The Oldest and Rarest Whisky From a Prominent Japanese Brand Is Projected to Fetch North of $40K at Auction

(Photo: Bonhams)

Bonhams, a prominent auction house, announced on Thursday that a rare Japanese whisky from House of Suntory is up for auction and expected to fetch a closing bid of somewhere between $32,000 and $42,000. The expression is a 40-year-old Hibiki whisky housed in a 30-faceted Kagami Crystal bottle, and the sale will close on Feb. 27.

The auction house shared that Hibiki 40 is the rarest and oldest Hibiki to exist, and it highlights Suntory Blender Shinji Fukuyo’s blending talents. The whisky is composed of Yamazaki drawn from white oak casks, lightly peated Hakushu, Chita Grain and Yamazaki Spanish and Mizunara oak expressions. Yet Hibiki isn’t the only exciting whisky up for auction.

Bonhams will also be featuring two bottles of Karuizawa — a cult whisky brand associated with a famous whisky heist — up for sale. The two bottles are from Karuizawa’s Noh Series, and one is 31 years old. The younger sibling has a 13-year age statement. Both bottles are projected to fetch closing bids of anywhere between $9,000 and $12,000.

Meanwhile, across the pond in America, Bonhams is offering two whiskeys from storied brands in the U.S. The first is a bottle of Old Stag Whiskey 16 Years Old dating back to 1916 — a true dusty. This expression is projected to fetch bids between $8,000 to $10,000 once it hits the hammer.  The final expression is a bottle of Willett Bourbon 23 Years Old, which Bonhams estimates will fetch $5,000 to $6,500.

Will 2025 Be a Year for Record-Breaking Whisky Purchases?

For those who have been following the auction circuit, 2024 and 2025 were exceptional years. Whiskies like The Macallan Adami Bottle fetched an astounding $2.7 million at auction, creating a world record for the most expensive spirit to ever sell.

In January 2024, that record was broken by a whiskey from The Craft Irish Whiskey Co., which sold a bottle of Emerald Isle 30-Year-Old Single Malt to a collector for $2.8 million.

Yet as far as things are concerned with 2025, the outlook appears to be a little hazy, and it looks like premium spirits might be facing a bit of a slump due to global uncertainty from a burgeoning trade war. The Spirits Business reported on the potential outlook for the year, and claimed that countries that might lead the whisky auction circuit in terms of demand will be situated outside the United Kingdom.

“Economic factors aside, we expect growth from markets outside of the UK to continue, led by Hong Kong due to the recent considerable decrease in spirits duty making auction purchases more accessible to a wider audience,” head of Whisky.Auction Gemma de Jesus told The Spirits Business.

The outlet also projected that world whisky is going to be a hot category in 2025, and increased demand for whiskies from Canada, India, England and Australia might be on the horizon.