Sotheby’s have confirmed that The Distillers One of One Auction more than doubled it’s pre-sale estimate and raised over £2.25 million for charity.
Held on 5th October at Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, the auction raised funds for the Distillers’ Charity’s Youth Action Fund, which seeks to change and improve the lives of young people across Scotland.
Bidders were hoping to get their hands on some truly impressive, one-of-a-kind whiskies across 39 lots.
The top sale was the £562,500 bid for the 55 Year Old Bowmore STAC. This was comfortably clear of the £300,000-£500,000 estimate for the whisky, which is unsurprising (but still impressive!) considering the STAC was the oldest whisky to be released by one of the world’s best loved whisky brands.
Brora also donated their oldest ever whisky to the auction. The 50 Year Old Iris, with it’s eye catching decanter and hand crafted stone presentation sculpture, was sold for £400,000, matching it’s high-estimate.
Elsewhere, the Glen Grant Visionary sold for £215,000 and the Glenturret Enduring Spirit was sold for £125,000, both of which were considerably greater than their respective £90,000 and £80,000 high estimates.
Each of the above were record breaking sales for these brands. In fact, almost half the total number of lots broke records, with the highest recorded price being paid for a bottle from 19 different brands.
It’s exciting to see such fantastic whisky selling for impressive figures, but it’s even more inspiring to remember that these whiskies were all donated and that the bidders’ money is going to worthy causes.
The inaugural Distillers One of One Auction was held in 2021 and it was genuinely game changing in regards to both the creativity of the donations and the value of the money raised. 2023’s edition of the biannual event exceeded all expectations in terms of generosity and philanthropy.
Between the two auctions, over £4.2 million has been raised, which will have an incredibly positive impact on the lives of people aged 16-25 across Scotland. Over a thousand young people will be helped, encouraged and supported for years to come thanks to the efforts of these auctions.
The next edition is due to be held in 2025 - here’s hoping more records will be broken and more money will be raised.
