A lot of money for an old drink: An ancient whiskey was sold at an auction in London for almost 2.5 million euros. Details about the taste were also known. “He has a lot of dried fruits,” said an expert.
An almost 100-year-old Scottish whiskey has achieved a world record price at an auction in London: The bottle of “The Macallan 1926 Adami” fetched more than 2.1 million pounds, as the auction house Sotheby’s announced. The whiskey from the Macallan distillery from the Speyside region cost exactly 2,187,500 pounds (the equivalent of almost 2.5 million euros) – the estimated price was just 750,000 to 1.2 million pounds.
The auction sum significantly exceeded the record from autumn 2019. At that time, a 0.75 liter bottle of “The Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare” was auctioned for almost 1.5 million pounds. The current sale set a “new record for any bottle of spirits or wine sold at auction,” Sotheby’s said.
A one milliliter sample
The record whiskeys come from a legendary stock: in 1986, a total of 40 bottles were filled from one barrel. Of these, 14 bear the “Fine and Rare” label and twelve others bear a label designed by the Italian painter Valerio Adami in 1993.
The bottle now on offer is also the first to be prepared by the Macallan distillery, explained Sotheby’s. Both the capsule and the cork were replaced. New glue had also been applied to the corners of the label. Finally, a one milliliter sample was taken to compare the whiskey with another bottle from 1926.
Jonny Fowle, whiskey boss at Sotheby’s, said before the auction that he was allowed to taste “a tiny drop”. “It’s very rich, it’s got a lot of dried fruits as you would expect, a lot of spices, a lot of wood,” Fowle said. The whiskey has matured for 60 years in dark European oak, which is reflected in its color.