During a fierce bidding war on Saturday at a Sotheby’s auction in London, a rare bottle of 1926 Macallan Adami single-malt whiskey went for an incredible $2.7 million, setting a record for a single bottle of wine or spirits.

 

Experts refer to this bottle of Scotch as “the most sought-after” whiskey in the world. It is one of only 40 that were produced in 1986 following a 60-year maturation period in sherry casks. Italian painter Valerio Adami created the distinctive labels for the bottle.

 

The pricey booze boasts flavours of “rich dark fruits, black cherry compote alongside sticky dates, followed by intense, sweet antique oak,” according to Kirsteen Campbell, Macallan’s master whiskey maker.

 

Driven by a back-and-forth bidding war among collectors over the phone and on the auction floor, the sale price soared much beyond the anticipated price of less than $1.5 million.

 

The previous record for a single-malt bottle, held by a Macallan bottle from the same cask that brought $1.5 million in a sale in 2019, was shattered in Saturday’s auction.