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B eginning a collection of anything is often motivated by enjoyment, fun and leisure – but the pursuit can also be confusing or intimidating until you gain enough confidence and knowledge to identify the gems you’re looking for.
Whiskey collecting fits this bill. With the explosion in spirits collecting over the past 20 years thousands of brands have entered the market – and many don’t offer transparency, complicating the ability to decode what’s what. It can take years of exposure before a collector learns all the inquiries they should ask themselves when purchasing bottles.
Fortunately, a few quick tips from the experts at Sotheby’s can demystify and streamline the process.
Most collectible whiskies – especially any sort of vintage bottle – will cost more in a retail store than at auction. Retailers and online wholesalers often treat high-value bottles as “sit-and-forget” investments, because the bread and butter of their revenue relies on turning over low-value, high-volume brands. In other words, they can afford to wait for someone to pay a “buy now” premium on a rare example.
There are some exceptions, especially among current-release whiskies, in how retail stores choose to price their newly acquired spirits. But as a general rule, one should always check online auction prices to glean a true sense of how the market values any particular bottle. The best way to find rare bottles is to scour auction houses and pay attention while lots are closing. Or you can browse through Sotheby’s auction result archives.
Whiskey labels contain a few clues that will help even the most novice collector determine whether a bottle is a good buy.
Does the bottle denote a vintage or year of release?
Whiskies stating the year of distillation, bottling date or the year of release are more coveted. Examples of these would be the plethora of Scotch denoting the year of distillation and Blanton’s bourbon’s “dump date” (similar to a bottling date), which have collectors scrambling to collect dates personally important to them, as well as annual bottlings printed with the release year on the front label.
Is this whiskey part of a series or set?
In the whiskey world, possessing an entire “vertical” of a series is cause for bragging rights and unsolicited social media posts. Famous verticals with cult followings include the six whiskies making up the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, Karuizawa’s 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, The Macallan James Bond set and Colonel E.H. Taylor limited release series.
Does this bottle have any other information setting it apart?
This could include a bottle number indicating how many were made, a company naming all its single-barrel releases something unique or a distillery that constantly changes label artwork. If you haven’t heard of the company before, look it up – and, again, don’t let retail prices be your guide to a bottle’s worth.
There are several extinct or defunct distilleries exerting outsize influence on whiskey today, despite being out of production for decades (some of which have plans to reopen). In Scotland these include Port Ellen and Rosebank; in the United States the distilleries of lore mentioned most often are Stitzel-Weller, Old Bernheim and pre-fire Heaven Hill; while the demolished Japanese distilleries Karuizawa and Hanyu command six-figure prices at auction. Sotheby’s has published a number of collecting guides for many of these whiskies, and countless books, articles and blog posts will further shepherd you down the seemingly endless rabbit hole of legendary distilleries.
Some of the most famous brands in American whiskey have changed hands over the years – knowing which is which will massively assist in deciphering similar-looking bottles from different decades. Perhaps the most famous example of this is Pappy Van Winkle. Originally distilled at the aforementioned Stitzel-Weller, which ceased operations in 1992, the Van Winkle line of whiskeys has been made at Buffalo Trace since 2002.
Other brands that’ve experienced migration include Old Fitzgerald, also once Stitzel-Weller but now made by Heaven Hill; Michter’s, which existed in rural Pennsylvania for most of its history before moving to Louisville, KY in the 1990s; and Rittenhouse Rye, originally made in Philadelphia but now made in Kentucky by Heaven Hill.
Age statements are exceptionally important in the whiskey world, as they convey the minimum amount of time every single drop of whiskey in the bottle has spent in a barrel. Generally speaking, whiskies with an age statement tend to garner more acclaim and value than whiskey without.
For American whiskey, releases 13 years and older hold the most value. For single-malt whiskys around the globe, including Scotch, 25 years is where we see a marked increase in value. The main reason for the age difference between continents has to do with grain, barrels and weather.
The short answer is both: “whisky” / “whiskys” and “whiskey” / “whiskeys” are all correct, referring to the same drink but from different parts of the world.
Traditionally, Scotland, Canada and Japan use “whisky,” while Ireland and the United States favor “whiskey.” The extra “e” became common in Ireland during the 19th century and carried over with Irish immigrants to America, while Scottish distillers and their protégés kept the leaner spelling.
Sotheby’s uses both spellings to signal the origin of a bottle and “whiskies” to refer to the drink as a whole. And while nuances develop due to local traditions, that doesn’t change the basic recipe of what’s in the glass: grain spirit aged in wood.
Speaking of age statements and vintages, it’s important to learn how to avoid a common rookie mistake. Many collectors have, at one time or another, purchased a blended spirit with a high age statement or a vintage spirit that isn’t single malt, bourbon or rye, believing that these aged whiskies are inherently collectible. Blended Scotches (even with 20-year age statements), low-proof bourbon and rye from the 1990s and before, cognac predating World War II – these whiskies may be old and full of aged liquid, but they’re rarely valuable on the secondary market.
Just like wine, whiskey storage is vital for maintaining the value of a collection. Storing bottles in a cool, dry place without sunlight will help fight against evaporation and color fading. Unlike wine, liquor bottles should be stored vertically and not on their side, because the spirit’s high alcohol content will gradually dissolve the cork into the whiskey.
Sotheby’s often turns down bottles due to poor condition, especially when a bottle’s fill level is wrong or its label is faded or damaged to the point of being unreadable. Do your spirits collection a favor by storing it in a basement that doesn’t get hot or humid.
If you’ve ever heard the terms “non-distilling producer” or “independent bottler,” know that they both refer to companies that sell whiskey under their own brands but do not distill the whiskey themselves.
Scotland and the United States could not have more different approaches regarding how these companies operate. In Scotland, companies like Gordon & MacPhail, Cadenhead’s and Scotch Malt Whisky Society usually disclose on the front label what distillery a barrel is sourced from. Across the pond in the USA, however, independent bourbon and rye companies decline to disclose the distillery more often than not. This leads to endless speculation on the part of collectors, who love the thrill of trying to ascertain whether a bottle was distilled by Heaven Hill, for example, or MGP. The reality is that no one who hasn’t signed an ironclad NDA knows the truth of a US independent bottle’s origin.
Just because a whiskey is a limited edition doesn’t necessarily mean it’s valuable. There’s no law defining “limited edition” in the same way that laws define “bourbon” or “bottled-in-bond,” for example. That means a limited whiskey release could be, say, 600 bottles or it could be 45,000 bottles! Same goes with the term “small batch.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean limited-edition and small-batch whiskies aren’t enjoyable or worth drinking with your friends. But if your intent is to find something that will appreciate in value, you’ll want to do some more research.
Buffalo Trace and The Macallan are stalwarts of the secondary market. Both distilleries have immense brand portfolios that make other massive distilleries pale in comparison. They’ve each mastered the art of limited-edition bottlings, and both produce highly sought-after annual release series, one-off sets and reoccurring series with no timeline between releases – even a few of their most available brands will appreciate in value. Importantly, both distillers also value the most important thing in whiskey collecting: for you to open the bottle and enjoy what’s inside.
So if you find yourself pondering a limited-edition Buffalo Trace or bottle from The Macallan, it’s probably a safe buy.
More could be said on all topics above, but this is a good start without becoming too dense. Whiskey and spirits collecting is more than just about what’s in the bottle, it’s about the community of collectors that imbibe together and share their passion with one another. It is one of the most welcoming collector communities, and aficionados are happy to share their whiskey knowledge with aspiring collectors. There is more information beyond this we are happy to share.
