An average bottle of bourbon may set you back about $30, but for one rare, highly sought-after bottle that recently sold at auction, you would have needed more than 3,500 times that much.
A bottle of Very Very Old Fitzgerald 18 Year Old “Blackhawk” 121.0 Proof 1950 bourbon — barreled in 1950 but bottled in 1969 by the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Louisville, Kentucky — hit the auction block Wednesday as part of a Sotheby’s sale showcasing some of the “world’s most distinguished and highly prized spirits.”
The final price on the bourbon was $106,250, far more than the $50,000 to $80,000 they expected.
According to the auction listing, the rare bourbon is, reportedly, 100% pure Stitzel-Weller bourbon and bottled at one of the highest barrel proofs, 121, of the era.
Stitzel-Weller Distillery opened in 1935 but ultimately stopped distilling in 1992. The Kentucky-based distillery reopened in 2014.
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Unlike the $30 bottle of bourbon at your local liquor store, barrel proof bourbons are barrel-to-bottle, with no dilution. Your cheap bottle of bourbon has most likely been diluted with water in order to bring it to a certain alcohol by volume, Old Raleigh Distillery explains. Because barrel proof bourbon is not diluted, it can have a higher proof level, typically well over 100.
According to Sotheby’s, this is the second time in history the bottle has appeared at auction. The auction company said, “No ‘Blackhawk’ bottlings were ever made available for public sale. Rather, it is presumed that the bottles were gifted to close family, friends and associates of the Wirtz family.”
Where does the Blackhawk name come from, you ask? The Wirtz family owns the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, hence the team’s logo on the side of the label.
