How much would you pay for the world’s ‘most sought-after’ Scotch?

A bottle of what Sotheby’s is calling “the most sought-after Scotch whisky” is set to go up for auction next month, with an estimated price of up to £1.2 million (€1.3 million).

The auction hourse said the 96-year-old bottle of single malt from distiller Macallan – The Macallan Adami 1926 – will come under the hammer in London on 18 November.

The bottle is estimated to sell for between £750,000 (€858,000) and £1.2m (€1.3 million). If it reaches this level, it would make the bottle one of the most expensive ever sold – as well as mean that a single 25ml shot would be worth up to £40,000 (approx. €45,000).

Advance bidding will begin 1 November.

A version of The Macallan 1926 was sold by Sotheby’s in 2019 for £1.5 million (€1.7 million), a record for any bottle of wine or spirit. The appearance of three different bottle variations of the whisky at auctions in 2018 and 2019 led to the record being broken three times.

“The Macallan 1926 is the one whisky that every auctioneer wants to sell and every collector wants to own,” said Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s global head of spirits. “I am extremely excited to bring a bottle to a Sotheby’s auction for the first time since we set the record for this vintage four years ago.”

After being aged in sherry casks over six decades, just 40 bottles of The Macallan 1926 were bottled, making them the distillery’s oldest vintage.

The bottle going up for sale is the first to have undergone reconditioning by the distillery ahead of auction. This included replacing the cork and applying new glue to the corners of the bottle labels.

Additional sources • AP