Most of us don’t mind paying a little extra for something special when it comes to our favourite whisky tipple but could you imagine shelling out more than a million pounds for a nice bottle?
No. Neither could we. But somebody did. In fact, over recent years there have been a number of mouth-watering whiskies that have sold for eye-watering prices.
It might seem something verging on lunacy to spend more than a million pounds on a drink but these particular drinks are very, very special and very, very exclusive.
The PR opportunities which present themselves for the distilleries selling these pricey drops are too good to miss and the cynical amongst us would suggest that this is the main driver behind such an exercise.
There’s also a bit of ‘we can, so we will’ when it comes to producing a whisky that is so exclusive, only the super rich can hope to enjoy it. In fact, some of the most expensive whiskies ever produced are the subjects of fierce auction bidding wars amongst the super rich. Oh, how the other half lives.
So what is it about these particular whiskies that make them so crazily expensive?
Well, before we even think about the contents, we have to remember that a special whisky needs a special bottle.
Taking that to the extreme is the luxurious Isabella’s Islay – a fine crystal decanter adorned with some 8,500 diamonds, 300 rubies and a generous portion of white gold.
The Luxury Beverage Company says the whisky inside is classed as Very Old Single Malt Whisky and is a “true declaration of the finest Scotch whisky has to offer”.
At just under £4 million, it’s officially the world’s most expensive whisky but, of course, that outrageous bottle has a lot to do with it. What about the most expensive whisky based purely on the drink?
When it comes to price-per-dram cost, you cannot look past Macallan. In fact, in the top 10 most expensive whiskies (omitting the fancy bottle entries), no fewer than five of them come from the legendary distiller.
Macallan excelled itself earlier this year when its “M” whisky sold at a Hong Kong auction for $628,205 (£401,474). Okay, so it was still presented in a luxury decanter which took 17 craftsmen some 50 hours to complete, but the contents was the star of the show, undoubtedly.
Macallan is said to have spent two years agonising over around 200,000 casks for this whisky of wonder. Some of those casks were up to 75-years-old.
Only once this process was completed could the secretive blending process begin. The winning bidder bought a whisky of incredibly complexity. Did he share it out with reckless abandon at his next party? Probably not.
Macallan loves to produce these mega-expensive whiskies because they can and because whisky connoisseurs get all hot and bothered when another limited edition scotch for the super-rich goes to auction. We love it too because, quite simply, we love all things whisky.
One of the most engaging stories behind a super-whisky is the one behind the creation of Glenfiddich’s Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve 1955.
At a top auction price of $95,000 (£60,728) it might fall well behind some of the other entries but its reason for being is touching.
Glenfiddich had a barrel that had been aging since New Year’s Eve of 1955.
When Janet Sheed Roberts, the granddaughter of Glenfiddich’s founder William Grant, passed away aged 110, the company honoured her by making 15 bottles from the barrel.
The family kept four for themselves and the rest were auctioned off. A whisky connoisseur from Atlanta, USA, bought one of them for $94,000.
Which other super expensive whiskies would you add to this blog? Have you ever tried one of them? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
