December saw substantial value gains across the board. Macallan, Springbank and Yamazaki stand out, while a Game of Thrones release raises some questions. This is the Whiskystats Price Update for December 2021.

The results of the December round of auctions are in, and what a send-off to 2021 it was. All of our region indices are in the green, and the 500 historically most traded whiskies gained a whopping 6,32% in value. This saw our Whiskystats Whisky Index(WWI) clearly separated from the 300 points mark, which it defeated only in July. It now stands at 330 index points and of course, that is a new all-time peak. We observed more than 16.500 thousand whiskey bottles changing ownership, which led to new price points for 8.500 thousand bottles in our database.
When looking at this month’s index movements, Speyside and Campbeltown call out for special attention. The 100 most traded whiskies for these Scotch regions increased by more than 12% in price since November. Our Campbeltown index jumps above 250 points, and our Speyside index is approaching the 400 point threshold. The two main drivers (but by no means the only ones) were Macallan and Springbank. And for both these distilleries, it was a particular group of bottles that stood out.

Macallan 18-years-old

Overall our Macallan index increased by an impressive 9,52% in December. Among the 100 whiskies included this month, there is a striking number of 18-years-old with remarkable prices predominantly realized on WhiskyAuctioneer.com. Take the Macallan 18yo (1996 and earlier) displayed below. Prices have already increased enormously over the past two years but now jumped from around 750 Euros to almost 1.250 Euros. The Macallan 18yo (1994 and earlier) went from 1.000 Euros to 1.300 Euros while the Macallan 18yo (1995 and earlier) is now selling for 1.250 Euros.
This story repeats with the Macallan 18yo (1990 and earlier), the Macallan 18yo (1997 and earlier) and the Macallan 18yo (2017 Release), which all achieved new record prices after they had already gained strength over the past two years. We could go on listing more 18yo whiskies with new price records, but there are also some other Macallan releases worth mentioning. The Easter Elchie (2010 Release) fetched almost 5.000 Euros after selling for half of that only a year ago. And then there is the Archival Series (Folio 1) which is now trading for almost 15.000 Euros on ScotchWhiskyAuctions.com. In 2018, this whisky was available for way below 1.000 Euros.

Springbank Local Barley

The major force behind our Campbeltown index is Springbank. With an index gain of 8,48%, it is the second big winner of the December 2021 round of auctions. Again, one particular group of bottles caught our eye, and that is the Local Barley series. The history of the Springbank 11yo Local Barley (2006) depicted below leaves no question about the strong price momentum of Springbank that we have observed since the middle of 2020. Over these 18 months, the price tag for one of these once 9.000 bottles almost quadrupled.
And again, this is not the only example. The Springbank 16yo Local Barley (1999) prices ranged between 1.300 Euros and 1.800 Euros. Until now, gains were severe but on a steady pace as the price tag moved from 350 Euros in late 2019 to around 1.000 Euros in November 2021. The Springbank 9yo Local Barley (2009) is now selling for 500 Euros on average, while the Springbank 10yo Local Barley (2010) achieved 800 Euros on average but single lots went as high as 900 Euros. At last, we also have to mention the Springbank “First Bottle Of The 21st Century”, which sold for 6.600 Euros after we hadn’t seen it at auction since the 600 Euros back in June 2014.

Remarkable Trades

When you look at the above price movements, they all look evident, and an overall trend is easy to identify. This is not quite the case for the below displayed Dalwhinnie Game of Thrones (House Stark). Initial auction results in 2019 were very high but quickly levelled in at around or below 50 Euros, where they remained until early 2021. Then, prices at UK auctions started to climb and now surpassed 150 Euros and even 200 Euros at times, while prices in the EU remained well below 100 Euros. Even with all costs added, buying this whisky at EU auctions is currently the cheaper option.
Another significant value winner of this month was Yamazaki, as our index climbed by 7,23%. The Yamazaki 18yo (and all its different versions) now arrived at 1.000 Euros, and the Mizunara Cask 2017 is approaching 7.000 Euros. A bottle of the Balvenie Single Barrel 15200 reappeared on auctions precisely ten years after we saw the last one. It now sold for 1.100 Euros which equals a 370% increase compared to the 235 Euros from December 2011.

Once again, the secondary whisky market proved to be everything but boring. Stay on top of the market by becoming a Whiskystats member.

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.