Unique 'William Shakespeare' whisky and artwork to go under the hammer
Friday 3rd October 2025
A new collaboration between Quentin Blake, whisky bottler Elixir Distillers, and creative studio Livingstone Rare has produced ‘William Shakespeare’ - a 63 year old Single Malt from Mortlach Distillery, alongside a specially commissioned original illustration signed and donated by Quentin – to appear in the Distillers’ ‘One of One’ charity auction in October.
Founded by the Worshipful Company of Distillers (the Distillers Guild), the ‘One of One’ auction is a biennial event at which distillery owners and whisky makers present unique items and auction them for the Youth Action Fund, a charity which helps disadvantaged young people in Scotland.
The principal rule of the auction is that whatever Lots are entered must be a true ‘one of one’. There can be no duplicates, items cannot have appeared before and cannot appear again.
Scheduled to go under the hammer on 10 October 2025, the 'William Shakespeare' bottle with accompanying drawing, presented in a bespoke case and portfolio, will be offered as part of the auction. The sale is being run in partnership with Sotheby’s.
‘William Shakespeare’ belongs to The Macbeth Collection, an ongoing series of whiskies inspired by Shakespeare’s tragedy, developed by Livingstone Rare. The collection pairs specific Scotch whiskies with characters from the play, portrayed as anthropomorphic birds. The special ‘William Shakespeare’ edition stands apart, both in its subject matter – Shakespeare is drawn as a human, not a bird - and its singularity: only one bottle is being produced, and the accompanying original artwork was drawn exclusively for this auction.
Alexis Burgess, director of whisky design company Livingstone Rare, writes:
We are about a third of the way through releasing the Macbeth Collection (two acts so far, out of five total) and thought it would be nice to create a release that would sit alongside it, without being part of the collection itself. Shakespeare was the obvious choice, as he wrote the play but does not appear in it.
The Distillers One of One auction takes place on Friday 10 October at Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, with an auction preview on the evening of 9 October.
To find out more and to register to bid, visit the Distillers One of One Auction website
