According to the findings, which are part of Rare Whisky 101’s 2017 annual report, both the volume and value of rare Scotch whisky sold at auction increased by record amounts.
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| Rare Whisky 101 Founders: Andy Simpson and David Robertson |
The value of collectable bottles of single malt Scotch whisky sold at auction in the UK rose by 76.33% to a record £25.06m (£14.21m in 2016). The number of bottles of single malt Scotch whisky sold at auction in the UK increased by 42.47% to 83,713 (58,758 in 2016). The most expensive bottle to sell at auction in the UK was a bottle of 62 Year Old Dalmore, which sold for £95,000.
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.
Commenting on the news, Andy Simpson, Director and Co-Founder of Rare Whisky 101, said: “We were fully expecting to break £20 million for the first time. However, £25 million shows the level of pure demand in the market at the moment. The volume of bottles on the open market is at record highs, but demand for the right bottles, for now at least, continues to excess these record levels of supply.”
The findings in the Rare Whisky 101 2017 annual report, come at the same time as an announcement from the Scotch Whisky Association, which reports that 2017 was a record-breaking year for Scotch whisky exports.
According to official HMRC data published by the Scotch Whisky Association, last year Scotch grew in both volume and value (by 1.6% and 8.9% respectively) to a total of £4.36bn - the equivalent of 1.23bn bottles exported globally.
Posted by Steve Rush