In whisky, time is both the ingredient and the artist. Few spirits embody this truth more than the latest releases from Aberfeldy and Royal Brackla, two Highland distilleries unveiling their oldest bottlings to date. Aberfeldy 49 Year Old and Royal Brackla 54 Year Old are not just whiskies but living archives of craft, patience, and place—set to appear exclusively at Sotheby’s during the 2025 Distillers One of One Auction.
Aberfeldy’s 49-Year Milestone
For Aberfeldy, the release represents nearly half a century of waiting. The single cask was filled in 1975 and hand-selected by Malt Master Stephanie Macleod for its rare balance of maturity and elegance. The whisky offers layers of honeyed apples, ripe pears, and soft cinnamon—the distillery’s signature orchard fruit notes, deepened and refined by time.
Encased in a bespoke decanter by La Cristallerie Royale de Saint-Louis, the Aberfeldy 49 Year Old is as much an objet d’art as it is a dram. Macleod described the selection as a moment of deep pride:
“After nearly half a century of quiet maturation, the liquid has developed extraordinary layers of honeyed fruit, soft spice, and Aberfeldy’s unmistakable character. It is the oldest expression we have ever bottled, and its rarity makes it a once-in-a-lifetime whisky.”
Royal Brackla’s Regal 54 Year Old
Alongside Aberfeldy comes Royal Brackla’s 54 Year Old, filled into a refill hogshead in 1970. Known historically as the “King’s Own Whisky”—the first Scotch granted a Royal Warrant in 1833—Royal Brackla has delivered an expression that feels appropriately majestic.
The whisky is described as rich with waxy fruits, caramelized peaches, syrupy pineapple, and rounded with spiced tannins and a whisper of smoke on the finish. Presented in another hand-blown Saint-Louis decanter, the Brackla bottling bridges tradition and artistry in equal measure.
The Distillers One of One Auction
These whiskies will not appear on retail shelves. Instead, they will cross the block at the Distillers One of One Auction, a biennial event that gathers Scotland’s rarest and most ambitious creations. Since its inception, the auction has raised more than £4.3 million for charities supporting disadvantaged youth across Scotland.
This year’s auction takes place on October 10, 2025, at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, with 39 lots contributed by 35 Scotch producers. Aberfeldy 49 and Royal Brackla 54 stand out as record-setters, marking the oldest whiskies ever released from each distillery.
A Testament to Time and Craft
Beyond their rarity, these whiskies embody a deeper truth about Scotch: that its essence lies in patience, in letting nature and wood conspire across generations. Nearly five decades for Aberfeldy, more than half a century for Royal Brackla—the span of entire lifetimes condensed into liquid form.
At Sotheby’s, collectors will vie for them. But for those who understand whisky less as a commodity and more as a cultural inheritance, these bottles represent something larger: the ability of Scotch to tell a story that only time itself can write.
For more information, head over to Aberfeldy’s official website and Royal Brackla’s website.
