Whisky in numbers
Aggregate statistics computed from the full WhiskyDB snapshot: 2,294 bottlings, 3,762 distilleries and producers, and 21,156 monthly auction benchmarks reaching back to 2005, every record traced to an open public source. Refreshed monthly. Every figure is free to cite, quote and embed with a link to this page.
- Bottlings2,294
- Distilleries & producers3,762
- Producer countries106
- Auction benchmarks21,156
- Auction history2005 to 2024
- Snapshot2026-09-02
The whisky auction price index
Across the 29 distilleries with an unbroken auction record since 2006, the mean winning bid rose from £53 in 2006 to a peak of £263 in 2022, a 5.0x increase. It has since eased 21.2% to £208 in 2024 (Jan to Sep), still 3.92x its 2006 level. The single strongest month was 2022-05 at £370.
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#auction-index"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/auction-index.svg" alt="Whisky auction price index, 2006 to 2024" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Year | Mean winning bid (GBP) | Distilleries |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | £53 | 29 |
| 2007 | £58 | 29 |
| 2008 | £80 | 29 |
| 2009 | £107 | 29 |
| 2010 | £98 | 29 |
| 2011 | £108 | 29 |
| 2012 | £109 | 29 |
| 2013 | £117 | 29 |
| 2014 | £141 | 29 |
| 2015 | £148 | 29 |
| 2016 | £165 | 29 |
| 2017 | £192 | 29 |
| 2018 | £231 | 29 |
| 2019 | £214 | 29 |
| 2020 | £215 | 29 |
| 2021 | £242 | 29 |
| 2022 | £263 | 29 |
| 2023 | £232 | 29 |
| 2024 (Jan to Sep) | £208 | 29 |
Source: WhiskyHunter open auction statistics, one distillery-level index value per month (mean winning bid at UK online whisky auctions, GBP), 2005-11-01 to 2024-09-01. Each year is the mean of the distilleries' yearly means, every distillery weighted equally. Only the 29 distilleries with data in both 2006 and 2024 are included, so the index compares like with like; 2005 is dropped as a partial year and 2024 covers 9 months. This is a market-level index, never a bottle-specific price. Distilleries: Aberlour, Ardbeg, Balvenie, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Bushmills, Caol Ila, Cardhu, Cragganmore, Glen Grant, Glen Moray, Glendronach, Glendullan, Glenfarclas, Glenfiddich, Glenkinchie, Glenmorangie, Highland Park, Jack Daniel's, Knockando, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Oban, Scapa, Talisker, Tamdhu, Woodford Reserve, Yamazaki.
Which distilleries command the highest prices
Yamazaki tops the 2024 index at £699 per lot, ahead of Glenfarclas (£416) and Bowmore (£388). Over the last ten years Woodford Reserve gained the most, +264.8% from £37 to £134, while Oban moved -3.6%.
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#distillery-index"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/distillery-index.svg" alt="Distilleries with the highest auction index, 2024" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>Embed this chart
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#distillery-gain"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/distillery-gain.svg" alt="Ten-year change in auction index, 2014 to 2024" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Distillery | 2006 (GBP) | 2014 (GBP) | 2024 (GBP) | Change 2014 to 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamazaki | £36 | £371 | £699 | +88.5% |
| Glenfarclas | £75 | £175 | £416 | +137.3% |
| Bowmore | £69 | £234 | £388 | +65.9% |
| Glen Grant | £43 | £165 | £353 | +113.9% |
| Glendronach | £52 | £137 | £310 | +126.5% |
| Balvenie | £57 | £228 | £285 | +25.2% |
| Ardbeg | £138 | £244 | £270 | +10.3% |
| Laphroaig | £89 | £200 | £258 | +29.0% |
| Talisker | £90 | £194 | £230 | +19.1% |
| Highland Park | £72 | £196 | £224 | +14.0% |
| Lagavulin | £67 | £214 | £223 | +4.5% |
| Caol Ila | £48 | £135 | £193 | +42.9% |
| Glenfiddich | £40 | £155 | £187 | +20.6% |
| Bruichladdich | £55 | £120 | £181 | +50.8% |
| Bunnahabhain | £68 | £151 | £155 | +2.5% |
| Scapa | £39 | £71 | £151 | +111.6% |
| Tamdhu | £36 | £87 | £145 | +66.6% |
| Oban | £80 | £147 | £142 | -3.6% |
| Glendullan | £45 | £124 | £139 | +12.6% |
| Woodford Reserve | £11 | £37 | £134 | +264.8% |
| Glenmorangie | £76 | £125 | £122 | -2.1% |
| Bushmills | £27 | £57 | £120 | +111.0% |
| Cragganmore | £31 | £76 | £119 | +56.2% |
| Glen Moray | £32 | £87 | £110 | +26.5% |
| Jack Daniel's | £16 | £74 | £104 | +41.0% |
| Knockando | £24 | £80 | £98 | +22.8% |
| Aberlour | £56 | £77 | £91 | +18.2% |
| Cardhu | £38 | £72 | £87 | +20.3% |
| Glenkinchie | £24 | £63 | £82 | +31.0% |
Same source and method as the index above: yearly mean of the distillery's monthly index values. 2024 covers 9 months. Percentage change compares 2024 with 2014.
What is in the catalogue
33.5% of the 2,294 bottlings are Bourbon and 18.6% are Scotch of some kind (single malt or blended); 36.5% carry only the generic class Whisky on their label filing.
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#spirit-types"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/spirit-types.svg" alt="What is in the catalogue" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Spirit type | Bottlings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Whisky | 838 | 36.5% |
| Bourbon | 768 | 33.5% |
| Single Malt Scotch | 301 | 13.1% |
| Rye Whiskey | 158 | 6.9% |
| Scotch Whisky | 127 | 5.5% |
| Irish Whiskey | 57 | 2.5% |
| Japanese Whisky | 17 | 0.7% |
| Canadian Whisky | 16 | 0.7% |
| Single Malt Whisky | 11 | 0.5% |
| Single Malt Japanese | 1 | 0.0% |
Type is the class stated on the label filing or product record, normalized. The catalogue is built from US federal label approvals (TTB COLA), Open Food Facts and curated producer data, so it over-represents spirits sold in the United States.
How strong the bottlings are
Where the source publishes a real ABV, the median bottling is 50.0% and 50.3% are bottled at 50% or above, cask-strength territory. The strongest on record is 70.0%. By type, Single Malt Scotch averages the highest at 51.4%.
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#abv"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/abv.svg" alt="Bottling strength (ABV)" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Spirit type | Bottlings with sourced ABV | Mean ABV | Highest ABV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single Malt Scotch | 103 | 51.4% | 63.1% |
| Rye Whiskey | 46 | 51.2% | 70.0% |
| Bourbon | 194 | 50.3% | 70.0% |
| Irish Whiskey | 10 | 46.8% | 57.7% |
| Whisky | 166 | 46.7% | 67.0% |
| Scotch Whisky | 14 | 45.9% | 56.2% |
Only the 545 of 2,294 bottlings whose ABV is explicitly published by the source (mostly US label details) are counted. The rest carry the documented 40% legal-minimum default and are excluded here, so these figures skew towards labels that state a non-standard strength. Types with fewer than 10 sourced ABVs are omitted from the table.
Where the distilleries and producers are
USA accounts for 34.0% of producers with a stated country, Scotland for 17.3% and England & Wales for 14.7%; 106 countries appear in total.
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#producers-by-country"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/producers-by-country.svg" alt="Where the distilleries and producers are" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Country | Producers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| USA | 1,147 | 34.0% |
| Scotland | 585 | 17.3% |
| England & Wales | 497 | 14.7% |
| Germany | 173 | 5.1% |
| France | 130 | 3.8% |
| Switzerland | 74 | 2.2% |
| United Kingdom | 67 | 2.0% |
| Canada | 64 | 1.9% |
| Italy | 55 | 1.6% |
| Ireland | 45 | 1.3% |
| Australia | 43 | 1.3% |
| Northern Ireland | 39 | 1.2% |
| India | 38 | 1.1% |
| Spain | 35 | 1.0% |
| Russia | 25 | 0.7% |
| Hungary | 21 | 0.6% |
| Japan | 21 | 0.6% |
| Norway | 21 | 0.6% |
| Greece | 19 | 0.6% |
| Austria | 15 | 0.4% |
| Bulgaria | 14 | 0.4% |
| Portugal | 14 | 0.4% |
| Romania | 14 | 0.4% |
| Czech Republic | 12 | 0.4% |
| Belgium | 11 | 0.3% |
| Poland | 11 | 0.3% |
| China | 8 | 0.2% |
| England | 8 | 0.2% |
| Lithuania | 8 | 0.2% |
| Slovakia | 8 | 0.2% |
Producers are distilleries, brands and bottling companies from label registries, corporate registries, Wikidata and open product databases; 385 brand-level records with no stated country are excluded. England & Wales and Scotland follow UK Companies House jurisdictions.
The craft distilling boom
84.6% of producers with a known founding year were founded in 2010 or later, 657 companies in under two decades, against 11 founded before 1900.
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#founded"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/founded.svg" alt="When whisky companies were founded" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Decade | Producers founded | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 1 | 0.1% |
| 1910s | 6 | 0.8% |
| 1920s | 4 | 0.5% |
| 1930s | 13 | 1.7% |
| 1940s | 3 | 0.4% |
| 1950s | 16 | 2.1% |
| 1960s | 19 | 2.4% |
| 1970s | 14 | 1.8% |
| 1980s | 7 | 0.9% |
| 1990s | 6 | 0.8% |
| 2000s | 20 | 2.6% |
| 2010s | 375 | 48.3% |
| 2020s | 282 | 36.3% |
Founding years come from UK Companies House Corporate Registry (OGL) (690); Wikidata SPARQL API (CC0 Public Domain) (81); WhiskyDB Curated Seed (producer-published) (6). Companies House supplies incorporation dates of UK whisky-related companies, so the recent decades reflect UK company formation and long-established distilleries without a Wikidata inception year are under-counted. Read this as a UK registration signal, not a global census.
Survival of UK whisky companies
42.5% of whisky-related companies registered in England & Wales have been dissolved, against 29.2% in Scotland.
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<a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/#uk-status"><img src="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/charts/uk-status.svg" alt="UK whisky companies dissolved, by jurisdiction" width="720" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>
<p><small>Source: <a href="https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/">WhiskyDB whisky statistics</a> (CC BY 4.0)</small></p>| Jurisdiction | Registrations | Active | Dissolved | Dissolved share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | 497 | 286 | 211 | 42.5% |
| Scotland | 154 | 109 | 45 | 29.2% |
| Northern Ireland | 39 | 27 | 12 | 30.8% |
Company status as recorded by UK Companies House (Open Government Licence) for companies whose registered name or activity is whisky-related. Jurisdiction follows the company number prefix. Statuses other than Active and Dissolved (applied, registered) are counted in the total only.
Method, reuse and citation
- Source. The full WhiskyDB snapshot of 2026-09-02, built entirely from open sources: the US TTB COLA label registry, UK Companies House, the EU eAmbrosia GI register, Open Food Facts, Wikipedia and Wikidata, and WhiskyHunter's open auction statistics. Every row carries a provenance ledger entry; see Sources & licenses.
- Coverage is uneven by design. Open registries do not all publish every attribute. Every figure above names its denominator, so a percentage is always a share of the records that state that attribute, never of the whole catalogue. Blank fields are never guessed, and the documented 40% ABV fallback is excluded from every ABV figure.
- The auction index is a market index. Each value is a distillery-level mean winning bid for one month, never the price of a specific bottle. Yearly figures average the distilleries equally so a distillery with many linked bottlings does not dominate.
- Refresh. The catalogue is refreshed monthly; this page and its charts are regenerated after each refresh, so figures move. Cite the snapshot date.
- Reuse. The figures and charts on this page are published under CC BY 4.0: use them in articles, slides and posts with a link to https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/. The machine-readable version is data.json. Figures derived from WhiskyHunter, Companies House and Wikipedia retain those sources' attribution terms. The underlying row-level dataset is a separate commercial product.
- Suggested citation. WhiskyDB (2026). Whisky in numbers, snapshot 2026-09-02. DataEngineered. https://whiskydb.dataengineered.io/stats/
- Questions or corrections: contact form or whiskydb@dataengineered.io.
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