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Whisky sold
at auction in the UK exceeded £25
million over the past year as global
demand for rare whisky continues to
soar.
Rare Whisky 101, the whisky analyst,
broker and investment company has
revealed that whisky sold at auction
here in the UK in 2017 has exceeded £25M in a
single year for the first time as global
demand for liquid gold soars.
The figures which were published today
are part of Rare Whisky 101's 2017
annual report, they show both the volume
and value of rare Scotch whisky sold at
auction increased by record amounts over
the past year. The £ value of
collectable bottles of Single Malt
Scotch whisky sold at auction in the UK
rose by a staggering 76.33% to a record
£25.06m (2016 £14.21m). The number of
bottles of Single Malt Scotch whisky
sold at auction in the UK increased by
42.47% to 83,713 (2016 58,758).
The most expensive bottle to sell at
auction in the UK was a bottle of 62
year old Dalmore (one of 12 originally
released) for £95,000.
RW101’s leading index for rare
whisky, the Apex 1000 Index, which
tracks the best performing 1000 bottles
of rare whisky, closed the year up
27.51%, once again outperforming the Liv-Ex
Fine Wine 100 (5.28%), FTSE 100 (7.63%),
Brent Crude (17.78%) and Gold (13.59%).
December alone saw 8,848 bottles of
Scotch sold at auction in the UK, a
record month and a large part of the
25,123 bottles sold through the final
quarter of 2017. Just four years ago in
2013, a total of 20,211 bottles were
sold throughout the full year. From a
value perspective, December saw £3.148m
sold, slightly ahead of 2012’s full year
sales value of £2.911m.
At the end of 2016, ten distilleries had
seen a single bottle sell at auction in
the UK for more than £10,000. One year
on and that number has grown to
fourteen.
Commenting on the global thirst for
liquid gold, co-founder of Rare Whisky
101, David Robertson said:"We are
experiencing increasing demand from
almost all parts of the globe. South
East Asia remains a key factor for the
market, but is by no means the exclusive
driver. Demand from the domestic market,
central Europe and further afield is
higher than we’ve ever seen.
"From a rare whisky perspective,
approaching on the horizon are the
dynamic economies and the burgeoning
middle classes of mainland China and
India; neither have got to the starting
blocks yet, let alone begun to try and
win the rare whisky acquisition race.
When, and indeed, if they do, we’re
expecting demand to hit levels unlike
anything we’ve ever seen."
On the rare whisky auction market’s
future prospects, Andy Simpson, director
and co-founder of Rare Whisky 101 said:
"As a category, Scotch is appealing to
more and more buyers, and the pinnacle
product, single malt, is becoming ever
more popular with connoisseurs,
collectors and investors. Older spirit
is still very challenging to come by in
the cask and is commanding ever higher
prices. We don’t see that changing.
"In certain parts of the world,
collecting and investing is still very
much in its infancy, but wealthy status
buyers are targeting high value bottles
and consuming them as they were always
intended. This is, in turn pushing
prices north, with rarities increasing
in price with almost every single
subsequent sale.
"The growing importance, almost
dominance, of the UK’s auction market,
which is the largest in the world, will
continue to be underpinned by the
rapidly increasing number of rare whisky
retailers running auctions in parallel
to their traditional retail business.
The rare-whisky acquisition landscape
has changed forever as the consumer,
rather than the retailer, now decides
what price they will pay for a bottle of
rare and collectable whisky.
"We’ve talked about rare whisky being in
an almost perfect storm of diminishing
stocks (through consumption) and
skyrocketing demand. That situation
looks like continuing as the bulls
remain in control of the market."
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