No Dry January for whiskey collectors—nearly 350 bottles of rare American bourbon and rye are about to go under the hammer. The Great American Whiskey Collection is a single‑owner trove of legendary labels accumulated over decades and, according to auction house estimates, could fetch between $1.17 million and $1.68 million when bidding begins on January 24 in New York. This isn’t a random assortment of unopened bottles; it’s a curated history of American whiskey that reads like a who’s‑who of distilling royalty.
The catalog spans 320 lots of liquid Americana, from pre‑Prohibition Old Rip Van Winkle to W. L. Weller and Stitzel‑Weller bottlings that rarely surface outside of museum displays. Connoisseurs will find multiple age statements of Pappy Van Winkle, dusty bourbons from the ‘60s and ‘70s, and rye whiskey whose labels have long disappeared from the shelves. Many bottles carry provenance papers and original packaging, further inflating their desirability. The sale is being positioned by Sotheby’s as the most valuable American whiskey auction to date, eclipsing even high‑profile Scotch sales.
The timing is no coincidence. American whiskey has been on an upward trajectory, with collectors outbidding each other for unicorn bottles and distilleries releasing limited editions at breakneck pace. Last year’s Bonhams Encyclopedic Collection auctioned an equally exhaustive selection of Scotch, American and Japanese whisky, highlighting how spirits have become a serious asset class; IMBOLDN took readers inside that world in a previous feature. The Great American Whiskey Collection feels like the bourbon answer to that sale—a deep dive into Kentucky’s liquid history that’s unlikely to be repeated anytime soon.
While individual bottles might eventually be poured, the real story here is the consolidation of so many legendary labels into one sale. Interested bidders can peruse the full lot list on Sotheby’s site and dream of building their own library of American distilling lore. For everyone else, the auction serves as an intoxicating reminder that old whiskey continues to appreciate in both flavour and value—just don’t expect any of these bottles to stay unopened for long.
