Bottle of Scotch whiskey valued at more than a million

The oldest auction house has put up the most coveted lot in the spirits world

The famous auction house Sotheby’s presented a lot for whiskey connoisseurs and collectors. A 97-year-old Macallan bottle is set to go on sale in London in November, according to The Guardian. The new item, which will be auctioned on November 18, is expected to cause a particular stir. It is estimated that this bottle will cost between 750 thousand and 1.2 million pounds sterling, which is equivalent to almost 141 million rubles.

Adami 1926 is the oldest of the Macallan vintages. It was bottled after sixty years of aging in the legendary sherry cask number 263. The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 was presented in a specially commissioned Tantalus cabinet, based on the traditional Brass and Glass spirit safe.

The unique selling point of this particular bottle of the coveted single malt is that it is the first to be restored at the Macallan distillery and will set the template for all other 1926 bottles that may be tested in the future.

“Now, as a certified authentic 1926 Macallan and in condition approved by Master Distiller Kirsten Campbell, this bottle must surely be the most coveted bottle of whiskey ever to come to market,” said Sotheby’s Head of Spirits Johnny Fowle.

The Austrian manufacturer used a sample of the old capsule as the corresponding material to recreate an identical replacement. The process also included applying new glue to the corners of the bottle label. 1ml samples of the liquid were also taken for comparison with another 1926 bottle at Edrington’s Glasgow offices.

“The Macallan 1926 is the whiskey that every auctioneer wants to sell and every collector wants to own. I am very pleased to present the bottle at Sotheby’s for the first time since we set a record for this vintage four years ago. Working with our friends at the Macallan Distillery to restore and clinically analyze this bottle and liquid has elevated it to unprecedented status,” said Fowle.

It is worth noting that Macallan sets attract attention at auctions every time. Between 2018 and 2019, the record was broken three times by three different variations: Sir Peter Blake, Michael Dillon and Fine and Rare. The last time it was almost one and a half million pounds.

According to the Daily Mail, only 40 bottles of this whiskey were produced in 1986. But only 14 bottles featured the distillery’s iconic Fine and Rare labels, and two bottles were released without labels at all, one of which was hand-painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon. Sold in 2018, it became the first bottle of whiskey to sell for more than £1 million.

Originally bottled as corporate gifts to the distillery’s most valued clients, the whiskey has since become recognized as “the rarest and most valuable whiskey in the world.”

The Speyside distillery commissioned world-renowned Italian pop artist Adami to design the label for 12 bottles, while fellow artist Peter Blake designed another label for a further dozen. The remaining bottles were equally shared by pop artist Sir Peter Blake and Italian artist Valerio Adami.

It is unknown how many bottles still exist. One was reported to have crashed during the 2011 Japan earthquake, and at least one was reportedly opened and destroyed. The remaining bottle without a label went missing.