May 2018 Auction

Flora and Fauna Complete Collection 26 x 70cl 

The Flora and Fauna series of whiskies was originally created in the early 1990s by United Distillers Vintners (what would later become Diageo).  Originally this range had no name and it was not until the famous whisky writer Michael Jackson nicknamed it the 'Flora and Fauna' series due to the labels, did it stick.  The Flora and Fauna series, as offered in this lot, contains a total of 26 distillery expressions. Not all of these were released at the same time and many have now been discontinued, the last of which was to be the Mortlach 16 year old, perhaps the most loved of all of these whiskies.

Most of the bottles that were available with wooden boxes are presented so here; Strathmill, Auchriosk, Glen Spey and Glen Elgin were never available with these boxes. 

A list of the bottles included in this lot (all at 70cl):

Inchgower 14 Year Old / White Cap - Wooden Box
Rosebank 12 Year Old / Wooden Box
Strathmill 12 Year Old
Bladnoch 10 Year Old / Wooden Box
Balmenach 12 Year Old / White Cap - Wooden Box
Mannochmore 12 Year Old / White Cap
Dufftown 15 Year Old / Wooden Box
Glendullan 12 Year Old / Wooden Box
Pittyvaich 12 Year Old / Wooden Box
Auchroisk 10 Year Old
Mortlach 16 Year Old / Wooden Box
Glenlossie 10 Year Old / Wooden Box
Teaninich 10 Year Old / White Cap - Wooden Box
Dailuaine 16 Year Old / Wooden Box
Blair Athol 12 Year Old / White Cap - Wooden Box
Clynelish 14 Year Old / Wooden Box
Caol Ila 15 Year Old / Wooden Box
Linkwood 12 Year Old / White Cap - Wooden Box
Benrinnes 15 Year Old / Wooden Box
Aultmore 12 Year Old / Wooden Box
Glen Spey 12 Year Old
Speyburn 12 Year Old / Wooden Box
Royal Brackla 10 Year Old
Glen Elgin 12 Year Old
Craigellachie 14 Year Old / Wooden Box
Aberfeldy 15 Year Old / Wooden Box

Please note this lot consists of 26 bottles, shipment for this combined lot will be calculated manually for more information please take a look at our Shipping Charges.

Weller's Antique Reserve 10 Year Old 110 Proof 1970s

A fantastic old bottling of Weller's Antique Reserve, aged 10 years and bottled at a barrel proof of 110.

Distilled and then bottled in the early 1970's at the legendary Stizel-Weller distillery, and given the age statement, likely from stock produced by Julien Van Winkle I before his death in the mid-1960's. The distillery was then run by his son, Julien Van Winkle II until its sale in 1972.

Presented in an ornate felt lined box with two glasses.

William L Weller 1982 19 Year Old / Bottled 2001​

William L Weller bottlings now tend to contain whiskey aged for approximately 10 to 14 years however when this was released that was not the case,  This was distilled in Spring 1982 and bottled in Summer 2001. Making this a 19 year old.

Willett Family Estate 21 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #C15A / Astor Wines​

A single White Oak barrel, wheated bourbon bottled by Willet after maturing for over 21 years!

Cask C15A was hand selected by Astor Wines and Spirits

Willett Family Estate 22 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #C69A​

Released on the 22nd August 2015 at the Willet gift shop, this well aged Bourbon was matured in barrel #C69A. This barrel is believed to be wheated bourbon produced at Bernheim distillery, prior to its takeover by Heaven Hill.

Bottle number 13 of 63 bottles.

Willett Family Estate 22 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #324​

Released on the 30th May 2015 at the Willet gift shop, this well aged Bourbon was matured in barrel #324.

Bottle number 8 of 109 bottles.

Willett Family Estate 22 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #B51

An exclusive release from cask #B51, which means that it was produced at Bernheim distillery, so will have a high wheat content mashbill. Bernheim is now known as Heaven Hill, and Kentucky Bourbon Distillers still procure much of their bottling stock from here while their renewed distilling operation at Willett is still in its infancy.

Matured in a single white oak barrel and bottled in December 2015 for exclusive retail in the Willett distillery gift shop.

One of just 94 bottles.

Talisker 1951 Gordon and MacPhail 21 Year Old​ / Pinerolo​

This Talisker was distilled on Skye in 1951 and bottled as 21 year old by Gordon and MacPhail using their Connoisseur's Choice branding in the 1970s.

Bottle number 293.

Pinerolo Italian Import. These particular bottlings all scored between 90 and 94 points when reviewed by Serge Valentin for Whiskyfun.com. Very impressive indeed!

Please note condition of lot as shown, including Italian and British Tax Stamps.

The liquid in this particular bottle has been carbon dated by Oxford University's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. The information corresponds with the vintage of this bottling. A pdf copy of the certificate is available on request.​

Talisker 1953 Gordon and MacPhail 24 Year Old​ / Pinerolo​

This Talisker was distilled on Skye in 1953 and bottled as 24 year old by Gordon and MacPhail using their Connoisseur's Choice branding in the 1970s.

Bottle number 1725.

Pinerolo Italian Import. These particular bottlings all scored between 90 and 94 points when reviewed by Serge Valentin for Whiskyfun.com. Very impressive indeed!

Please note condition of lot as shown, including Italian and British Tax Stamps.

The liquid in this particular bottle has been carbon dated by Oxford University's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. The information corresponds with the vintage of this bottling. A pdf copy of the certificate is available on request.

Taketsuru 25 Year Old Pure Malt

A very rare bottling of Taketsuru, originally introduced in 2012 this blended malt contains casks from Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries.

It is extremely limited and only 120 bottles were available throughout Europe, this bottle was released in Asia. 

W. L. Weller 1992 Single Barrel 12 Year Old​ / 'Stitzlel-Weller'

W. L. Weller bottlings now tend not to declare the vintage and bottling dates however when this was released that was not the case. 

This was distilled in Summer 1992 at the legendary Stitzel-Weller distillery, one of their last barrels given that it closed in the same year. Bottled by the Sazerac company at Buffalo Trace in the Fall of 2005. The brand is now produced at Buffalo Trace to this day, now simply known as Weller 12 Year Old.

This particular bottle of W.L. Weller is part of a select few known as the \"paper labels\" on account of the label style. This is one of 4 special bottlings from private single barrels selected specially by the Kentucky Bourbon Society, of which this is of particular note as it has infamously spelled Stitzel-Weller incorrectly on the label. The other 3 in the series are the 'Barrel of the Year,' 'Barrel C,' and 'The Fourth Barrel' bottlings.

W. L. Weller 1992 Single Barrel 12 Year Old / KBS 'The Fourth Barrel'

W. L. Weller bottlings now tend not to declare the vintages and bottling dates however when this was released that was not the case. 

This was distilled in July 1992 at Stitzel-Weller, the same year that it closed, and bottled at Buffalo Trace. Buffalo Trace now distills and bottles the Weller brand, with this expression now known simply as Weller 12 Year Old.

This particular bottle of W.L. Weller is part of a select few known as the \"paper labels\" on account of the label style. This is one of 4 special bottlings from private single barrels selected specially by the Kentucky Bourbon Society, of which this is 'The Fourth Barrel,' bottled in 2005. The other 3 in the series are the 'Barrel of the Year,' 'Barrel C,' and the infamous 'Stitzlel-Weller' mis-spell bottlings.

Taketsuru 25 Year Old Pure Malt

A very rare bottling of Taketsuru, originally introduced in 2012 this blended malt contains casks from Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries.

It is extremely limited and only 120 bottles were available throughout Europe, this bottle was released in Asia. 

Tullibardine 1966 

Distilled in 1966 and bottled in April 2006 from a single sherry butt.

Cask #1112 yielded 436 bottles.

W. L. Weller 10 Year Old Centennial Single Barrel / Whitehouse Liquor

Originally produced at the old Stitzel-Weller distiller, the 10 year old Centennial brand was revived by Buffalo Trace as part of their Bourbon Heritage Collection.

This particular bottling is from barrel #1, which was specially selected by Ben Faubel for Whitehouse Liquor, NY.

Willett Family Estate 13 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #367 / Astor Wines​

Aged in hand-selected White Oak barrels for 13 years. This particular lot was bottled by hand from Barrel #367.

Selected exclusively for Astor Wines & Spirits.

Willett Family Estate 16 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #1615

Aged in hand-selected White Oak barrels for 16 years.

Hand bottled in November 2017 for exclusive retail at the Willett distillery gift shop.

One of 149 bottles.

Talisker 1979 Cadenhead's Cask Strength

A legendary single cask Talisker distilled in 1979 and bottled by Cadenhead's at cask strength.

Bottle number 185.

Cask #4.

Whyte and Mackay 40 Year Old

A very high proportion of malt to grain (70% to 30%) went in to this very old blend. 

This release was dedicated to the 70 years that John McIlraith worked for Whyte and Mackay. 

One of 1000 bottles. 

William Larue Weller 2013 Release

Released within the infamous and eagerly awaited Buffalo Trace Antique Selection. 

William L Weller bottlings tend to contain whiskey aged for approximately 10 to 14 years.  In recent years the William Weller bottlings are increasingly difficult to get ahold of.

Bottled at 68.1% 

White Horse 1939 

A very old, pre-war bottling from this very popular blend, bottled in 1939.

There is no volume or ABV on this bottle.

William L. Weller 2015 Release

Released within the famous and eagerly awaited Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. 

In recent years, due to the known similarity between W.L. Weller and Van Winkle, and foremer's resultant huge increase in popularity and demand, these William L. Weller bottlings have become more and more difficult to get hold of.

William L Weller 2016 Release

Released within the famous and eagerly awaited Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. 

In recent years, due to the known similarity between W.L. Weller and Van Winkle, and Weller's resultant upsurge in popularity and demand, these William L. Weller bottlings have become increasingly harder to get hold of.

The 2016 bottling features 145 barrels which were filled in the winter of 2003 at 114 Proof (57%), with the whiskey drawn in autumn 2016 after 12 years and 7 months of aging at 135.4 Proof (67.7%) and bottled unfiltered.  The malt bill features Grade #1 and #2 Kentucky corn, North Dakota wheat and North Dakota malted barley.

Wild Turkey 12 Year Old Limited Edition 

A Limited Edition bottling of Wild Turkey 12 year old, bottled at the expected 101 US Proof / 50.5%.

William Larue Weller 2012

Released within the famous and eagerly awaited Buffalo Trace Antique Selection. 

William L Weller bottlings tend to contain whiskey aged for approximately 10 to 14 years old.  In recent years the William Weller bottlings are increasingly harder to get hold of.

Bottled at 61.7% 

Willett Family Estate 15 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #1605​

A single White Oak barrel bourbon, distilled and bottled at Willett. 

Cask #1605 was bottled in December 2016 and was available exclusively at the Willett distillery gift shop.

Wolfburn Inaugural Release

Located in Thurso, which is the Northern most distillery on the UK mainland. Based around a long lost distillery that ended around 1850, this new Wolfburn opened in 2013. 

This is their first single malt release.

There have been 875 bottles released, 100 of which were for the UK. This is presented in a hand crafted wooden box. 

This is bottle number 35 of 875. 

William L Weller 2017 Release

Released within the famous and eagerly awaited Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. 

In recent years, due to the known similarity between W.L. Weller and Van Winkle, and Weller's resulting huge increase in popularity and demand, the William L. Weller bottling have become increasingly harder to get hold of.

One of approximately 19,000 bottles from 155 handpicked barrels.

Tomintoul 1966 Stillman's Dram 33 Year Old​ 75cl / US Import

An independently bottled Tomintoul, part of Invergordon Distillers' The Stillman's Dram series.

Distilled in 1996 and matured for 33 years in single cask #4176 until 200.

One of 438 bottles, this is number 2.

Talisker 1982 Cask Strength 20 Year Old

A 1982 vintage cask strength Talisker that was matured in Bourbon casks, and bottled at 20 years old in 2003. A really under-rated dram.

One of 12,000 bottles.

Tamdhu 1963 50 Year Old Miniature 5cl

This incredible single malt scotch whisky was drawn from a single first-fill European oak Sherry butt which was filled in November 1963​ and bottled 50 years later, making this the oldest ever Tamdhu to be released!

Tamdhu is always matured in sherry casks, the rarest of which can often at best hold the liquid for 25 years. To have yielded 100 bottles after 50 years, cask #4678 must have been something truly special, and the whisky it produced equally so.

Speaking of the cask, Leonard Russel, managing director of Tamdhu owners Ian MacLeod distillers said:

\"There was a time, before we bought and reopened Tamdhu, when some thought it was gone forever. This cask, which may never have been released had the distillery remained closed, can be now opened and savoured, and that is something we want to celebrate.\"

This lot is the 5cl miniature that was included with the full sized bottles, these miniatures were released without a seal.

Willett Family Estate 14 Year Old Single Barrel Bourbon #3261​

Aged in hand-selected White Oak barrels for 14 years.

Hand bottled in August 2017 for exclusive retail at the Willett distillery gift shop.

One of 153 bottles.