This Pappy Van Winkle bottle sold for $52,500 at a Sotheby’s Auction. (Photo: Sotheby’s)

At a whiskey auction this weekend conducted by Sotheby’s Auction House, a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Old Family Reserve sold for $52,500 — more than a dozen times the high end of the bottle’s pre-sale estimated range of $3,000-$4,000.

Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s head of whisky & spirits, North America and EMEA, said that the auction “marked a remarkable end to a year that has seen prices soar for American whiskey at Sotheby’s,” according to The Drinks Business. “It was exciting to be on the rostrum conducting the sale for this record-breaking bottle, which went far beyond anyone’s expectations,” he continued.

Three more of the same 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle bottles with the same $3,000-$4,000 pre-sale estimation sold for far beyond that range, as well, with two going for $47,500 and the fourth being bought for $40,000.

Additionally, a six-bottle collection of Pappy Van Winkle bottles released between 2017 and 2021 sold for $40,000, far beyond its expected range of $8,000-$12,000, while a six-bottle collection of Pappy bottlings released between 2018 and 2021 with the same pre-sale estimate sold for $47,500.

The biggest seller of the auction was a bottle of extremely rare Yamazaki 55 Year Old, which sold for $425,000 — well within its pre-sale estimated range of $350,000-$500,000.

Other notable sales included:

• A bottle of The Macallan The Red Collection 78 Year Old, expected to sell for between $70,000 and $90,000, sold for $106,250.
• Nine bottles of  Old Overhold Rye Whiskey 1908, expected to sell for between $26,000 and $40,000, sold for $52,500.
• A bottle of The Macallan The Red Collection 40 Year Old, expected to sell for between$16,000 and $20,000, sold for $27,500.
• A bottle of Highland Park 50 Year Old, expected to sell for between $15,000 and $20,000, sold for $30,000.

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