It is certainly about time for the September 2017 price update. Our whisky index levels in at around 340 index points. In the meantime our Highland index is closing up to the Islay index to battle for place three among the top single malt regions.
We observed no less than 4.621 trades of scotch and japanese single malt whiskies in September 2017. These trades affected 2.720 different whiskies in our whisky database. For the first time in 2017, Macallan wasn’t the most traded distillery this month. With 362 bottles traded this title belongs to the Islay based Ardbeg distillery. In addition there were also 311 single malts for which we observed the second trade and hence they were added to our database.
Our Whiskystats Whisky Index (WWI) lost slightly (0,6%) to stand at 341,8 index points. The WWI flies at this levels since June 2017 after it gained 8,7% in April and May.
Region Indices
We thought it was about time to directly compare our region indices again. These indices describe the value development of the 100 most traded single malts from each whisky region we track. Below we see that our Japan index continues to slightly decrease after it “exploded” during 2014 and 2015. In 2017 alone, the 100 most traded japanese single malts lost almost 7,4% in value. This is due to the Karuizawa bottlings, which represent most of our Japan index. The most traded bottles of the other japanese distilleries like Yamazaki, Yoichi and Hanyu did not lose any value but did not increase in value neither.
On the second place we see the Speyside region, which index is of course dominated by Macallan. After a short set-back from February to April 2017, the Macallan pricerally seems to continue. The 100 most traded Islay bottlings lost 6,2% in value since May 2017. During the same time, the 100 most traded Highland bottlings gained 5,1% and our Highland index is now only just behind our Islay index.
Worth Mentioning
In the September 2017 round of auction we also witnessed the second trade of the Macallan Lalique (2nd Release). There only exist 420 bottles of this 55 years-old Macallan. And the two price-observations we have from July and September 2017 totally account for this. Two months ago, this Macallan Lalique was sold for around 38.500 Euros! Now, in September 2017, “only” 36.200 Euros have been paid.
Not that expensive, but still worth mentioning is the Speyside 12yo Flora & Fauna release. Compared to four years ago, prices for this Flora & Fauna released almost tripled.
Comeback of the Month
This title belongs to the Caperdonich 31yo (1968) Mackillop´s Choice. This bottling by Iain Mackillop & Co. was last seen on auctions in August 2006. More than 11 years ago it was sold for 95 Euros. The latest price-observation from September 2017 saw one of these bottles from Cask 813 trade for 244 Euros.
As every month, do not forget to check on your personal collections!