New world record for whisky
A Macallan bottle sells for $1.9 million, setting a new world record for whisky… Again. Over the previous few years, the record for the most expensive whiskey bottle ever purchased has been constantly broken. In recent years, a Macallan bottle has held the record. Until yesterday, the world record for a bottle of 60-year-old Macallan distilled in 1926 was $1.2 million.
That astronomically costly record has now been broken…by another Macallan bottle from the same barrel. The original bottle had a hand-painted artwork by Irish artist Michael Dillon, whereas this one is part of The Macallan Fine and Rare, an official collection. The whiskey was originally projected to sell for $550,000 at a Sotheby’s auction, but it sold for $1.9 million instead. High-end connoisseurs refer to bottles from this barrel as “The Holy Grail.”
The auction, which included the bottle, had already made waves when it was announced a month ago. A private American citizen, dubbed ‘The Ultimate Whiskey Collector,’ had decided to sell his collection of whisky bottles, which was one of the world’s most spectacular. There were 394 lots in all, with 467 bottles and nine barrels. The total value of the property was assessed to be around $4.9 million, with a high estimate of $5.9 million.
The collection sold for about $10 million in total, making it the most expensive whiskey collection ever sold at auction.
In the official Sotheby’s press release announcing the auction results, Sotheby’s Spirits Specialist Jonny Fowle recounted the moment the Macallan bottle was sold: “The energy in the auction room was apparent.” When the hammer dropped on the Macallan Fine and Rare 1926, there were cheers, in [what] had to be one of the most exhilarating moments in whiskey history.”