A US$2.7 million bottle of whisky from the 1920s breaks record for world’s most expensive liquor
- The prohibition-era bottle of Macallan, aged for 60 years before it was bottled, sold on Saturday at London auction house Sotheby’s
- In 2018, a bottle from the same batch sold for US$1.5 million. In 2019, a bottle sold for US$1.9 million, previously the record-setter
A prohibition-era bottle of whisky aged for 60 years before it was bottled sold for US$2.7 million at auction on Saturday, auction house Sotheby’s announced.
There were only 40 bottles made of the Macallan 1926 single malt, a Scotch whisky bottled in 1986 prized by collectors that comes in a variety of custom labels.
Twelve of those bottles, including the one sold on Saturday, featured a design from an Italian painter named Valerio Adami. One of these 12 bottles was thought to have been destroyed during the 2011 Japan earthquake, making the product even more rare.
The whisky’s rarity makes it highly sought after by collectors – in 2018, a bottle from the same batch sold for US$1.5 million.
In 2019, a bottle sold for US$1.9 million, previously the record-setter.
“The Macallan 1926 is the one whisky that every auctioneer wants to sell and every collector wants to own,” Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s global head of spirits, said.