Sotheby’s is about to public sale two casks of whisky from the Brora and Port Ellen distilleries, estimated at between £700,000 ($880,000 USD) and £1,200,000 ($1,500,000 USD), in partnership with Diageo. The casks are a part of Diageo’s Casks of Distinction program, and are among the many rarest and most dear in existence.
Dubbed “Whisky of Distinction | Port Ellen & Brora: Casks From A Bygone Period,” the public sale will happen on June 14 with superior bidding starting on Could 31. The Brora Cask is #480. Distilled in 1982, it has an estimated 52.8% ABV and is predicted to yield 145 bottles. The Port Ellen Cask is #1145. Distilled in 1979, it has an estimated 52.9 ABV and is predicted to include 102 cask power bottles.
“This partnership between Sotheby’s and Diageo showcases an unrivalled providing of uncommon whisky casks at public sale,” mentioned Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s head of whisky, North America and EMEA. “On making an attempt the 1982 Brora I used to be astounded by its high quality – the wealthy cooked fruit flavours elevating its signature calmly peated character. The Port Ellen is a masterclass in Nineteen Seventies Islay smoke with vital cask affect, which, particularly when from a closed distillery, is exactly the type that the world’s high whisky collectors hunt down.”
Till final Could, each Brora and Port Ellen distilleries had been silent after being shuttered in 1983. Diageo, nevertheless, pledged £35 million ($46m USD) in 2017 to restart manufacturing at each distilleries. Highlands-based Brora started manufacturing once more in Could 2021, whereas Port Ellen is meant to start producing spirit once more in summer season 2023.
Every cask comes with a novel inventive expertise in collaboration with the cask proprietor and commissions from two artists. The art work envisioned might be printed on every of the bottles from the cask yield making them extremely particular.
For the Brora expertise, New Zealand based mostly Trey Ratcliff, famend for his mesmerizing panorama pictures which explores the sweetness on the fringe of the world, will journey to Scotland for the very first time to seize photographs that deliver to life the panorama that helped form this unimaginable whisky. Accompanied by the cask proprietor, one of many pictures they seize collectively will grow to be a big format version print for the proprietor to hold as they need. The distinctive picture may even be printed on bespoke labels for the bottles drawn from the cask.
For the Port Ellen expertise, globally recognised designer and artist Ini Archibong will create a novel piece of artwork capturing the sunshine of Port Ellen and its spirit in coloured glass. The one-off sculpture might be a bodily expression of the “Dram and the Water”; representing the valuable nature of the liquid contained in the cask, while unified and juxtaposed with our most valuable useful resource – water. Crafted from Murano Glass and completed within the colours of Islay, the distinctive sculptural piece might be offered to the cask proprietor in Port Ellen as soon as the distillery has reopened. Ini may even develop and create a bespoke shade gradient that might be used to design a set of labels for the bottles drawn from the cask.
Moreover, the profitable bidders may have the choice to additional age their casks for as much as 5 years earlier than they’re bottled. Moreover, the casks’ new house owners will be capable of invite as much as three friends to hitch them for a Diageo Uncommon and Distinctive expertise.
The 2 casks would be the opening bid throughout Sotheby’s Scotch whisky public sale in London. Diageo will donate 5% of the ultimate hammer value from each casks to Care Worldwide to assist the continued disaster in Ukraine.
For extra details about the public sale or to make a bid, head over to Sotheby’s official web site.
