Are Whisky Auction Prices Recovering? What Three Million Dollar Months Say

Auction prices at the top of the whisky market have recovered in 2026, but results for individual bottles are mixed. According to Whisky Advocate, September was the third month this year in which the 20 highest single bottle hammer prices passed $1 million together, at $1,139,934, while Macallan The Reach 81 Year Old sold at Sotheby's for a hammer price 56% lower in pounds than on its last appearance.

Key Takeaways

• Whisky Advocate's monthly top 20 lists passed $1 million in three months of 2026: May ($1,878,488), June ($1,360,614) and September ($1,139,934). The same ranking beat 2025 in six of nine months.

• The lists measure only the top 20 sales of each month, so one lot can decide the headline. By our calculation, the $500,000 Karuizawa hammer price made up 44% of September's total.

• Individual lots tell a mixed story. Macallan The Reach 81 Year Old sold 56% below its last appearance in pounds, an Ardbeg The Abyss sold below its retail price, and a new Macallan release left a flipper only a thin gain after fees.

• Hammer prices exclude the buyer's premium, and sellers pay commission and lot fees, so the amount a seller keeps is lower than the headline.

• Neither the lists nor the lots allow a forecast. They describe what sold, not what will sell.

Tip: When you read an auction headline, ask three questions. Is it a hammer price or a price with premium, is it one lot or a whole month, and is it the same bottle as last time? Those three answers explain most apparent contradictions.

What the Monthly Top 20 Lists Show

Whisky Advocate publishes a list each month of the 20 highest single bottle hammer prices at auction, in US dollars, and adds them up. A hammer price is the winning bid before the buyer's premium is added. For the first nine months of 2026 the totals were:

• January: $984,579, up 20% on January 2025

• February: $418,152, lower than February 2025, according to Whisky Advocate

• March: $764,638

• April: $600,904, up 39% on April 2025

• May: $1,878,488, up 108% on May 2025

• June: $1,360,614, up 53% on June 2025

• July: $365,984, the lowest monthly total since August 2024, according to Whisky Advocate

• August: $644,528, up 16% on August 2025

• September: $1,139,934, the third month of the year over $1 million

By Whisky Advocate's own count the ranking beat 2025 in six of nine months, and by September the combined value was more than $1.5 million ahead of the same point in 2025. The direction has shifted since spring: after April's list the year to date trailed 2025's pace by 9%, while after June the 120 bottles on the lists were worth 24% more than a year earlier.

For the background to the earlier falls, see Why Are Whisky Auction Prices Falling in 2026?. The two readings do not conflict. That piece looks at the broad market, which corrected after 2022. These lists look only at the most expensive bottles sold each month.

Why One Lot Can Decide a Month

The top 20 lists are sensitive to a handful of very expensive bottles. Our own calculations from Whisky Advocate's figures show how much.

May, June and September

In May, the two highest sales were a Yamazaki 50 Year Old Club Natsume at $842,169 and a Karuizawa 1960 52 Year Old at $638,007, both at Bonhams in Hong Kong. By our calculation, together they make up about 79% of that month's $1,878,488. In June the three highest, led by a 1960 Yamazaki at $280,790, make up about 55% of the total, again by our calculation.

In September, a Karuizawa 1960 52 Year Old, The Prototype, from Cask Nr.5627, reached a $500,000 hammer price at Sotheby's in New York. By our calculation, that is 44% of the month's total, and the remaining 19 lots add up to $639,934, which would not have passed $1 million. Whisky Advocate also notes that the six highest hammer prices of the year so far have all been Japanese whiskies.

What That Means

Three million dollar months in nine is a real change from a weak spring, and it does not need to be played down. It also reflects the top end, where a few collectors and a few rare casks decide the result. It says little about how a regular bottle at a few hundred euros has fared.

What Individual Lots Say

Looking at single bottles, October's results are less one directional. Three examples from Whisky Advocate show why.

Macallan The Reach 81 Year Old

At the first auction held at The Macallan Estate on 9 October 2026, bottle number 3 of the one of one Macallan The Reach 81 Year Old reached a hammer price of $138,890. Whisky Advocate describes this as 56% lower than its last appearance, and gives the change in pounds: the hammer price fell from £240,000 to £105,000. The same sale went better elsewhere: all lots sold, and two thirds of hammer prices passed the high estimates. The Macallan Fine & Rare 1926 60 Year Old made a £1.7 million hammer price, meeting Sotheby's low estimate and falling just short of the £1.75 million record from 2023. Spiritory Magazine covers that result in the Macallan 1926 result article, and the sale itself in 7 Things to Know About Sotheby's First Auction at The Macallan Estate.

Ardbeg The Abyss 1989 34 Year Old

Whisky Advocate's lot of the week in its 16 October update, an Ardbeg The Abyss 1989 34 Year Old, sold for a hammer price of $18,107. Its retail price was $27,500, so the bottle sold below what it cost new.

Macallan TIME : SPACE Sherry Cask 20 Year Old

The new release shows how thin the margin can be for a flipper, someone who buys at retail to resell. Whisky Auctioneer's highest price was $1,520 against a retail price of $1,400 in September 2026. After commission and lot fees, a seller would take home $1,419. A day later, a bottle at Grand Whisky Auctions made $1,361, which left the seller $1,271 after fees. Whisky Advocate's conclusion is that a high profile release no longer guarantees flippers a quick profit. A resale only works if the price you receive after fees beats what you paid.

How to Read These Numbers Without Overreading Them

Three limits apply to any auction statistic, including everything above.

Hammer Price Is Not the Whole Price

Whisky Advocate's lists use hammer prices. The buyer then pays a premium on top, and the seller pays commission and fees. The 1926 Macallan shows the gap: a £1.7 million hammer price came to $2,810,874 with the buyer's premium, in Whisky Advocate's conversion. Always check which of the two a headline quotes.

The Top 20 Is a Narrow Window

The lists say nothing about the thousands of lots below them. A good month at the top and a softer market in the middle can both be true.

One Sale Is Not a Trend

Whisky Advocate said the Macallan Estate sale has done much to shore up the Macallan secondary market, and also noted the absence of recent series such as Red Collection, TIME : SPACE and Folio. In its September list it had counted more than 1,000 days since a Macallan bottle last sold for a million dollar hammer price, in November 2023. Treat each result as one data point.

What This Means for Buyers and Sellers

Nobody can say where prices go next, and this article does not try to. What the data supports is a more careful way to act.

Buyers can compare a bottle against several recent results rather than against its best result. Sellers can compare the net figure on different routes, including auction, private sale and a marketplace. Spiritory Magazine explains each in How to Sell Whisky at Auction in 2026, Where Can I Sell Whisky Online Safely? and When Should You Buy, Sell or Wait as a Whisky Collector?.

On Spiritory, a bid and ask marketplace for whisky and spirits based in Munich, buyers pay a 3% buyer protection fee plus shipping, and sellers pay 9% in total, made up of 6% commission and 3% payment processing. Prices are set by the bids and asks of buyers and sellers, and nothing here suggests what a given bottle will fetch.

Tip: Keep a simple record for any bottle you follow: the date, the platform, whether the price included premium, and the condition. A few comparable results are worth more than one dramatic headline.

FAQ

Are whisky auction prices recovering in 2026?

At the top end, the lists point up. Whisky Advocate's top 20 hammer prices passed $1 million in May, June and September, and beat 2025 in six of nine months. Individual lots are mixed, with Macallan The Reach 81 Year Old selling 56% below its last appearance in pounds and an Ardbeg The Abyss selling below its retail price.

Does one strong month mean a trend?

No. A single lot such as the $500,000 Karuizawa made up 44% of September's total, by our calculation. The lists describe past sales and do not forecast future ones.

What is a hammer price?

It is the winning bid at an auction, before the buyer's premium is added. Sellers still pay commission and lot fees from it, so the amount they receive is lower.

Where can I see the underlying data?

Whisky Advocate publishes its monthly top 20 lists and auction updates on its website, and the auction houses publish their own results. Check the original lists for the latest months, including October and later.