Two casks from the legendary Karuizawa distillery have recently been sold at auction, breaking an auction record in the process. The casks in question were being billed as the ‘final’ to be made available from the now closed Japanese producer.
Both casks were 1999 vintage sherry casks and were offered from the private collection of Elixir Distillers founder Sukhinder Singh. With casks from the distillery so rare, this sale was believed to be one of the last opportunities for collectors to get their hands on casks of this precious liquid. Each cask is estimated to be able to yield around 420 bottles.
(For more information on the casks, check out our pre-sale article “Karuizawa's 'Final' Casks To Hit Auction.”)
At a live auction hosted by Christie’s Wine & Spirits in London on 10th March, each cask sold for £2,125,000 including the hammer price and buyer’s premium. The combined total of £4.25 million for the two lots set a new record for the highest value lots sold at auction by Christie’s.
Speaking on the sale, Singh said: “I am pleased with the result of the auction and look forward to working with the buyer on the next part of the journey of these casks.
“Having owned, bottled and enjoyed so many of the sister casks has been a privilege and an amazing experience that I will never forget.”
The casks are currently housed in the warehouses of Elixir Distillers’ Tormore Distillery. The winning bidder has the choice to either continue maturing the casks at the distillery or bottle the whisky immediately.
Luxury blender and bottler Kandoblanc have also invited the winner to collaborate with them on the creation of bespoke pieces inspired by Japanese art and craftsmanship.
Adam Bilbey, global head of wine and spirits at Christie’s, concludes: “We are incredibly proud that these two extraordinary Karuizawa casks, that have been so carefully nurtured, have found new custodians.
“Full casks of Karuizawa are rarely seen, and their provenance from the private collection of Sukhinder Singh – one of the most respected figures in the world of rare whisky – made these even more special.
“This is a project that Christie’s has been honoured to be involved with, and it is particularly thrilling to see the hammer come down on these record-breaking lots, a record number in our 60th year as a department and in our brand-new rostrum designed by Sir Jonny Ive for our 260th anniversary.”
While certain areas of the whisky industry have been struggling of late (for example, there’s been no shortage of stories recently about sales of spirits falling around the world), these casks both attracting a seven-figure hammer price shows that the ultra-premium, high end whisky market is still thriving.
Further evidence for this comes from an auction held in New York earlier this year. Lots from this auction featured some of the oldest, rarest, and most highly sought after American whiskey ever made. The auction set a number of new records for individual bottles and has since been described as the most valuable collection of American whiskey ever sold.
For more on this story check out our previous article “US Whiskey Auction Breaks Records”.
