Ardbeg 1976 Manager’s Choice – buy it for its 1999 price

Continuing our 20th anniversary celebrations, we’re selling a fabled bottle of whisky for its original 1999 price – a whisky selling for £7,500 in 2019 for just £99. There’s just one catch: we’ve only got one to sell at that price. Head to the bottom of this post to learn more about the ballot we’re running for the chance to buy the bottle, but read on to learn a bit more about the whisky itself – Ardbeg 1976 Manager’s Choice.

In the beginning…

Just as The Whisky Exchange made its first tentative steps online twenty years ago, Ardbeg distillery was also beginning a new era.

Learn more about our 20th anniversary celebrations >

Stories of Ardbeg go back to the early 1800s, but its more recent history is more chequered than its illustrious past. Reopened by Glenmorangie in 1997, the distillery was still finding its feet in 1999, with a new team firing up the stills after 16 years of intermittent operation and occasional silence.

Whisky takes time, and with very little younger whisky available, the distillery team dug deep into the warehouses to find gems to share with whisky fans while they waited for their own spirit to mature. In 1999, the Ardbeg 1976 Manager’s Choice was released, putting Ardbeg firmly back on the map.

Ardbeg 1976 Manager’s Choice

Selected by distillery manager Stuart Thomson, cask #2391 was found hidden in warehouse #10 and was only available to visitors to the distillery. Distilled on 4 November 1976 and bottled by hand at 22 years old on 23 June 1999, every bottle was hand-numbered and signed by Stuart.

The whisky perfectly balanced the character of cask and spirit, with rich dried fruit, tobacco  and worn leather poised against tarry ropes, singed oranges and tropical fruit. An incredible marriage that wowed those lucky to get one of the 497 bottles yielded by the cask.

It currently sits with an average score of 93/100 from the Malt Maniacs and 94.77 on Whiskybase, the 55th highest ranked of the 128,000 whiskies in its database and one of six Ardbeg 1976s in the top 100 – a truly legendary combination of distillery and vintage.

Vintage 1976 – it’s all about the sherry

The Ardbeg 1976 Manager’s Choice opened the door for the distillery’s rise to fame. More 1976 releases followed, with the Manager’s Choice’s sister casks picking up almost as much praise as the original – earlier years became known for bourbon-matured whisky from the distillery, but the 1976 vintage was all about the sherry.

Whisky Exchange co-founder Sukhinder Singh was fortunate enough to try the run of 1976’s head-to-head in a tasting: “They were all stunning, but in the end it came to just two – the Manager’s Choice and the Feis Ile 2002 special edition. Depending on the day, either could have come out on top, it was so close. On that day, the Manager’s Choice took it.”

The Whisky Exchange 20th anniversary ballot

Today, the distillery’s releases focus on the spirit produced since reopening, winning awards and fans around the world. Whiskies like the Ardbeg 1976 Manager’s Choice are now rare and much sought-after – a time capsule of how the whisky world has changed over the past two decades.

Whisky Exchange co-founders Rajbir and Sukhinder Singh with the ballot bottle of Ardbeg 1976 Manager’s Choice

Launched at just £99 per bottle, it has steadily risen in value over the years. With only 497 bottles to start with, the number left has slowly fallen as they have been opened and enjoyed. Now, the few remaining bottles change hands for many times the original price, and we are very pleased to have found one to sell in our 20th Anniversary ballot.

How does it work?

It’s simple: head over to the Ardbeg 1976 ballot page, click “Enter Ballot” and then checkout as usual – you won’t be charged unless you are the winner of the ballot.

The ballot closes on 22 September 2019, so don’t delay – get yourself entered.

Available on our website next week, new Malts of Scotland stock. 12 bottles of each, here’s a little teaser for you 🤗

Have a lovely weekend everyone

Bartels Whisky
The Old Glebe
Loughborough, LecLE12 8LB
United Kingdom

Springbank 12 Year Old Cask Strength – 57.1%

The latest cask strength offering from Springbank distillery, always a popular release. This Campbeltown malt has been matured for 12 years in bourbon and sherry casks before being bottled at 57.1% vol.

Limited stock remains, restricted to one per person.

BUY NOW

GlenDronach
Exclusive Casks

GlenDronach 25 Year Old 1993

We’ve unearthed a few cases of the legendary 1993 vintage from GlenDronach Highland distillery. From a single sherry butt #658 yilding 557 bottles.

Shop – 25 Year Old GlenDronach 1993 – £350.00

SEPTEMBER AUCTION NOW LIVE!
(ends Sunday 29th September)

…place your bids at www.whiskyhammer.co.uk

With an incredible selection of whiskies and other fine spirits there is certainly something for everyone – whether you are looking to collect, invest, enjoy!

MACALLAN LALIQUE- 50 YEAR OLD LEADS BONHAMS WHISKY SALE IN EDINBURGH

Macallan Lalique- 50 year old. Estimate: £67,000-93,000.

Two bottles of one of the world’s most sought-after whiskies, the Macallan Lalique- 50 year old lead Bonhams Fine Whisky sale in Edinburgh on Wednesday 9 October. They are each estimated at £67,000-93,000.

The Macallan Lalique-50 year old is the first of The Lalique Six Pillars Collection of the distillery’s rarest single malts, released between 2006-2016. Distilled and bottled by The Macallan Distillers Ltd., Easter Elchies, Craigellachie, it is said to have the aroma of cumin, cardamom and maraschino, and a taste of dark prunes and plain chocolate.

Other highlights include:

·         Three bottles of Back Bowmore – 1964; one each of the first second and third editions. Estimate for each bottle:  £18,000-20,000. Black Bowmore 1964 first edition was bottled in 1993 in a production run of 2,000 bottles. The second edition followed in 1994 – when, again, production was limited to 2,000 bottles. The third, and final, bottling, in an edition of 1,812, took place in 1995.

·         Rolling Stones Suntory-50th Anniversary. Estimate: £25,000-35,000. The whisky is a blend of selected malts distilled in milestone years in the history of the Rolling Stones, including a malt from 1962 – the year the band was formed – that has been aged in mizunara (Japanese oak) casks. The blend also contains whisky from 1971, when the famous ‘tongue and lips’ logo was launched; it’s said to be one of the most famous brand images in the world, and the original art work is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Bonhams whisky specialist in Edinburgh Martin Green said, “In a strong sale the exceptional Macallan Lalique- 50 year old stands out. This is one of the world’s great whiskies. It doesn’t appear at auction very often, so I expect a lot of interest from collectors.”

Follow the link to the online sale catalogue: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/25369/

Sale: Fine Whisky Location: 22 Queen Street Edinburgh EH2Date: Wednesday 9 October at 11 am

Rare whisky volumes explode but investment performance dips

Record amount spend on rare whisky during H1 but oversupply leads to softening of prices

The investment performance of rare Scotch has dipped during the first six months of the year, the first such recorded half year decline, according to new figures published today by whisky analyst, broker and investment experts Rare Whisky 101.

The value of the broadest measurement of the market, the Apex 1000 index crystallised its first ever half year loss, dropping by 0.26%. This compares with an increase of 9.91% during the same period last year.

According to Rare Whisky 101’s 2019 Half Year Report, reasons for the decline include over supply of whisky during the early months of 2019, the continued proliferation of new-start whisky auction-houses, and a decline in the performance of the Macallan – the secondary market’s most dominant distillery by both volume and value.

While Scotch whisky has underperformed against other markets and traditional investments throughout the first half of 2019, including FTSE 100, Brent Crude, and Gold, it has still significantly outperformed those very same asset classes over the mid to long term, having increased 160% from December 2014.

Elsewhere in the latest report from RW101, Springbank has claimed top spot as the number one distillery in the investor rankings, closely followed by silent distilleries Brora and Glenugie. The Macallan’s late 2018 dip continued as it moved from 4th at the end of 2018 to 7th by the end of June 2019.

Volume and value still soaring

While the rare whisky market recorded a dip in investment performance, the number of bottles of Single Malt Scotch whisky sold at auction in the UK in H1 2019 increased by 43.90% to 71,544 (49,719 were sold in H1 2018).

The £ value of collectable bottles of Single Malt Scotch whisky sold at auction in the UK in H1 2019 rose by 58.39% to a record high of £25,873,963 (H1 2018 value was £16,335,635).

While the average per-bottle price is up in H1 2019 (£361.65) compared to H1 2018 (£328.56), it dropped 4.30% from December 2018’s record high of £377.91.

Whisky investment analyst and co-founder of Rare Whisky 101, Andy Simpson commented:

“On the back of ten subsequent years of growth in the investment performance of rare whisky, we have seen an oversupply of bottles, the continued proliferation of specialist whisky auction houses, and a record amount of money spent at auction all combine to produce the rare whisky investment market’s first ‘blip’ since we started reporting these results.

“However, collectors, investors and buyers would be well advised to note the dip. At this stage we do not believe it indicates the start of a longer-term downward trend. In fact, looking the last three months of H1 alone (April to June) the Apex 1000 index returned to slightly more significant growth of 1.29%, moving from 825.92 points to 836.55.

“While the broader market might be showing some signs of stress, there are plenty of pockets of growth for those who do their research and time their market entry/exit well: as with all investments. For example, in contrast to the Macallan’s secondary market woes, Springbank has turned in an incredible performance, claiming top spot in the investor rankings for the first time.

“We remain confident that the right bottles from the right distilleries will continue to offer a strong investment proposition. In fact our later than usual reporting of the half year figures has allowed us to see growth return to the market as the supply/demand equation has re-balanced. However, continued uncertainty over the UK’s post-Brexit future makes it very difficult to predict how the market will perform in the latter months of 2019.”

To download the 2019 Half Year Report visit http://www.rarewhisky101.com/intelligence

About Rare Whisky 101
Andy Simpson and David Robertson launched Rare Whisky 101 in 2014 with the aim of offering a whisky valuation service, brokerage and consultancy for whisky connoisseurs, collectors and investors. Having tracked every bottle sold at UK auctions over the past 12 years, the business now offers the world’s first, only and most comprehensive online single malt Scotch & Japanese whisky dataset covering some 500,000 price records and 48,000 different bottle types. In the last 12 months, RW101 have brokered around 20,000 rare whisky bottles around the globe in addition to trading in almost 1000 aged casks from iconic distilleries such as The Macallan, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Springbank, Mortlach, Talisker, Caol Ila, Lagavulin and Highland Park.

We are delighted to announce that the new Springbank Rum Wood and Springbank 12yo Cask Strength are available in the UK from tomorrow – Saturday 14th September 2019.

Springbank Rum Wood

The brand new Springbank Rum Wood release is 15yo and has been bottled at 51.0% ABV. There are approximately 9000 bottles available worldwide.

Tasting Notes

Nose: This a sweet tropical dram with coconut, pineapple and banana aromas. The sweetness continues with toasted marshmallows and sticky toffee pudding but is balanced with a hint of peat.

Palate: The sweetness transfers onto the palate. There’s the velvety smooth richness of decadent desserts such as a tropical meringue pavlova, creme brûlée, toffee apple & pecan pie, along with citrus yuzu notes. There’s also an earthy quality from the Springbank dunnage warehouses.

Finish: The earthy quality now comes to the fore and finishes on a gentle dry note.

This bottling will be available in the UK from Saturday 14th September 2019 – please note that the release date in other markets and countries is likely to vary. For details of when the new Springbank 15yo Rum Wood is available near you please consult your preferred Springbank retailer or visit the “Where to Buy” section of our website to find a Springbank stockist.

• The Campbeltown Cadenhead Shop will be selling this bottle for: £65.00
• There will be no Society discount applicable on this bottling as it is not a core range product
• This is not a Society exclusive release

Springbank 12yo Cask Strength

The new Springbank 12yo CS has been bottled at 57.1% ABV and was matured in 65% Bourbon Casks + 35% Sherry casks

Tasting Notes

Nose: Initially you can smell the refreshing herbs of oregano and lavender. This is followed by the sweetness of marzipan, honeycomb and fizzy sweets. In a nutshell, there’s an aroma of freshly baked donuts and orange marmalade.

Palate: It’s a lovely, warm butterscotch sponge with chantilly cream, as well as treacle, orange rind and salted pretzels. Then the typical Springbank coastal note of sea salt.

Finish: Velvety and refined finish with salted milk chocolate and Maraschino cherries.

This bottling will be available in the UK from Saturday 14th September 2019 – please note that the release date in other markets and countries is likely to vary. For details of when the new Springbank 12yo Cask Strength 57.1% is available near you please consult your preferred Springbank retailer or visit the “Where to Buy” section of our website to find a Springbank stockist.

• The Campbeltown Cadenhead Shop will be selling this bottle for: £52.00
• The Society discount on this bottle will be 10%
• This is not a Society exclusive release

Slainte,

The Springbank Team

To join the Society please contact them at Springbank Society society@springbank.scot

Infuse Spirits Rebrands Whiskey Brand Under New Name “Broken Barrel Whiskey,” Commencing with the Limited-Edition Single Oak Series

Infuse Spirits Group L.L.C., the first and only single-bottle infusion company and the spirit industry’s most popular craft infusion company, is excited to announce the rebranding of its whiskey line under the aptly named Broken Barrel Whiskey Co.

When Infuse Spirits first expanded its portfolio to include a Kentucky Bourbon called Broken Barrel, followed by the gold-medal winning Heresy Rye Whiskey, both delivered a message and method that became instantly discernible from Infuse’s vodkas and bitters. Whereas Infuse Spirits continues to steep its ingredients in the single-bottle infusions, Broken Barrel finishes and matures it’s whiskey with French Oak, ex-bourbon, and sherry cask staves in tanks before straining and bottling. This not only separates the two brands by process and style but illustrates how Broken Barrel Whiskey is unapologetically different from other whiskeys. Similar to a mash bill and equally as important, the company’s coined process called the Oak Bill—the selection of various oak barrel staves used to finish our products—is what defines the whiskey.

In this way, “the whiskeys follow their own path and seek to create a name for themselves by adhering to principles of originality, boundary-crossing, and unapologetic authenticity. By adding the barrel to the whiskey, not the whiskey to the barrel concept, we have created something different,” says Founder and Creator Seth Benhaim. If you are a collector, feel free to snag the fleeting designs of the “Infuse Spirits” titled whiskeys, as these will be discontinued and likely gone by early 2020, if not sooner! However, Broken Barrel Whiskey’s core products, Broken Barrel Bourbon and Heresy Rye, will not change price or recipes—they’ll remain the same as everyone knows and loves them.

So, now, the question: how does a rule-breaking producer continue to push the envelope? The limited-edition Single Oak Series is Broken Barrel Whiskey’s latest innovation. Under the new brand name, the company is releasing one-of-a-kind, limited bottlings of its Single Oak Series, which will offer three distinct expressions of oak-infused whiskey—Mizunara (50 ABV, 750 ml); Isle Of Peat (50 ABV, 750 ml); and Cask Of Amontillado (55 ABV, 750 ml)—with a suggested retail price of $50.

As Seth explains, “We deliver one-of-a-kind collaborations by maturing American whiskey with rare oak from around the world. We’ve sourced our whiskey for these bottles from Kentucky and Indiana, and married each blend with oak barrel staves from all around the world: Japan for rare Mizunara oak; Scotland for peated Islay Scotch barrels; and Spain for aged amontillado sherry. Each barrel gives the whiskey a unique, rich, and complex taste and character not commonly found in American whiskey. Additionally, unlike Broken Barrel Whiskey’s core bourbon and rye, the Single Oak Series’ bases are all blends: Mizunara is a blend of five-year-old Kentucky and four-year-old Indiana corn whiskeys; Isle of Peat is a blend of American wheat and single-malt whiskeys; and The Cask of Amontillado is a blend of 12-year-old American whiskey and five-year-old Kentucky corn whiskey. The result is a synthesis nowhere to be found with traditional whiskey, and luckily, the project has paid off tremendously. The Single Oak Series has already won a few authoritative awards. At this year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition, Isle of Peat received a Double Gold Medal in the Wheat Whisk(e)y category and Cask of Amontillado took home a Silver Medal in the Other Whisk(e)y category.

All three limited-edition expressions will be available nationwide in September 2019.

New Loch Fyne Single Casks

Two new single casks in The Loch Fyne range are available to order now. Say hello to Aultmore 12 Year Old and Glentauchers 11 Year Old.

Personalise your bottle with our bespoke engraving service, available on both of these bottles!

The Loch Fyne Aultmore 12 Year Old

This Speyside single malt is the second time we have released a 2007 sherry cask from Aultmore distillery. Bottled in 2019 at 12 years old, this expression is two years older than our last release and shows the benefit of this added maturity. Bottled at 57.9% abv, this single cask edition is limited to just 996 bottles.

£80.00
(£90.00 Engraved)

The Loch Fyne Glentauchers 11 Year Old

This single cask release from Glentauchers is our third bottling from the distillery at the heart of Speyside. Single malt from Glentauchers is hard to come by as the distillery doesn’t bottle its own make. Selected from our unique and exceptional cask collection, this expression was distilled in May 2008 and has spent 11 years maturing in a single sherry cask before bottling at 57.7% abv. Limited to just 954 bottles, we think it is up there with the very best Speyside has to offer!

£75.00
(£85.00 Engraved)