Mark Megahan
It takes the concept of “unicorn” whisky to a whole new level. This elusive top-shelf offering has already been sold. When the auction gavel banged down at Sotheby’s in London, the winning bid was a record $2,724,967. The number’s a little rounder in pounds, £2,187,500. That’s not for a “lot,” or even a case. That was the price on a single bottle of Macallan 1926.
Most sought-after Scotch whisky
For the unicorn hunter out to stock the absolute top-shelf whisky, Macallan 1926 is the leader of the whole unicorn herd. It’s considered the world’s “most sought-after” Scotch.
While it dripped out of the still in 1926, it sat around in sherry casks for 60 years, until 1986. When they finally put it bottles, there were a total of 40. Not a single one was “made available for purchase.”
Because it’s been stashed away so long, it’s become “the oldest Macallan vintage ever produced.” When the auction was held on November 18, the price set a “new record for any bottle of spirit or wine sold at auction.”
Before they held the sale, Sotheby’s head of whisky Jonny Fowle was treated to a sample. With that kind of price tag one would expect something far out of the ordinary. He wasn’t disappointed.
“I tasted a tiny drop – a tiny drop – of this. It’s very rich, it’s got a lot of dried fruit as you would expect, a lot of spice, a lot of wood.” Even sampling it with an eyedropper was astounding, Fowle declares, calling it an “incredible” whisky that “should not be taken lightly.”
While none of the original 40 bottles were sold, some were given away to “the Macallan’s top clients, a luxury that adds to its appeal.” Twelve of them.
Variety of labels
Sotheby’s has had the privilege of brokering the sale of Macallan 1926 on prior occasions. In 2019, they sold a bottle also “adorned with one of 14 Fine and Rare labels.” That sold for $1.9 million and took the record then. The label on the bottle of whisky which sold Saturday was only stuck on 12 of the bottles. It was “designed by Italian painter Valerio Adami.”
Another 12 of the bottles “were labeled by pop artist Sir Peter Blake.” Two were released unlabeled but one of them didn’t stay that way.
“One was hand painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon, and became the first bottle of whisky to surpass £1 million ($1.2 million) when it sold in 2018 for £1.2 million ($1.5 million), the auction house said on its website.”
There was another bottle with the Valerio Adami label but nobody got a chance to taste the nectar of the gods it contained because it was “destroyed during the 2011 Japanese earthquake.”
It will be interesting to see if any other of the bottles of this rare whisky manage to make it to market. If so, expect another record setting auction.
