The May auction is live over at Whisky.Auction, and while it’s full of gems from the big distilleries that grab the auction headlines – think Macallan, Springbank and Yamazaki – I like to look beyond the obvious. That’s where some of the best whisky, often at some of the best prices, can be found.
For my top five recommendations this month, I’ve looked past the first page to uncover some of the stories behind the (slightly) lesser-known distilleries in the auction market that don’t always grab the headlines.
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The May 2026 whisky & spirits auction is live now at www.whisky.auction, ending from 19:30 BST Tuesday 19 May.
Strathisla 1957 Bottled 2007- Gordon & MacPhail
Despite being Scotland’s oldest licensed whisky distillery, Strathisla has remained out of the limelight for most of its almost 250 active years. Originally known as Miltown, then Milton, Strathisla was purchased at auction in 1950 by whisky broker Jimmy Barclay for Seagram Distillers and, after a name change to distance the distillery from its tax-evading previous owners, became the base of a newly reformulated Chivas Regal 12 Year Old.
To this day, whisky drinkers are most likely to try the sweet, honeyed notes of Strathisla as part of a Chivas bottling, but as with many distilleries, some casks were kept back and given the opportunity to mature by independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail.
This Strathisla 1957, bottled in 2007, has been described as ‘exuberantly fruity’ by Serge Valentin who scored it an impressive 92 points.
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The Whisky.Auction valuation team expects this bottle to reach a hammer price of £1,000 – £1,300. You can place your bids here.
Bruichladdich 1984 18 Year Old Enlightenment Bottled 2002 – Limited Edition
This bottle was released at an interesting time in the history of Bruichladdich Distillery. Between 1995 and 2000 the distillery had been dormant, deemed surplus to requirements as part of the Whyte & Mackay portfolio. However, London-based wine merchant Mark Reynier had been determined to bring Bruichladdich back to life, eventually purchasing it with his Murray McDavid business partners and some outside support on 19 December 2000.
Mark wanted to take the distillery back to the basics of its heyday, doing everything the traditional way by hand with slow fermentation in wooden vats and slow distillation in tall stills. Therefore, releasing a whisky to celebrate the reprint of one of the earliest written works on whisky production – The Practical Distiller: A Brief Treatise of Practical Distillation (1718) – made sense.
This cask was selected by Master Distiller Jim McEwan and whisky writer Malcolm Greenwood in July 2002 and comes with a copy of the reprinted manual in the wooden display case.
The Whisky.Auction valuation team expects this lot to reach a hammer price of £150 – £250. You can place your bids here.
Glenmorangie 1971 150th Anniversary
Glenmorangie was one of the early entries into the single malt category, shifting focus to single malt in a change of direction under owners Macdonald & Muir in 1959. In the years since WW2, whisky blends had become the norm, and the average ABV of whiskies available had decreased to 40% due to duty increases and a ban on passing on these increased costs to customers.
By the mid-50s, a small but notable backlash to these lighter blends had begun to appear and some distilleries, such as Glenmorangie, looked to take advantage of the demand for single malt that provided a sense of place. This was a long but successful game for Glenmorangie which, by the 1970s, had become the top-selling single malt brand in Scotland.
This whisky, distilled in 1971, was specially selected from ageing stocks for release in 1993 to mark the 150th anniversary of Glenmorangie. The Whisky.Auction valuation team expects it to reach a hammer price of £400 – £500. You can place your bids here.
Old Pulteney 1991 15 Year Old Bottled 2006 – Single Cask Selection
When this whisky was bottled, Old Pulteney distillery still claimed the title of most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland, a title which it held until Wolfburn began production in 2013. It’s an old urban distillery in the heart of Pulteneytown on the Caithness coast and it’s long been noted for its ‘maritime character’ due to the proximity of the warehouses to the sea.
Revered whisky writer Michael Jackson went as far as to call Old Pulteney the ‘Mazanilla of the North’ due to its distinct briney aromas. Since 1995, Inver House Distillers has built the reputation of Old Pulteney single malt, and for lovers of the distillery, this particular release is a rare and interesting addition to a collection with just 133 bottles created from single cask number 133.
The Whisky.Auction valuation team expects this bottle to reach a hammer price of £100 – £150. You can place your bids here.
Tomintoul Glenlivet 17 Year Old Marks & Spencer Distilled Prior To 1969 – Whyte & Mackay Distillers
Distilled in the very early years of Tomintoul Distillery, which had only been built in the mid-1960s, this 17 year old whisky was bottled for Marks & Spencer and sold under their St Michael brand. This brand was created in the 1920s as a symbol of quality for Marks & Spencer products and was first seen in the food department in 1954.
By the 1980s, when this bottle was released, M&S had branched into whisky, often blended but occasionally single malt, and they added the St Michael name as a stamp of approval for the whisky itself.
The Whisky.Auction valuation team expects this bottle to reach a hammer price of £120-£180. You can place your bids here.
