Words by Colin Hampden-White
The king lives on, as Dalmore stays at the top for whisky investors, or, very wealthy drinkers were buying at auction last month! Closing the gap from last month and now in second place is Bowmore with old bottles of Bowmore doing very well.
There were a good amount of Karuizawa bottles at auction, notably a bottle of Five Decades sold for charity which was donated by Marcin Miller and David Croll raising £9800 for the Worshipful Company of Distillers Charities.
The usual suspects are still in the top ten with Macallan, Springbank and Clynelish, and they are joined by Ardbeg, which, because of the rarity of old bottles dips in and out of the top ten, and with the release of Ardbeg 25, Scorch and a very notable single cask 20 year old, Ardbeg may well move further up in the coming months.
So, my top tip for bottles to watch this month would be Ardbeg as I feel there will be plenty on the market in the coming month and it will go up the top ten. Avoid the first bottles on the market from new releases as they tend to spike in price before settling down after a month or so. It might even be worth looking back at bottles released a year ago. I’ve listed a few below.
The Dalmore 6%
Bowmore 3%
Rosebank Official Bottlings 2%
Karuizawa 1.5%
Clynelish 5%
Macallan 1%
Springbank 1%
Yamazaki 0.5%
Bunnahabhain 1.5%
Ardbeg
Bottles to Watch
Ardbeg Arrrrrrrdbeg! Committee Release
A one-off release to celebrate the career of distillery manager Micky Heads. We had the fortune of meeting Micky on our trip to Islay and he spoke about another brilliant expression called Galileo. Another Ardbeg well worth investing in if you can find it!
Size: 750ml
ABV: 58.8%
Find here: US from 179.49
Ardbeg Blaaack
Before Scorch there was Blaaack. This special release for the 20th anniversary of the committee was released over six months ago now means the initial spike in prices are over and are back to a good level to buy at auction, or if like this one you can find it at its original release price, then that’s a great option.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 46%
Find here: US from $139.99
Ardbeg 19 1st release
This Ardbeg was a new release at the end of 2019, and they are now onto their second batch with a 3rd to follow soon. If you can find the original first release, these are now being found at auction and increasing in price steadily.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 46.2%
Find here: US from $322.70
In the UK there are a few very special bottles on sale. Along with a distillery bottling from 2002, independent bottles are also well worth looking at. With the rarity of Ardbeg official bottles, these independent bottles will also increase over time.
Ardbeg Committee Reserve (bottled 2002)
Size: 500ml
ABV: 46.8%
Find here: £1034.95
All the brands in the top ten should do well over time. Like any of my suggestions, they are suggestions and I don’t pretend to have a crystal ball, but it will point you in the right direction to do your own research and introduce you to the possibilities of investing in whisky.
If you want to take a look at past whisky investment indexes then click here for April and here for March.