Cask 001, First Fill.
The first cask laid down under the estate’s own number, in a first-fill ex-bourbon barrel, filled at cask strength and left alone.
The lot, in full.
Specification
- Cask
- First fill, ex-bourbon, approximately 200 litres
- Filled
- At cask strength, from a single distillation run
- Maturing
- Eleven years minimum, in a bonded warehouse
- Expected outturn
- Around 250 bottles, less the angels’ share
- Included
- Storage and insurance to the day it is bottled
- Not included
- Duty and VAT, which fall due on withdrawal and are substantial
Every figure here is a term of the lot. Where something is an expectation rather than a promise — an outturn, a date — the row says so.
What you are buying.
A cask of maturing spirit, held in bond, with a bottling right at the end of it. Not a share in a distillery, not a fund, and not a tradeable instrument.
The three things worth knowing before you bid.
The angels’ share
Around two per cent a year evaporates through the wood. Over eleven years that is roughly a fifth of the cask, and it is not a defect.
The duty
Spirits duty falls due when the cask leaves bond. On a cask of this size it runs to several thousand pounds and it is the single most common unpleasant surprise in cask ownership.
What if it is no good
Some casks do not come right. The estate’s policy on that is on the maturing pages, and it is not "tough luck".
Where this lot sits against the others.
| Lot | Current bid | Reserve | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cask 001 — first fill, ex-bourbon | £2,850 | £2,400 | Cask |
| The fleece off ewe 042 | £185 | £120 | Produce |
| A working day with Kaleb Cooper | £4,100 | £2,500 | Experience |
| The first crate off the new line | £640 | £400 | Object |
| The last hundredweight of the 2025 durum | £310 | None | Produce |
| One metre of wall, built with Gerald | £950 | £600 | Experience |
This build takes no bids
Every auction control on this site is a placeholder. No bid is binding, no card is taken, no lot is allocated and the bid histories are illustrative. A real version of this would need consumer auction terms, a clear description of the contract of sale, and — for the cask — a warehouse keeper approved under HMRC’s Warehousekeepers and Owners of Warehoused Goods Regulations.
The other lots
Back to the floor.
Six lots, all closing at eight on Sunday.
