Our Most Exciting Spirits Auction Ever: Ardbeg The Abyss With a $1 Reserve

Imagine strapping yourself into a Victorian diving suit, lowering into the inky Atlantic, and finding—rather than shipwrecks and squid—an old Ardbeg cask still breathing with smoke and sea. That’s the feel of Ardbeg: The Abyss, a 34-year-old Islay single malt Scotch surfaces today, October 1st at K&L’s Spirits Auction… with a $1 reserve. Yes, one dollar. Try not to hyperventilate through your regulator.

Only 400 bottles of The Abyss exist worldwide, with an average retail price of $27,500. That kind of scarcity for a liquid with this provenance and personality brings The Abyss close to mythic status. Read more here from K&L's Scotch expert on what makes this 34-year-old, 1989 vintage distillation one of the most compelling single malts ever bottled. The lot includes a collectible package with a wooden outer crate, custom Tradd Moore comic book, diving chamber, and of course—the bottle itself.

K&L’s auctions run on a simple principle: you bid, you watch, you sweat—maybe you win. The spirits auctions begin on the 1st or 15th of each month, with start times for different items staggered throughout the day. But today isn’t just any auction—the Abyss goes live with a $1 reserve. No lofty entry price, no gatekeeping, just a bottle that could hammer at… who knows? Watching the frenzy will be half the fun.

Closing October 14th at 10:20AM PT, this auction has a hard close and the highest bid placed before close will win. No extensions. Track the action here, browse our other live auction lots, and don’t overlook those with no bids—often the sharpest buys on the site.

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Ardbeg: The Abyss is one of those whiskies that lives up to the tall tales—it’s rare, it’s strange, it’s delicious, and it’s dressed like a Jules Verne fever dream, with comic-book artist Tradd Moore illustrating its origin story. With his work selling for upwards of $25,000, Moore’s custom illustration represents a treasure in its own right. Getting a shot at it with nothing more than a $1 starting bid is, frankly, absurd—in the best possible way.