Whisky bidders eye rare Japanese bottles at up to $100k each
A single-owner private collection goes under the hammer online, with strong interest in ghostly and theatrical labels.
A rare collection of Japanese whisky is up for grabs in an online auction that could see bottles sell for as much as AU$100,000. The single-owner sale, handled by Australian auction house Lawsons, is drawing attention for both the quality and scarcity of the whiskies on offer.
The sale was first reported by The Financial Review, which noted that the collection, comprising 34 bottles, belongs to a New South Wales-based collector who held them in his superannuation fund. Bidding closed last Thursday (10 July). DB are currently awaiting updates.
Big numbers, serious drinkers
While many of the bottles are estimated to fetch between AU$8000 and AU$10,000, Lawsons’ wine and spirits specialist Simon Hill said some buyers aren’t planning to keep the bottles on the shelf.
“I have two passionate drinkers that are bidding on whiskies in this sale in the range between $10,000 and $20,000 per bottle, and they will definitely drink them,” Hill told Saleroom.
One such bottle is the Hibiki Arita-Yaki 30-year-old limited edition single malt, housed in a ceramic decanter. It blends whisky from Hakushu, Yamazaki and Chita distilleries and carries a pre-sale estimate of AU$13,000–AU$15,000.
Japanese whisky reached peak investor and collector interest during the COVID-19 period, Hill said, with its rare, award-winning nature drawing buyers away from Scotch.
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“We’ve seen more interest in Japanese whisky than we would in Scotch,” he said.
Ghosts, Courtesans and Noh
The visual appeal of Japanese labelling has also played a role. Many of the bottles feature imagery from Japanese folklore and theatre, with artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s works appearing prominently.
Lot 4, for instance, carries Yoshitoshi’s The Enlightenment of Jigoku-dayū (Hell Courtesan) from his New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts series. Estimated at AU$8000–AU$10,000, the bottle contains a 16-year-old single malt from the 1996 Karuizawa Ghost Series No.1, bottled in 2013.
Another highlight is a 33-year-old single-cask malt from the 1980 Kawasaki Ghost Series No.4, estimated at AU$35,000–AU$40,000. Hill noted that the Ghost Series comes from closed Japanese distilleries, using remnants from redundant casks.
But the star lot is from a different collection: the Noh Series. Estimated at AU$80,000–AU$100,000, this 41-year-old single malt was bottled in 2013 by the Karuizawa Distillery and features imagery inspired by Japanese Noh theatre.
More series in play
Also featured in the auction are bottles from the Japanese whisky “Card Series”, each estimated at around AU$8000–AU$10,000.
The auction offers a rare glimpse into a niche corner of the global spirits market, where storytelling, scarcity and craftsmanship converge. The outcome could serve as a temperature check for investor appetite in high-end Japanese whisky—especially for those willing to open a bottle worth tens of thousands of dollars.
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