Auction prices for collectible whisky increased significantly. Most of our indices are deep in the green. Macallan is all over the place but prices for some rare Springbank and Glenfarclas soar as well. Here is the Whiskystats Price Update for December 2020.

More than 15 thousand new price observations found their way into our database in this latest round of auctions. They affected more than 8 thousand different whiskies, and many of them saw a significant increase in price. These gains are so broadly spread across the market that all of our region indices moved upwards, some quite severely. The same is true for many of our distillery indices, with Hanyu, Macallan, Springbank, and Glenfarclas striking out. But first, let’s have a closer look at our major market index.

WWI Peak

Each month, the Whiskystats Whisky Index (WWI) summarizes the changes in the price of the historically 500 most traded whiskies on the market. In December 2020, the top brands driving this index were Macallan (10% of the included bottles), Ardbeg (8%) as well as Laphroaig and Bruichladdich (each 6%). And well, these 500 whiskies gained no less than 6.6% in value within one round of auctions. After seven months of sidewards movements around 230 index points, this catapulted the WWI to a new all-time peak at 250 points.

When we look at some of the whiskies included in the WWI this month, we notice that many of the top value gainers actually returned to the record prices they had previously achieved at some point in the past. There is, for example, the Lagavulin Cask Strength Release 2002. In February 2017, this Islay whisky sold for 1.370 Euros. After that, prices dropped to as low as 700 Euros. However, now they jumped to 1.370 Euros again. The same is true for the Laphroaig 30yo Extremely Rare, which now sold for almost 1.700 Euros after fetching “only” 1.150 Euros last month. The Macallan 18yo (1984) jumped over 2.000 Euros again, as it did in September 2018. And the Macallan 18yo (1994) achieved 660 Euros in October, 520 Euros in November and now 680 Euros in December

Top Distilleries

Our distillery ranking reveals that most distilleries saw significant index gains in December. Within the Top 10, Hanyu outperformed them all. The historically most traded Hanyu releases gained almost 10% in value. A key responsibility for this falls to the Hanyu Queen of Clubs. This Ichiro’s Malt Card series member traded for 24.000 Euros at WhiskyAuctioneer.com. This is even more impressive since the bottle was sold in November at WhiskyAuction.com for “only” 11.000 Euros. Same story for the Hanyu Ace of Clubs, which sold for more than 13.000 Euros after the 9.500 Euros last month.

There are many stories to tell about Macallan this month. The Archival Folio 6 arrived at auctions. Fifty-five bottles traded with prices ranging from 850 Euros to 1.300 Euros. The Macallan Editions No.1, No.2, No.3, No.4 and No.6 dominate the list of the most traded whiskies with combined 308 trades. On top of that, our Macallan index gained 7.5% in value. The whiskies that drove this index are the ones like the Macallan Fine Oak (Master’s Edition), which jumped from 130 Euros to 300 Euros, and also the Archival Folio 1 is now selling for 5.800 Euros.

But the list of incredible price observations doesn’t stop here. Our Glenfarclas index gained 22%, and for good reason. The Glenfarclas Collector Series III has more than doubled since a whopping 4.000 Euros came in this month. We observed an increase of 180% for the Glenfarclas Family Cask 587 and still 60% for the Glenfarclas Family Cask 2578. The Glenfarclas 15yo from the 1970s sold for no less than 1.880 Euros.

And although it is a long list already, we also have to mention Springbank here. Our distillery index climbed 10.8% to now 210 index points. The Springbank 35yo Millenium Collection jumped from 4.000 Euros to 5.700 Euros and the Springbank 50yo Millenium Collection from 5.800 Euros to 13.400 Euros. At ScotchWhiskyAuctions.com, one of the 174 once existing bottles of the Springbank 21yo Open Day 2014 release achieved almost 1.300 Euros following 760 Euros back in October.

Naturally, not every bottle of whisky gained in value this month. Some distillery indices also lost ground, including Dalmore, Yoichi, and even Karuizawa. But there is an exceptional amount of bottles that did go up in price (take a look at the releases from the Rare Malts Selection for example which gained, in combination, almost 10% too). However, if this movement is substantial remains to be seen.

So what about your personal whisky collections? As a Whiskystats member, you can start tracking your bottles now.

Disclaimer: the whisky market insights presented in this article are based on the Whiskystats database at the time of publication. Whiskystats is constantly adding new data, and therefore some charts and figures may not match after initial publication.