Distilled | Iconic Samaroli, Dalmore 62 and The World’s Oldest Cognac

Top 10 Whiskies for the Budding Collector

• The Macallan 18 Year Old 43.0 abv 1976 (1 BT70)

  Macallan’s bottlings are the cornerstone of any collection, and The Macallan 18 vintages are among the most important bottles from this distillery. The 18 Year Old vintages stretch back to the 1940s and while complete verticals are incredibly rare the pursuit of one is one of the ultimate whisky collection goals.

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• Port Ellen Douglas Murdoch 17 Year Old 59.5 abv NV (1 BT70)

  Bottles from closed distilleries have caught the eye of any collector who wants to capture the history of Scotch Whisky. Distilleries such as Port Ellen, Brora and Hillside no longer produce whisky, meaning their output is finite and quickly running out.

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• Caol Ila Signatory Vintage 20 Year Old 62.5 abv 1981 (1 BT70)

  Independent bottles are a great way to obtain something limited. This beautiful peated whisky from Caol Ila Distillery was bottled by Andrew Symington’s well renowned Signatory Vintage, a bottling company that has released some of the greatest peated expressions from distilleries such as Ardbeg and Port Ellen over the years. This whisky offers the opportunity for collectors to try a dram that is high strength and released in small numbers, making these bottles limited editions.

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• Clynelish Samaroli 57.0 abv 1995 (1 BT70)

  Samaroli’s bottles are hailed as the greatest whiskies ever to be released. On the Whiskybase.com list of the top 1000 whiskies, Samaroli bottles hold all of the top 5 places. While the oldest of these bottles command incredibly high prices at auction, the newer Samarolis are more accessible. This stunning Clynelish offers the opportunity for the budding collector to get hold of one of Samaroli’s precious bottles before it is too late.

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• Midleton Very Rare 2012 Release 40.0 abv NV (1 BT70)

  I often think of Midleton as being the Irish Macallan. It’s the brand that transcends the category and every time one appears at auction its value seems to increase. This is one of the more recent annual bottlings from Midleton, released 8 years ago and offers a great price point for the budding collector.

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• Springbank 46.0 abv 1964 (1 BT70)

  Springbank is rapidly becoming one of the most important distilleries for collectors. The Springbank 1919 was for some time the most expensive bottle of whisky sold at auction until overtaken by the Macallan 1926. These old tall black label Springbanks bottled in the 1980s are a collector’s dream. The colour and quality of the whisky within is something that is rarely replicated in the modern era. This is a true show piece.

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• Glen Keith Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 46.0 abv 1967 (1 BT70)

  This bottle ticks a number of boxes for new collectors. Glen Keith is a somewhat less known distillery, so a great opportunity to introduce some eclecticism into any collection. This bottle makes up part of the G&M Connoisseurs Choice series, which is the at the core of the Urquhart family’s output, and important to every whisky collection. Add to this the fact that this is a 1960s distillate and this bottle becomes extremely appealing.

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• Glendronach Cadenhead's 58.9 abv 1970 (1 BT70)

  The Cadenhead White Label Cask Strength collection is nothing short of iconic. The dark liquid and high critic scores of the Clynelish, Glenugie and Springbank expressions within this series have increased focus on the 1990s white labels bottles. This Glendronach is among the most desirable of these bottles.

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• The Macallan Royal Marriage 1948 and 1961 20 Year Old 43.0 abv NV (1 BT)

  Commemorative bottlings are very collectible and the Royal Marriages throughout the 1980s offered great opportunities for distilleries and bottlers to create limited bottlings. This particular bottle is offered without reserve, so should appeal to the bargain hunters out there.

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• Bowmore Samaroli Bouquet 53.0 abv 1966 (1 BT)

  As the saying goes, if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing right. There is no better place to begin, or complete, a collection than with this bottle. Achieving the highest critic score from Serge Valentin on whiskyfun.com and listed as the number 1 bottle in Whiskybase’s list of the top 1000 bottles, this bottle is truly the pinnacle of whisky collecting. Emmanuel Dron, Sotheby’s Consultant and author of Collecting Scotch Whisky as “the quintessence of Scotch Whisky”. Need we say more?

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