Louisville, Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum just announced the lineup for its seventh annual Art of Bourbon auction — and it’s stacked with some of the whiskey world’s most sought-after bottles.
The live auction will take place on September 12 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST, and will present 35 lots including ultra-rare bourbons as well as exclusive distillery experiences. Some of the bottles up for bidding including a coveted 2017 Michter’s 25-Year-Old (one of only 317 bottles made that year), a bottle of Old Forester from 1947, the 1976 Bicentennial Commemorative Bourbon distilled at the original Willett Distillery in 1959, and a Very Old Fitzgerald bottled in 1966. The museum is also auctioning off an entire Pappy vertical, including six bottles of Pappy signed exclusively by Julian Van Winkle III, which is expected to go for about $30,000.
Attendees will also have the chance to bid on the opportunity to select an entire custom barrel from esteemed distilleries. One experience up for auction is to select one of the very first 100 barrels produced in Bardstown Bourbon’s Origin Series.
The annual event is acclaimed throughout the bourbon industry, with top collectors and aficionados known to attend from across the globe. All proceeds support education programs and exhibitions at the Speed. This year’s event curation is led by author and bourbon critic Fred Minnick. Marc Abrams, a well-known bourbon expert based in Louisville, serves as this year’s event chair.
“Since 2018, I’ve worked closely with the Speed to auction the rarest whiskey bottles and experiences ever, raising millions of dollars for this institution,” Minnick says in a press release. “These rare whiskeys can make a huge impact on one of our country’s best art museums. We have the vintage and rare, and the new and unique. These sort of in-the-know bourbons don’t come up very often.”
Interested customers can register to bid in the auction online for free, or purchase a $350 ticket to attend the event in person. Each ticket grants access to a cocktail hour, bourbon tastings, and a dinner with a bourbon-inspired menu.
The article These Ultra-Rare Bourbons — Including a Pappy Vertical and 1966 Very Old Fitzgerald — Are Up For Auction appeared first on VinePair.