A new world record for the most expensive bottle of whisky has been established after a Macallan 1926 sold for over £2.1 million ($2.72 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in London on November 18.
A bottle of Macallan 1926 at the auction. (Photo: SOTHEBY’S).
Sotheby’s confirmed to AFP that the record for the most expensive bottle of whisky in the world was broken at their latest auction.
Prior to the auction, the rare Macallan 1926 was expected to sell for between £750,000 and £1.2 million. However, the actual sale price reached £2,187,500.
One of the Macallan 1926 bottles previously set the world record for the most expensive whisky in 2019, when it was sold for £1.5 million at another Sotheby’s auction.
Jonny Fowle, head of whisky auctions at Sotheby’s, mentioned that he had the opportunity to taste a small drop from the rare bottle.
“The flavor is incredibly rich, full of dried fruit notes as expected, spicy, with a strong woody aroma,” described Mr. Fowle.
He added that the whisky had spent 60 years in European oak barrels. To date, only 40 bottles of Macallan 1926 were bottled in 1986 after being aged for 60 years, and only 12 of these bottles, including the one that set the new record, feature labels designed by Italian artist Valerio Adami.
These bottles were not sold but were reserved exclusively for Macallan’s esteemed guests.
Recently, a new price record has been established every time a Macallan 1926 appears at auction.
From 2018 to 2019, the record was broken three times with the appearance of three different Macallan 1926 bottles, namely Sir Peter Blake, Michael Dillon, and Fine and Rare.
