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A bottle of
Glenury Royal 50 Year Old distilled in
1953 fetches a record price of £14,000
for a bottle of whisky from the now lost
Highland distillery.
Even in the midst of the Covid-19
pandemic whisky auction prices are
continuing to reach news highs, in a
recent auction hosted by the online
whisky auction specialist, Whisky
Auctioneer, a bottle of Glenury Royal 50
Year Old 1953 Vintage achieved a price
of £14,000, which was a new record price
for the sadly now lost Highland
distillery.
The record-breaking Glenury Royal 1953
50 year old was Bottle #1 of just 498
bottles released in 2003 as part of
Diageo’s Special Releases in homage to
the distillery's legacy. It is by far
one of the scarcest as well as the
oldest whisky ever bottled for the
annual series.
With an intriguing and dramatic history,
The Glenury Royal Distillery was located
near Stonehaven in the Highland whisky
region before it joined the array of
Scotland’s lost distilleries. It closed
its doors and ceased production in 1985
meaning its liquid is exceedingly
difficult to come by. It is this
scarcity that has led to these
fascinating and historical spirits from
Scotland’s lost distilleries becoming
some of the most highly prized and
sought-after possessions for collectors
in recent years .
Iain McClune, Founder of Whisky
Auctioneer, said: "This fantastic result
is testament not only to the exceptional
maturity of the Glenury Royal 1953 50
year old but also to the enduring
mystery and lure that lost distilleries
pose for rare whisky collectors and
enthusiasts around the globe.
"The secondary whisky market has
witnessed significant growth in recent
years and a key component of this growth
has been lost distillery bottlings. With
dwindling stocks many of these
expressions are becoming exceptionally
rare and sought after. We are
enthusiastic to showcase a wide range of
lost distillery examples in our monthly
auctions at varying levels of
accessibility. For a budding collector
these whiskies can be a great place to
start, offering a fascinating window
into Scotland’s distilling past."
The Glenury Royal Distillery was founded
in 1825, taking its name from the glen
that runs through the Ury district. Its
first owner was Captain William Barclay,
a diverse character and a close friend
of the Royal Family. His whisky was just
one of the three to be granted
permission to use the Royal
suffix/prefix with only Royal Lochnagar
and Royal Brackla sharing the honour .
This record-breaking single malt was not
the only lost distillery highlight of
the recent online whisky auction, which
also saw a very rare independent
bottling from closed Speyside distillery
Caperdonich (previously known simply as
Glen Grant 2) achieve a hammer price of
£3,100. Other noteworthy results from
the auction included a 55 year old
single malt from The Macallan, presented
in a handcrafted Lalique crystal
decanter, which reached a £60,000 hammer
price, and a cask filled with spirit
distilled at Glenrothes distillery in
2009, selling for £8,400.
Although bottle no.1 of the Glenury
Royal 1953 is now sold you do
occasionally find other bottlings of the
Glenury Royal 1953 vintage as well as
other expressions from the lost
distillery available from specialist
online whisky retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange and
Master of Malt
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