Record For World’s Priciest Bottle Of Whisky Smashed At London Auction
The rare bottle had been expected to raise between £750,000 and £1.2 million but outstripped estimates to fetch £2,187,500 (2.5 million euros, $2.7 million).
A member of staff shows a bottle of the Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old 42.8 abv 1926, the world’s most valuable whisky estimated between 750,000 – 1,200,000 £ (860,800 – 1,377,300 €), during a photocall at the auction house Sotheby’s in London, on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Mathilde BELLENGER / AFP)
The rare bottle had been expected to cost between £750,000 and £1.2 million.
The sale set a “new record for any bottle of spirit or wine sold at auction”, Sotheby’s told AFP.
One of the Macallan 1926 bottles had set a previous record for the most expensive bottle ever sold in 2019, when it fetched £1.5 million at the same London auction house.
Sotheby’s head of whisky Jonny Fowle told AFP ahead of the sale that he had been allowed to sample the prized whisky.
“I tasted a tiny drop — a tiny drop — of this. It’s very rich, it’s got a lot of dried fruit as you would expect, a lot of spice, a lot of wood,” he said.
He said it had spent 60 years in dark European oak, which was reflected in the colour.
“It’s not a whisky to take lightly. It’s a rich, rich dram, but it is incredible,” he said.
