The Most Valuable Whiskey Collection in the World Will Soon Be Available at Auction

Philip Ellis

September 20, 2019 5:01 PM

A collection of rare Scotch whiskey is set to be sold at Sotheby's next month; dubbed The Ultimate Whiskey Collection, it is the most valuable selection of its kind to ever be made available at auction, and is expected to bring in at least 4 million GBP that's around $5 million USD.

World's Most Valuable Whiskey Is Going Up for Sale

The entire collection was specially selected by an expert curator. "During his pursuit, the collector met and developed a relationship with U.S. based whisky specialist Jonathan Read who has played an important role in developing this collection," reads the official description. "Together, they sought to identify and complete important verticals as well as delve into the vast world of Scotch whiskies bottled decades ago."

The collection consists of 109 lots of whiskey (or whisky, if you want to get accurate), half of which are made by some exceedingly rare varieties of Macallan with a combined value of 2.2 million ($2.75 million). These include the Macallan 1926, which derives from Cask #263, which only yielded 40 bottles and is known as the "holy grail" by whisky aficionados . In other words, you probably won't want to mix this with coke.

Also included in the auction is a 46-strong collection of miniature "rare and fine" Macallan bottles, presented in a wall-mounted cabinet, with a starting price of 55,000 ($69,000), and a 100-year-old bottle of Springbank with an estimated worth of 140,000 ($175,000).

If you feel like racking up the bar tab of a lifetime, online bidding on the Ultimate Whisky Collection will commence on September 24, and the live auction will take place at Sotheby's in London on October 24 at 10 a.m. BST.

Philip Ellis