A decanter of the world’s oldest single malt whisky – distilled in Scotland during World War II – fetched a record price of nearly half a million pounds at auction yesterday.
The Macallan “The Reach” 81-year-old comes from a single sherry seasoned oak cask laid down in 1940, making it the world’s oldest aged Scotch. Released by the Speyside distillery in February last year in a limited edition of only 288 decanters, each was cradled on a bronze sculpture of three hands.
One of the rare decanters went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong yesterday, where it was sold to an anonymous online bidder for £488,500. The whisky, which had belonged to a private collector in Asia, more than doubled the £200,000 upper estimate after a five-minute bidding war between collectors online and on the phone.
It smashed the previous record of £300,000 for a bottle of the world’s oldest aged whisky sold at auction, set at Sotheby’s in London in October last year.
Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s head of whisky and spirits, said the bottle was “highly desirable for collectors”, adding: “It is always an honour to be able to offer the world’s oldest whisky at auction.”
The Reach is the oldest aged whisky ever released by The Macallan, superseding its 78-year-old expression released in 2020 as part of the limited edition “Red Collection”.
Fowle said: “Once bidding in the saleroom opened, determined collectors drove the final sale price ever higher – proving that age, rarity and provenance are key.”
The 41.6 per cent ABV whisky is described as deep auburn in colour with notes including dark chocolate, sweet cinnamon and aromatic peat on the nose, treacle toffee, bramble jam, liquorice and woodsmoke on the palate, and an “intensely rich, sweet and smoky” finish.
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