Whisky Auctions 101: A Beginner Bidder’s Guide

Whisky collecting has rapidly become considered to be a lucrative and dynamic investment opportunity both in Australia and around the world, and one of the most common ways to buy these whiskies is at auction. 

As an investment, whisky bottles increase in value at an average of about 10% annually, which beats out many other investment opportunities. Many bottles of whiskies bought at auction appreciate even more: the 2016 The Macallan 18-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky went from 1,300 AUD to 2,000 AUD between 2021 and 2022. 

If you’ve never bought whisky at auction before, the process might seem intimidating at first as is the case with making any new investment. The first step to demystifying whisky auctions is to do your due diligence and equip yourself with plenty of market knowledge through preliminary research.

And if you’re serious about buying whisky at auction, this Whisky Auctions Beginners Guide is a good starting point. We’ll go through the ins and outs of bidding at a whisky auction, as well as how to prepare beforehand and what to do after the auction is finished. 

Do Your Research On The Whisky You Plan To Buy At Auction 

As with any other collectible, the first step to buying whisky at an auction is to do your research. Begin by gaining an understanding of what whisky is and what factors affect its price. These factors include:

• Whether or not the whisky being auctioned comes in its original packaging.
• The age of the whisky bought at auction – traditionally, ‘milestones’ where whiskies experience significant jumps in value are at 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 25 years.
• Where the whisky you’re bidding for was distilled – the value placed on particular distilleries changes with time and collectors’ shifting tastes.
• Alcohol content – whisky needs to have 40% alcohol content or more. Anything with less has no value and is not worth bidding for at auction.
• Public demand and the number of potential bidders for a particular whisky bottle.

Once you’ve identified what types of whisky you’d be interested in buying, look up an auction calendar to see if there are any whiskies you’d like that are available at auction in the near future. 

Set A Bid Limit For A Particular Whisky Auction

To avoid paying too much when buying whisky at auction, setting a bid limit, or a ‘hammer price’, is essential. This is the maximum price you’re willing to bid for a particular bottle of whisky. While the process of bidding at a whisky auction can get exciting, it’s important not to let your emotions get the best of you and to stick to your hammer price. 

Your hammer price will depend on your goals, the bottle of whisky you’re bidding for, the competition at the auction and more. Estimate the value of the whisky bottle by looking up how much other such bottles sell for in other auctions. 

Your maximum bid for a bottle of whisky might be at, slightly below or above its market price. When deciding how much to bid for whisky at auction, the factors mentioned earlier, like distillery and age, should also be taken into account. 

Remember to factor in the add-ons you’ll need to pay on a bottle of whisky on top of your successful bid price. If you’re buying from an auction site like Cellar Vault, remember that you’ll need to pay a 10% brokerage fee on top of the final price of your whisky. 

At the end of the day, the value of a whisky is what somebody else is willing to pay for it. Sometimes the aforementioned go out of the window and some bottles attract a bidding war shooting the final price way above reserve.

Buy Your Whisky At An Auction

Now that you’ve identified the sort of whisky you’re in the market for, how much it’s worth and how much you intend to bid on that whisky, it’s time to attend your first auction. 

Thanks to the internet, it’s possible to buy whisky at live online auctions. We recommend reading through buyer reviews and assessing prices recorded in past auctions to validate the legitimacy of bidding sites as well. It’s also important to find a whisky auction site that offers secure shipping to ensure that your new investments can be sent to you promptly and in good condition.

Remember not to panic when bidding for whisky at auction. Live online whisky auctions can last days, and rather than spending time and energy bidding in the early stages, plenty of collectors choose to wait for the last few hours before bidding for whisky. 

Pay For And Care For Your Whisky After A Successful Bid At Auction

Congratulations on your new bottle of whisky! After winning the bidding for whisky at an auction, you’ll need to settle the payment within a number of days set by the auction platform. The timeline is typically 5-10 days after buying your whisky at an auction. 

Once you’ve successfully bought that bottle of whisky you’ve had your eye on, you’ll want to know how to look after the whisky to ensure it stays in great condition and you can resell it in the future at a favourable price. Remember, buying whisky at auction can be a lucrative hobby, provided the bottle of whisky you’ve bought doesn’t deteriorate. 

Store your whisky in a dark, cool location. More experienced whisky buyers often allocate an entire room to their whisky collection. If the whisky you bought at auction came in a box, do not get rid of the box. Keeping the original box of your whisky can boost its value by 30%. 

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Whisky collecting is a fun – and potentially lucrative – hobby, and you can expect rare whisky bottles to rise further in price as more people take up buying whisky at auctions. Following these tips ensures that you don’t overpay for that dream bottle of whisky and raises your chances of success when attempting to buy whisky at auction.