Welcome back to another edition of Auction Spotlight where we take a look at the price differential between an auction and the previous 3 month prices to get a feel for where the market is at.
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This auction spotlight we take a look at Celtic Whiskey Auctions latest (June) auction vs all sales from the 30th of March, to the 30th of June inclusive. There were quite a few auction lots that didnt sell this time around, and while browsing and sampling some there were some really shocking reserves on some bottles (such as €180 for a b1 pot still Teeling. Its no wonder that didn’t sell! )
Now, for the numbers of the auction which there were quite a few shockers. As always we’ll start out with my ‘watchlist’ where I earmark certain bottles or new releases that caught my eye during the auction to give an indication of some sort of value.
Top level stats:
Number of lots: 113
Number of lots successfully won: 88
Avg Price of Successful Lot: €293.30
Successful Lot Rate: 78%
New / Noteworthy Sales
2016 Triple Distilled Peated Single Malt Cask: If I’m not mistaken, I believe this is the first cask to be sold in an Irish auction house, so congrats on that Celtic! The final hammer price was €4,550. Factoring in that buying one now from Celtic would cost you €2,150 up front for a similar cask and style, it’s not a bad return on 5 years sitting there. assuming a couple of hundred quid a year in insurance, lets say €3,000 all in for the seller would still give them a 50% return.
Old Comber (2021): Earlier in June we saw the (re)release of Old Comber from none other than The Echlinville Distillery. You could buy this at retail for £45(€53). The hammer price was €130 giving a nice 145% return.
Bushmills Causeway Collection 2008 Muscatel Cask: A big shocker here. Its been consistently around the 200 mark for the last 3 months, spiking to a 400 average back in January. The bidders on the 2 of these bottles either know something we dont, or mistook this for a 2006 marsala which would be around this price? Very strange none the less racking up a 232% return on the average €196 of the last 3 months dropping the hammer at €650.
Midleton Very Rare 2021: I had to double and triple check this as it’s so unbelievable. There was 1 in the auction, and although we can all agree it’s been tough to get, none of us could believe that this would happen. €410 was the final hammer price, an astounding 53% increase on the current average of €267 and 69% increase on the last Celtic auction of €243. Have we actually over estimated what a ‘normal’ midleton release would be or has the split release just enabled this frenzy? Another batch is due out later this year.. Will it make the shelves?
Bushmills Causeway Collection
| Expression | # Sold | Avg Price | % 3m Avg | Prev CWA | % Prev CWA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 American New Oak | 1 | €800 | -11% | €850 | -6% |
| 2008 Muscatel Cask | 2 | €650 | +232% | — | — |
| 2010 Cognac Cask | 1 | €85 | +24% | €67 | +27% |
| 2011 Banyuls Cask | 2 | €159 | -18% | €117 | +11% |
Aside from the crazy increase from the muscatel, a bit of a mixed bag here, higher than previous celtic auction, but lower than the average apart from the cognac cask. Interesting that the 30 year old (1990) just made retail.
Dingle
| Expression | # Sold | Avg Price | % 3m Avg | Prev CWA | % Prev CWA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single Malt B1 | 1 | €325 | -15% | €361 | -10% |
| Single Malt B2 | 1 | €145 | +31% | €140 | +4% |
Midleton
| Expression | # Sold | Avg Price | % 3m Avg | Prev CWA | % Prev CWA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very Rare 1992 | 1 | €1,076 | -17% | €1,130 | -10% |
| Very Rare 1993 | 1 | €825 | -24% | — | — |
| Very Rare 1995 | 1 | €785 | -10% | — | — |
| Very Rare 2011 | 1 | €625 | +4% | €575 | +9% |
| Very Rare 2016 | 1 | €431 | +22% | €411 | +5% |
| Very Rare 2019 | 2 | €248 | +1% | €228 | +9% |
| Very Rare 2020 | 3 | €510 | +4% | €492 | +4% |
| Very Rare 2021 | 1 | €410 | +53% | €243 | +69% |
Prices seem to be settled this auction after taking a tumble last month with the 93 and 16 being the only 2 with a big swing.. more of a correction than anything I would think. Looking forward to see how it pans out next auction.
RedBreast
| Expression | # Sold | Avg Price | % Prev Avg | Prev CWA | % Prev CWA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dream Cask 29 | 1 | €1,076 | +3% | — | — |
| 12 CS b1/16 | 1 | €90 | -13% | — | — |
| 12 Gilbeys | 1 | €279 | +21% | €230 | +21% |
DC29 staying solid at the 1k mark, nice jump on the gilbeys bottling, I’d say more people are starting to look at legacy style bottles rather than the new releases with the market being a bit uneasy with all the global changes at the moment.
Misc
| Expression | # Sold | Avg Price | % Prev Avg | Prev CWA | % Prev CWA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Powers LVA | 1 | €120 | +38% | — | — |
| Knappogue Castle 1990 | 1 | €300 | — | — | — |
| Killowen Rum and Raisin | 1 | €110 | +0% | — | — |
| Blue Spot | 3 | €130 | +18% | €105 | +24% |
Nice jump on the LVA and bluespot here, still waiting on the next restock of bluespot, there were a couple when the bow street distillery reopened in June, wonder if we’ll see a surge in supply at auctions. Looks like the Killowen Rum and Raisin has levelled off at €110.
So thats it for this edition, join me again next week where I’ll dive into Irish Whiskey Auctions July Auction which ends on Sunday night!
