Hooghoudt Auction a Resounding Success: Three More Auctions to Follow

Last year, news broke out of the blue that Hooghoudt would be disappearing from the Dutch landscape. In the meantime, the distillery’s maturing stock has been sold and it brought in a significant sum.

Hooghoudt Distillery was acquired by La Martiniquaise last year, after which it quickly became clear that, after 135 years, the distillery would leave the Netherlands for Belgium. The only snag: a massive inventory of maturing whisky and genever that couldn’t simply be moved along.

So a decision was made to hold an auction, putting two-thirds of all casks up for sale. We now know what that auction yielded and it’s a substantial windfall for the distillery.

Hooghoudt’s final whisky (and a bit of genever) fetched over €334,000. The most expensive cask went for more than €5,000. Exactly which cask that was hasn’t been disclosed.

What we do know is that enthusiasts can expect more auctions. A curiosities auction is in the works. While the previous sale was held by Troostwijk Auctions, this time it will be organized by Onlineveilingmeester.nl.

The upcoming auctions will liquidate Hooghoudt’s entire business inventory. There will be three auctions in total, selling the distilling equipment, furnishings, and collection and museum pieces.

Items you can expect include a complete bottling and assembly line, various vintage photographs, stills, and other memorabilia. The video below gives a sense of what’s coming:

All three Hooghoudt auctions start on 13 February. Bidding runs until 26 February 14:00. There will also be a viewing day on 19 February where a visit to the distillery is possible. If the auctions are available internationally is not known. Also it is unknown if the bought items will be available for shipping. You can find more information about the upcoming auctions on the Auction website.