Online auction of record-breaking £1m whisky bottles hacked

An online auction which was to feature some the world’s most expensive whiskies was cancelled after the website hosting it was hacked.

The auction, which went live on 10 April and ran until 20 April, included part of an extensive private whisky collection, thought to be the largest to be sold at auction with several bottles valued at over £1 million.

WhiskyAuctioneer was the subject of a “targeted, technologically sophisticated, sustained and malicious attack” on its website and databases, according to a statement on the website’s landing page.

The website has now been taken down as a precaution, while employees have contacted customers “who may have been impacted by this, so please check your inboxes and follow the suggested next steps.”

Called ‘The Perfect Collection’, the bottles were amassed by the late Richard Gooding, an American private whisky collector from Colorado, who spent over 20 years travelling around the world to source the spirits.

The 10-day sale of 1,958 bottles included rare whiskies such as The Macallan 1926 Fine & Rare 60 Year Old, bottles from some of Scotland’s lost distilleries
including Dallas Dhu, Glenugie and Killyloch with some bottles dating back to 1921, and a Glenfiddich 1937 Rare Collection 64 Year Old. Only 61 bottles of the Glenfiddich 1937 have been produced.

The first phase of the auction, comprising 1,932 bottles, was snapped up for US$4.2 million in February this year.

The auction of The Perfect Collection: Part Two has been postponed, according to Whisky Auctioneer, with further updates on this and future auctions to follow.