The OurWhisky Foundation is delighted to introduce the Demeter Collection, the world’s first auction of whiskies celebrating female achievement.
Named after the Greek goddess of grain, the Demeter Collection will highlight rare and unique whiskies crafted and inspired by some of the industry’s most talented women, maintaining a particular focus on the compelling stories of those involved in their creation.
The inaugural auction will be hosted in partnership with Whisky Auctioneer on 29 March- 8 April 2024, coinciding with Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, as well as the OurWhisky Foundation’s second anniversary. The carefully curated collection will be held every two years with all proceeds donated to the OurWhisky Foundation.
About Demeter
Demeter (Duh-mee-tuh) is the Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over crops, grains and the fertility of the earth. Known as the ‘good goddess’, she gifted humankind with the knowledge to grow and harvest their own crops. Such was her deep connection to the planet that she is often likened to Gaia, while some claim her name translates to ‘Mother Earth’.
According to legend, her daughter Persephone was abducted and held hostage in the underworld by Demeter’s brother, Hades. Racked with grief, Demeter plunged the world into a deep famine as she searched far and wide for her lost daughter. Ultimately Hades allowed Persephone to return to the surface for just eight months a year. It was only during this time that Demeter allowed crops to grow once more, thereby creating the seasons, a continuous evolution of time that symbolises the eternal cycle of life and passing of knowledge from generation to generation.
Women and Whisky
Despite her important role within Greek mythology, Demeter remains one of the lesser-known of the Olympians, her story largely untold in popular culture. Yet her heroic tale of overcoming obstacles to support her daughter, all while sharing her knowledge and wisdom with others, embodies many similar values as the OurWhisky Foundation.
Just like Demeter’s sidelining in pop culture, women’s contributions to whisky have been vastly under-recognised. Through the Demeter Collection we want to honour the grain goddess and tell the untold stories of women in whisky, while raising much-needed funds to enable the OurWhisky Foundation to support, recognise and empower future generations of women in the industry.
The Lots
The inaugural Demeter Collection features 18 lots of rare whiskies, many of which are one-of-a-kind, every one designed to tell the compelling stories of the women behind the liquid. 100% of the proceeds from the auction, including Whisky Auctioneer’s buyers’ fee, will be donated to the OurWhisky Foundation.
Full details about each lot will be revealed in the coming days. Register your interest at whiskyauctioneer.com to receive further updates.
The 18 lots featuring in the inaugural Demeter Collection:
Aberfeldy 40 Year Old is the Highland distillery's oldest whisky released to-date. Originally released as three single casks, this exceptional and rare single malt has been filled from Cask #5030, and specially signed by master blender Stephanie Macleod for the Demeter Collection.
To celebrate her 20 years in the industry, Ardbeg master blender Gillian Macdonald has created a singular 20-year-old expression in homage to Uigedail, the whisky that started her smoky journey. “The inspiration was to travel back in time to my first encounter, in my first year in the industry, of the whisky I now work on,” she says.
Atonia, meaning 'strong as an oak', is made to signify the strength, resilience, endurance, wisdom and growth of the mentees participating in the OurWhisky Foundation's mentorship programme. This inaugural expression has been blended by Sarah Burgess, whisky maker at The Lakes, and is presented in a Glencairn Crystal decanter and case.
For the Demeter Collection, six of the Borders’ distillers – Cailtin, Catherine, Cerys, Kirsty, Paige and Robyn, have signed and filled a single quarter cask on International Women's Day, 8th March 2024, with the distillery’s award winning new make spirit. This will be the first quarter cask offered by Borders for private ownership.
This limited edition whisky was bottled exclusively for the founding members of Cooper King Distillery, who helped turn co-founder and head distiller Abbie Jaume’s daring dream into reality. It was the first whisky to be bottled at the distillery, from the first-filled cask. This single bottle is the only one to be made available to the public.
This no-age-statement English single malt whisky is a marriage of the first casks filled by each female distiller to have worked at the Cotswolds Distillery. Created by distillery manager Alice Pearson, the whisky has been blended and bottled to highlight the importance of women becoming a bigger part of whisky history.
Margaret Nicol has worked alongside the Dalmore’s Richard Paterson for more than four decades, assisting on every whisky passing through Whyte & Mackay’s blending lab in that time. To mark her 50 years in the industry, she has created a unique 44-year-old Dalmore through a marriage of three 1979 Port, red wine and Sherry casks.
A 30-year-old single cask expression hand-selected and signed by The GlenDronach’s master blender Rachel Barrie. Originally available from the distillery as a hand-fill, whisky from cask #2463 is sadly no longer available. Being Rachel’s favourite vintage, a singular bottle was squirrelled away and now forms part of the Demeter collection.
This one of one blend celebrates the work of three women at the heart of the House of Hazelwood story – Janet Sheed Roberts, Eilidh Muir and Kirsten Grant-Meikle. For this unique 31-year-old, blender Eilidh has incorporated whisky originally used to create the Hazelwood Centennial blend released in honour of Roberts’ 100th birthday in 2001.
The Bessie Williamson Story is a limited-edition, 25-year-old whisky from Laphroaig distillery, which celebrates the life of the distillery’s first female manager. Originally launched as a global travel retail exclusive in 2019, this edition is presented in a beautifully crafted book and is now highly coveted by collectors.
Sonata is a harmonious trio of 30-year-old single cask single malts personally selected by Loch Lomond Group whisky blender, Ashley Smith, exclusively for the Demeter Collection. Sonata is in essence a study of peat with each bottle representing a snapshot of the style of whisky produced on Loch Lomond’s straight neck stills.
Arbikie farm distillery is offering a rare opportunity to experience life at the distillery through a two-night stay at their on-site OOD pods, an in-depth tasting with distillery manager Kirsty Black and a personalised engraved bottle of Arbikie rye whisky.
Nc’nean’s Aon series of single cask bottlings are highly coveted, but Aon 17-302 is particularly special. Hand-selected by founder Annabel Thomas, this is the first release of an ‘Aon’ bottling from a 500-litre Sherry butt, filled in the distillery’s first few months, and will be the only bottle from this special cask ever released.
This limited edition single malt is part of a global collection of five whiskies selected by an all-female tasting panel and exclusively released to SMWS members on International Women's day 2024. This Speyside single malt was matured in a Bourbon hogshead for 15 years before being transferred to a first-fill American oak oloroso hogshead.
Unique one off bottle of Strathearn Highland Single Malt created by head distiller Angela Brown and managing director, Cara Laing who tasted and selected from casks matured in a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks to deliver a mighty malt from one of Scotland’s smallest distilleries.
This special one-off 57-year-old blended malt has been created by The Cairn distillery manager, Mhairi Winters, and Gordon & MacPhail spirit quality manager, Lizzie Haw. The whisky, a combination of three classic Speyside malts matured in first- and refill Sherry casks, encapsulates the Cairn distillery’s adventurous spirit.
Love, Sweat & Tears is the first bottle from the first cask to be filled at Derbyshire’s White Peak distillery in May 2018, selected by co-founder Claire Vaughan exclusively for the Demeter Collection. This lightly-peated single malt whisky has been created using unpeated and peated barley, and rested for five years in an ex-Bourbon cask.
SUPPORT US
It’s only thanks to our generous supporters and partners that we can operate the OurWhisky Foundation.
As a non-profit organisation, we rely entirely on donations and support from the industry to deliver on all our initiatives.