What is luxury whisky?

To each person out there reading this, the word ‘luxury’ will signify something different.

It could be the luxury of being able to take a holiday, to step away from the screen (well…not too quickly…you’ve got an article to read!). Or perhaps the luxury of dining out in a fancy restaurant. The luxury to read a book or buy whatever takes your fancy. Perhaps luxury to you is a quiet moment, spent in contemplation – the gift of time!

Whatever way you spin it, luxury is a term which has myriad definitions and we each bring our own expectations to the party. It is not always defined by the ability to spend money nor is it always a tangible thing.

In the world of whisky, luxury is an oft-used term that is having a bit of a moment right now. As more and more brands pop up on the world stage, it has become clear to many producers – especially those of the ‘old guard’ in Scotland – that a way to stand out from the crowd is to go bolder, bigger and sometimes brasher in their packaging, marketing and partnerships they’re building.

So what does that mean for the consumer?

In many ways, it means that the world of whisky is growing to encompass more and more of the world of art, of couture, of architecture, and craftsmanship.

The Macallan, The Glenrothes, The Dalmore

Take the well-loved luxury brand The Macallan as an example. In March this year, the company launched its Horizon whisky alongside its brand partner, Bentley, known of course for its fine motor cars. Now the Speyside whisky is no stranger to luxury pursuits – the entire new distillery was built in a modern, luxurious, ground-breaking way. But in times past, a brand like The Macallan would have perhaps launched an old whisky and made headlines for the age of that release. However, Horizon shifted that on its head and quite literally its axis: this was a no-age statement whisky and almost no information was given about the whisky actually used in the making of it. The main statement instead? The sheer beauty of the design of the whisky’s packaging, which the team said was the culmination of many years of design meetings. Meant to be kept on its side, instead of in a standard upright formation, the bottle was encased in a sculpture, lined with leather and adorned with touchpoints of the distillery’s past, including copper from the stills found at its old distillery. Yes, Kirsteen Campbell, the company’s master whisky maker, of course, spent time choosing the six whisky casks that went into the liquid’s formation, but most of the emphasis was put on the outer beauty as the foremost focus. The price tag? £40,000. For those who could get their hands on it of course.

One could also look to The Glenrothes which, in 2023, launched its own sculptural take on whisky with the Philos. A partnership between the whisky brand, interior design company Studio Indigo and master craftspeople Little Halstock, the trio set about designing an elaborate vessel to house a demijohn of Glenrothes 1969 that could be poured, uniquely, while sailing on a yacht. The mechanisms are ridiculously complex, but basically, it stops you from losing a single drop of the precious liquid while you’ve got your sea legs on.

The Dalmore recently produced its Luminary Series, which saw the whisky maker pair up with the V&A in Scotland to release what it calls a “curated” series of whiskies created with luminaries in the world of architecture. Its first, a 48-year-old whisky, is housed in a sculpture made up of 48 diamond shapes made from Scottish oak, Japanese oak and polished metal to represent each year of the whisky’s ageing and designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Meanwhile, Bowmore made waves with its ARC-52 release alongside brand partner Aston Martin – a sleek and suave 52-year-old whisky housed in what the team called “truly a piece of sculpture”. Indeed, the curvaceous edges and minimalist design looked both like something that should sit in a museum and also hinted at the sun’s rays beaming down onto the ocean beside the distillery.

More than the liquid, auctions and golden oldies

There’s no doubt that they are all beautiful. In each case, the whiskies were a part of the puzzle, but only a small part in comparison to the vessels in which they were housed. Suddenly, one’s eye becomes drawn not to the colour of the liquid but to the way it sits in the packaging that has been bestowed upon it.

Whether this is a good or a bad thing is a slightly moot point. To some, it will be seen as a positive – the furthering of whisky into the realm of the beautiful, away from dusty shelves and dark rooms of old, bringing a sense of modernity to an age-old craft. To others, it will be seen as the downgrading of the liquid itself, taking away from the time and skill that goes into crafting a whisky that has slowly been maturing in whisky warehouses across the world.

Either way, the appetite for this style of release from both the distilleries themselves and the consumer also, showcases a shift in the ultra-premium space in whisky. It’s no longer good enough to take some of your oldest liquid and pop it in a bottle and perhaps a wooden case. Design is suddenly a material rather than an immaterial part of the process.

Of course, not all luxury whisky is focused on new releases. There remains a solid appetite for the world of old whiskies and auctions continue to be the place where expensive whiskies are bought and sold by whisky collectors globally. Last year’s sale of The Macallan 1926 at Sotheby’s for a record-breaking £2.1 million was a testament to the fact people are still rowdy with excitement for this Speyside distillery.

Meanwhile, it is a Scottish charity auction which has been making waves among those interested in getting their hands on rare and exclusive bottles. The Distillers One of One charity auction is a testament to the appetite that surrounds these types of releases. In partnership with Sotheby’s auction house and The Worshipful Company of Distillers (whose charity arm the auction benefits), the event has brought together distilleries from across the world of Scotch, all of whom pledged some of their oldest liquid for the greater good. Here is not just a routine effort in marketing – though, no doubt, positive exposure was gained for the participants – but instead a chance for Scottish whisky companies to really give back.

Proceeds from the auction in November 2023 totalled an astounding £2.24 million, which followed on from the first edition of the auction in 2021 where just over £2.4 million was donated. In last year’s iteration, 19 records were broken in terms of high-value whisky sales, including that for the oldest Bowmore ever sold, which took home just over half a million pounds. There are due to be three auctions in total for the biennial event, with the proceeds mostly going to the Youth Action Fund, which aims to transform the lives of 16-25-year-olds in Scotland. 

The bottles sold were not specifically created because they were housed in a beautiful case but because the distilleries knew they could raise substantial sums for an excellent cause. It took the world of luxury and extended its impact in a new way from mantelpiece display items to on-the-ground help for many in need. Luxury for the greater good.

So: what is luxury whisky?

But how luxury is defined is, as mentioned at the start of this article, massively dependent on what you are looking for in a whisky. Is it exclusivity? Beauty? Perhaps it is simply the limited number of a certain release which catches your interest. Luxury, in that case, does not necessarily have to equate to high sums paid.

Take any of the new Scottish or world distilleries on the block – Isle of Harris, Lochlea, the relaunched Karuizawa (whose distillery is in the same town as the original famed site and which has been set up by the Karuizawa Distillery Co. and Japanese whisky specialist Dekanta). Each of these has or will have very limited edition releases of their new whiskies. So perhaps luxury to you is defined as being able to get your hands on one of a limited number of bottlings? It won’t cost thousands of pounds, but being in that small club of people who’ve gotten ahold of a release you know can’t be repeated does have its pull.

And for the general collector, it has now become a buyer’s rather than a seller’s market. According to WhiskyStats – which tracks sales of whiskies on the secondary market – the general prices around whisky are in decline. Between March 2022 and November 2023, there was a continual month-on-month reduction in prices seen at auction for the resale of bottles. Scotch has since managed a slight upturn but Japanese whiskies have continued to slide quite significantly from the huge price tags they commanded in 2021 and 2020. It is yet to be seen what impact this will have as we move forward, but the EU directive that means sellers now need to declare their information to the taxman if their bottle sales through one company exceed £2,000 per year will no doubt also soften the market in terms of how many rare whiskies we see popping up in this space. For the buyer, however, there could be ‘luxury bargains’ for those willing to hunt around.

The world of whisky is going through an interesting period, there’s no doubt about that. And what defines luxury, at least from the brand’s perspective, will continue to shift. The desire to curate more beautiful ‘works of art’ in whisky is absolutely there. And it is up to you, the buyer, to decide what you see as luxury, and whether it is of importance to you on your whisky journey.

Luxury Whisky Releases of 2024 recommendations from team MoM

Macallan 24 Year Old – Forgotten Gems Whisky 70cl – A rare 24-year-old single malt from Macallan, with just 28 bottles released by Forgotten Gems.

Lochlea Single Cask Ex-Bourbon Barrel (Master of Malt Exclusive) Whisky 70cl – A special single malt Lochlea distillery – bottled up exclusively for Master of Malt!

Karuizawa 1999-2000 Cask Strength 8th Batch Whisky 70cl – From silent Japanese distillery Karuizawa, this Japanese single malt was aged in sherry butts and bottled at cask strength.

Ardbeg 23 Year Old Vintage_Y2K Whisky 70cl – Ardbeg Vintage_Y2K 23 is a single malt Islay Scotch whisky matured in oloroso and bourbon casks for 23 years, presented as part of a series of limited releases of whiskies distilled in the year 2000.

Midleton Very Rare 40th Anniversary Ruby Edition Whiskey 70cl – A masterful blend of three distillates laid down by each master distiller who has overseen Midleton Very Rare: Barry Crockett, Brian Nation, and Kevin O’Gorman.

Bruichladdich 30 Year Old – Re/Define Whisky 70cl – showcasing a slick redesign, ReDefine honours the tale of the remarkable resurrection of the Bruichladdich distillery.

Bimber Spirit of the Underground (cask 331) – Leicester Square Whisky 70cl – An English single malt aged in a single virgin oak cask and bottled in November 2022 at 60.3% ABV for the Spirit of the Underground series.

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