04/09/2026
LEGACY & TIME. The bottles were revealed by Robert in last nights videos across our socials.
They truly are three extraordinary survivors from another era of Irish wh***ey.
The Jameson 5 Star was distilled in Dublin around 1900 and exported to the United States before Prohibition. Decades later, a six-bottle cache was discovered beneath the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado, where it had reportedly been hidden to avoid the dry laws. Only three bottles had survived with a good fill level. Irish Distillers later authenticated the wh***ey, confirming its genuine Jameson character. Today, this is believed to be one of only two bottles remaining in private hands.
https://irishwh***eyauctions.ie/views/product.php?id=65794918
The Merlin Irish Wh***ey tells a very different story. Produced by W. & A. Gilbey, the famous Dublin w**e and spirit merchants forever linked with Redbreast, Merlin formed part of Gilbey’s fascinating family of bird-named wh***eys. Redbreast survived. Merlin all but disappeared. Very little auction history exists, and surviving bottles are exceptionally scarce.
https://irishwh***eyauctions.ie/views/product.php?id=65795905
Then there is Yellowhammer.
Another Gilbey wh***ey, another bird-inspired name, but one so elusive that we have never handled an example before. Our research has not uncovered another surviving bottle offered through the usual auction channels. For collectors of historic Irish wh***ey, Gilbey material and the wider story behind Redbreast, this is a genuinely important survivor.
https://irishwh***eyauctions.ie/views/product.php?id=65795902
For us, bottles like these are exactly why specialist wh***ey auctions matter.
They need more than a photograph and a lot number. They need research, context, careful cataloguing and an international audience that understands what they are looking at.
And today feels like an especially fitting day to bring them to market.
4 September is the final day of the Irish Wh***ey Technical File consultation.
While the industry looks at how Irish wh***ey is defined and protected for the future, these bottles give us a rare glimpse of what came before.
Our September Spirits Auction opens TODAY at 5 PM and runs 4–13 September.
International bidding and shipping available.
You may never see bottles like these come to auction again in your lifetime.
Register now: https://iwa.life/register
Irish Wh***ey Auctions — Where Spirits Move.
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