Latest Auction Sales Show Bourbon Prices Are Still Bonkers

Window shopping is always a good time. Window shopping at Sotheby’s Online Auction House is always a GREAT time. Until you see the prices, of course.

On a near weekly basis, someone asks when the whiskey boom may drop. The boom is a canonical term for the massive explosion of whiskey popularity in the United States and beyond. Every day, there are more products on shelves, but prices are also rising. Bourbon we used to buy for $30 is now $50, and so on and so forth.

This past week at Sotheby’s auction house, some of bourbon’s most storied bottles went up for auction. We’re not talking about your standard Pappy or Van Winkle bottlings, or even Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. We’re talking the creme de la cream. Block letter Willett bottlings and the ultimate whiskey prize: LeNell Red Hook Rye

Expected to sell for “only” $10,000 – $20,000 USD, this particular lot went for more than double – a whopping $43,750. One of the most legendary old ryes to exist, it’s so rare that we haven’t even tasted it here at Whiskey Raiders. At these prices, it’s highly unlikely we ever will.

Even with bonkers prices like these, it’s still fun to track and watch historical and great bottlings move around the market. Each auction round seems to bring even higher prices. If you think it’s just bourbon – you’d be wrong. Scotch suffers from it too, but not nearly in the same way.

All we know is that while it’s interesting to auction watch, drinking is much more fun. Some of our favorite bourbon you can actually afford is out there on every shelf – like Old Forester 1920 or the spicier (on the palate, not the wallet) Wild Turkey 101.