NEARLY £50K RAISED IN FIRST AUCTION RECOGNISING
WOMEN IN WHISKY
The Demeter Collection – created to recognise the work of women in the whisky sector – has raised nearly £50,000 at auction for the OurWhisky Foundation.
The inaugural Demeter Collection hosted by the leading global whisky auction platform Whisky Auctioneer, achieved a final hammer price of £43,614 from 19 specially curated lots. Alongside waiving their auction seller fees, Whisky Auctioneer’s buyer’s commission was donated to the OurWhisky Foundation, bringing the total to £49,065.75.
Winning bids came from the UK, USA, Ireland, Latvia and Belgium. The prestigious top bid was claimed by a rare 44-year-old Dalmore, created to honour Margaret Nicol’s remarkable five decades of dedication to the whisky industry as a blend controller at Whyte & Mackay. This exclusive bottle achieved a hammer price of £12,500, marking a fitting tribute to Nicol’s illustrious career.
Funds raised will be donated to the OurWhisky Foundation to help further its work providing initiatives and projects that support women working in whisky. Ongoing projects include its widely acclaimed mentorship programme, which by the end of this year will have directly supported 200 women in their careers; a new, enhanced series of trade and consumer networking and tasting events; and the development of its online magazine, The Cut, into a valuable educational resource. Applications for the next mentorship intake have opened this week.
Joe Wilson, Head Curator and Spirits Specialist at Whisky Auctioneer, said:
“It has been a privilege for us to support the OurWhisky Foundation in providing not just a platform for this ground-breaking sale, but also to promote the contributions of women to the industry as a whole. From the distilleries and independent bottlers who generously donated to the bidders from across the world, it is incredible to see whisky lovers come together to make a real difference.”
The OurWhisky Foundation is the world’s first non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting, recognising and empowering professional women in whisky across the globe, while advocating for a more inclusive and diverse industry.
Previous OurWhisky mentorship programme graduates
Becky Paskin, founder of the OurWhisky Foundation, added:
“We’re blown away by the fantastic amount raised from the inaugural Demeter Collection. The OurWhisky Foundation provides much-needed support and guidance for women in whisky as well as the wider industry, but we are in desperate need of funding if we’re to continue providing our services. Thanks to Whisky Auctioneer, all our lot donors and the hundreds of bidders coming together over a shared love of a dram, the fantastic amount raised will help us continue making whisky an inclusive space for everyone.”
Among noteworthy outcomes was the hammer price of £9,700 for a unique 20-year-old Ardbeg, crafted as a tribute to the 20-year legacy of master blender Gillian MacDonald. In addition, the first bottle drawn from the inaugural cask at Derbyshire’s White Peak Distillery, Wire Works’ Love, Sweat & Tears fetched an impressive £3,350 and the Loch Lomond Sonata Collection, a creative trio of whiskies curated to explore peat, sold for £2,200.
Atonia’s Legacy, the inaugural blend in a series of whiskies to celebrate the Demeter Collection, reached a hammer price of £1,650. Blended by Sarah Burgess of The Lakes Distillery, it marks a strong start to this innovative, groundbreaking series.
Full lot listing:
Aberfeldy 40 Year Old
Ardbeg Twenty
Arbikie Farm Experience + Hand-filled Rye Whisky
Atonia’s Legacy: The Sarah Burgess Edition
Cooper King Cask No. 1: Inaugural Release
Cotswolds Distillery One of One
CRN57
House of Hazelwood: The Long View
JJ Corry x Tipperary: The Founders Bottles #1
Laphroaig 25 Year Old: The Bessie Williamson Story
Loch Lomond Sonata Collection
Nc’nean Aon 17-302
SMWS Christmas on the Beach
Strathearn Single Malt Scotch Whisky
The Borders Distillery IWD Quarter Cask
The Dalmore 44 Years Old
The GlenDronach 30 Year Old Single Cask
Wire Works Love, Sweat & Tears
For more information on the lots, see here.
About The Demeter Collection:
The OurWhisky Foundation is delighted to introduce the Demeter Collection, the world’s first auction of whiskies celebrating female achievement, held in partnership with Whisky Auctioneer.
Named after the Greek goddess of grain, the Demeter Collection will highlight unique and exquisite whiskies crafted and inspired by some of the industry’s most talented women, maintaining a particular focus on the compelling stories of those involved in their creation.
The inaugural auction will be hosted 29 March- 8 April 2024, coinciding with Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, as well as the OurWhisky Foundation’s second anniversary. The carefully curated Collection will be held every two years with all proceeds donated to the OurWhisky Foundation.
Demeter (Duh-mee-tuh) was the Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains and the fertility of the earth. Known as the ‘good goddess’, she gifted humankind with the knowledge to grow and harvest their own crops. Such was her deep connection to the planet that she is often likened to Gaia, while some claim her name translates to ‘Mother Earth’.
According to legend, her daughter Persephone was abducted and held hostage in the underworld by Demeter’s brother, Hades. Racked with grief, Demeter plunged the world into a deep famine as she searched far and wide for her lost daughter. Ultimately Hades allowed Persephone to return to the surface for just eight months a year. It was only during this time that Demeter allowed crops to grow once more, thereby creating the seasons, a continuous evolution of time that symbolises the eternal cycle of life and passing of knowledge from generation to generation.
About Whisky Auctioneer
Whisky Auctioneer is the global market leader and trusted authority on the buying and selling of whisky and spirits at auction. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Perth, Scotland, Whisky Auctioneer utilises its expertise and knowledge combined with its auction platform to increase interest and passion in the whisky and spirits community. The business currently sees over 150,000 bids per month and has conducted deliveries to 74 countries across the globe.
The central Scotland headquarter’s success paved the way for international expansion with secondary offices now located in central London and the Netherlands.
Whisky Auctioneer endeavours to make the secondary market more accessible for buyers and sellers of any background and demographic, wherever in the world they are based. Its monthly global auctions feature the most comprehensive selection of old, rare and collectible whiskies and spirits online, and are unmatched in volume, variety of bottles offered and prices achieved. Alongside an unrivalled selection of rare Scotch whisky and Irish Whiskey, Whisky Auctioneer has also established the business as the market-leading specialist in presenting world whiskies for sale; from rare American whiskey and bourbon to iconic Japanese whiskies.
In February 2021, the online auction house made history during the iconic sale of The Perfect Collection, when a bottle of The Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare 60 Year Old sold for a hammer price of £1 million. This was the first time a single bottle of whisky has sold at an online-only auction for one million pounds.
About The OurWhisky Foundation:
The OurWhisky Foundation is the world’s first non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting, recognising and empowering professional women in whisky across the globe, while advocating for a more inclusive and diverse industry.
Founded in 2022 by drinks journalist Becky Paskin, the UK-based organisation works with the global drinks industry to provide diversity and inclusion consultancy, as well as surveys, reports, events and initiatives that inspire change.
Its ground-breaking mentorship programme, which pairs mentees with some of the biggest names in whisky while providing free workshops and networking opportunities, has so far guided 175 women and non-binary individuals toward reaching their goals, with many securing new jobs and promotions as a result.
In 2023 the Foundation introduced the Modern Face of Whisky stock image library, an evolving, free-to-use collection of professional photography enabling the media and wider industry to more accurately represent the diversity of today’s whisky drinker beyond the masculine stereotype. Within its first eight months, the library received 10 million views and 100,000 downloads with the images featured across global print and digital media.
In the same year, the Foundation surveyed over 600 women for its Do You Even Like Whisky? report – the world’s first survey of women in whisky, which revealed the extent of sexism and unconscious bias prevalent in the industry. The report has since led to policy changes within many whisky organisations.
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