The world’s most valuable single-owner American whiskey and bourbon collection is heading to auction with Sotheby's.
The expansive bourbon and whiskey collection is expected to fetch upwards of $1.7m when it goes under the hammer on January 24th. Featuring 360 bottles across 320 lots, the collection, dubbed “The Great American Whiskey Collection” by the auction house, contains some of the most coveted and collectible post-Prohibition bottles of bourbon and rye whiskey, including those from Old Rip Van Winkle, Old Fitzgerald, and Michter’s.
The private collection, owned by an unnamed individual, took years to amass and was displayed in a custom-built home bar. Among its rarest is the Old Rip Van Winkle 20 Year Old Single Barrel “Sam’s”, one of only 60 bottles, and at 133.4 proof, the highest proof Van Winkle ever released.
Originally produced for a Chicago liquor store and sold at a retail price of $100, the bottle is estimated to fetch between $70,000 and $100,000. The highest end of that estimate would challenge the record for post-Prohibition whiskey, currently held by another bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle at $125,000, including fees.
The auction will also see a bottle of Van Winkle 18 Year Old “Binny’s” return to auction for the first time since 2024, when it set a then post-Prohibition record of $107,715. That comes with an estimate of $60,000-$80,000.
Away from the Van Winkle family, a bottle of Very Very Old Fitzgerald “Blackhawk” 18 Year Old carries an estimate of $50,000-$80,000, making it the third-highest value lot of the auction. This will carry special weight for Chicago Blackhawks fans, as it was bottled exclusively for long-time owners, the Wirtz family.
These estimates are conservative, and recent auction history has indicated that, despite a wider decline in spirits auction receipts, collectors are still willing to pay very high prices for genuinely rare bottles. The bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle that sold for $125,000 in 2025 had a high estimate of $50,000.
Sotheby’s has marked these bottles against those recent results, but there are several rare bottles that have never been tested at auction, which are likely to inspire widespread interest. The live auction, taking place on January 24th, will also push bids higher.
“The value, quality, and rarity of these bottles are unparalleled,” added Zev Glesta, Sotheby’s whiskey specialist, AVP. “This is not just a great American whiskey collection — it is the collection, bringing together the very finest examples ever produced. Each bottle tells a story, captures a moment in history, and preserves the lineage of a craft that continues to grow and evolve today.”
A selection of bottles will be available for online bidding starting January 8th. The full, live auction is on January 24th at the Breuer Building in Manhattan.
