More bottles of Prince Charles’ 30-year-old Royal Lochnagar Scotch Whisky are to be sold in an online auction, starting this weekend.
Bottle number 1 reached the tremendous sum of £9100 on Whisky.Auction for the Prince’s Foundation, and now the final 20 bottles are to be released by The Prince’s Foundation in response to extraordinary interest in this special edition and auction success
The remaining 20 of the 206 bottles will be auctioned this month. These bottles were originally retained by The Prince’s Foundation for future fundraising.
However, as a gesture of goodwill and in thanks for the generosity shown from buyers in the auction of bottle number 1 and the sell-out ballot run by The Whisky Exchange in January, the charity is releasing this last batch to give collectors a final chance to purchase a bottle of this unique release first hand. The hammer price of £9,100 achieved this week for bottle number 1 came just 16 days after the initial ballot closed for 184 bottles at the retail price of £1,470.
Robert Lovie, deputy executive director of The Prince’s Foundation, said: ‘We are overwhelmed by the interest in His Royal Highness’s cask of Royal Lochnagar Scotch Whisky and would like to give every chance for people to own a bottle.
‘All proceeds raised from the sale of these bottles will be used to support the work of The Prince’s Foundation in Royal Deeside. We hope that the auction of numbers 2 to 20 and 206 will be equally sought after and will provide another boost to the total of £235,865 already raised by the sale of the cask to support The Prince’s Foundation’s commitment to helping Ballater regain its footing and train a new generation of hospitality professionals.’
Proceeds from all sales from the 1988 cask will be used to support the work of The Carriage at Ballater Station. Located less than 10 miles from Royal Lochnagar Distillery, The Carriage is a destination tearoom, bistro, exhibition space and Highgrove Shop which was established by The Prince’s Foundation in 2018 to help the area regain its footing after the village was hit by flooding and a fire destroyed the station in 2015.
The eaterie now provides employment for local people, drives tourism to the area and delivers hospitality training for young people.
These 20 lots, each with a starting price of £1,450, will be a highlight of the next monthly auction at whisky and fine spirits specialist Whisky.Auction, which will be live from Sunday 3 to Tuesday 12 March. The only other bottle from this single cask release of 206 bottles has been placed permanently in the Diageo Archive for Royal Lochnagar.
Isabel Graham-Yooll, auction director for Whisky.Auction, said: ‘We are delighted at the interest we received in the auction of bottle number 1. Each bottle of the 1988 Royal Lochnagar 30 Year Old from His Royal Highness’s cask is a small piece of whisky history, so it’s an honour to be asked to auction the final 20 bottles in aid of The Prince’s Foundation.’
Originally a gift to His Royal Highness to mark the 140th anniversary of the first royal visit to Royal Lochnagar Distillery, by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1848, The Prince generously donated the cask to his charity, The Prince’s Foundation.
On a visit to Royal Lochnagar Distillery last year, during which the cask was handed over, His Royal Highness tasted the whisky. Matured in an American oak hogshead cask, there are cereal, vanilla, pear and marzipan notes on the nose. The palate is creamy with a delicate sweetness, blackcurrant, walnut and coconut flavours.
This special bottling took place on The Prince’s 70th birthday, 14 November 2018, and is one of the oldest Royal Lochnagar single cask releases.
Information on the lots will be available shortly at www.whisky.auction/charity. Bidders must register at www.whisky.auction/Account/Registration. The preview is now live on https://whisky.auction/charity/royallochnagar20bottles.
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