Whisky & Wine authority Daniel Lam will advise Spink’s cask and bottle auctions in association with Cask 88.

Leading cask whisky specialist and independent bottler Cask 88 has announced a partnership with Daniel Lam as Director of Asia, to lead the company’s activities from Hong Kong as part of ambitious global expansion. Adjacent to this prestigious appointment, Daniel will also take on the title of Global Head of Whisky & Wine for international auction house Spink, overseeing sales, in association with Cask 88, that will include both casks and bottles of whisky from around the globe. The first of these sales will close with a live auction in Hong Kong on Thursday 18 August 2022 at 10am BST, and Daniel will be hosting a live ‘Ask me anything’ webinar for Spink and Cask 88 subscribers on Wednesday 10 August at 11am BST.

Having pioneered Hong Kong’s first whisky and cognac auctions during his time at Bonhams, where he was Wine & Whisky Specialist for 13 years, Daniel is ideally placed to lead Cask 88’s expansion in Asia, and to present an extensive auction schedule. Each sale will feature a selection of rare and antique bottles, including Scottish and Japanese whiskies, and whole casks of single malt from across the decades and from a range of distinguished distilleries.

Highlights of the August auction include a 26 year old cask of whisky distilled at Bowmore distillery in 1996 (pre-auction estimate £158,000-200,000 / HK$1,500,000-1,900,000), a cask of 19 year old whisky distilled at Bruichladdich distillery in 2002 (pre-auction estimate £40,000-48,000 / HK$380,000-460,000), a pair of bottles from Ichiro's Malt Card series bottlings - ‘The Joker’ in Monochrome and Colour (pre-auction estimate £53,000-74,000 / HK$500,000-700,000), a bottle of Karuizawa 1969 #8183 (pre-auction estimate £47,000-63,000 / HK$450,000–600,000) and a bottle of Macallan 1951 (pre-auction estimate £25,000-30,000 / HK$240,000-280,000).

Among Daniel’s previous achievements are several record-breaking sales: two bottles of 60 year old Macallan, with labels designed by artists Peter Blake and Valerio Adami, which sold for twice their estimates in 2018; the 2020 sale of a full set of Hanyu Ichiro’s ‘Playing Card’ series from Club Qing for £1.25m/HK$11.89m/US$1.52m; and the record-breaking sale of a bottle of Yamazaki 55 year old for £0.65m/HK$6.2m/US$0.80m, also in 2020.

Daniel has also made waves in the world of whisky cask auctions, most notably in 2021, when he sold a cask of Macallan 1991 single malt for £0.47m/HK$4.46m/US$0.57m, breaking the world record for most expensive cask sold at auction. “I am thrilled to be partnered with Spink and Cask 88, both well respected establishments, looking forward to nourishing our business into a next level,” said Daniel Lam, Cask 88 Director of Asia and Spink Global Head of Whisky & Wine.

Having launched the first online auction platform dedicated to whole casks of Scottish whisky in 2019, Cask 88 is proud to be working in association with Spink to bring their online whisky cask auctions to a wider audience, and offer new and improved services to vendors and buyers alike. Spink has equally been a pioneer in the world of whisky auctions, having sold the first cask ever at auction almost a decade ago, establishing the first world record for a whisky cask sold at auction, a record they broke later that year with another cask of Macallan, and again in subsequent years. The first cask auction from Spink in association with Cask 88 took flight ahead of Christmas 2021, titled ‘Going the Whole Hogshead’, and a Jubilee-themed cask auction followed in June 2022.

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