 1970, two years before he was forced to sell to Somerset Imports, with his family departing the business.

These pure Van Winkle era Stitzel-Weller bottlings are rare gems and incredibly sought after, with the \"A Collector's Item\" shoulder label continuing to prove a remarkable piece of foresight.

This is an export Bottled in Bond bourbon, allowing it to be filled at a lower 86 US proof, rather than the domestic requirement of 100 proof set out by the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897.

Ardbeg Guaranteed 30 Year Old 

This 'Guaranteed' 30 year old Ardbeg was one of the last releases by Allied Distillers before the Glenmorangie takeover in 1997.

This release was limited to only 29 casks.