A cask of extremely rare single malt Ardbeg whisky has been sold at auction for a staggering £16 million.
A female collector in Asia, who has remained anonymous, bought the cask through a private sale. Thought to be a record-breaking price for a cask of single malt, experts have said that the amount paid by the collector is higher than any previous auction records show.
Over the next five years, the whiskey will be bottled, with the collector receiving 88 bottles a year for the duration of that time. This will mean the buyer will have a vertical collection of the Ardbeg single malt, aged 46 -50 years. This puts a value of £36,000 for each bottle. The experience of tasting such a luxurious drink could be elevated by sipping it out of engraved glassware.
The whiskey, which was distilled in 1975, had been separated into bourbon and sherry casks, and then, in 2014, it was combined. Ardbeg casks of this age are very rare, this being the oldest one the distillery has released to date. Based in Argyll and Bute on the Isle of Islay, the distillery will continue to oversee the maturing of the single malt as it is bottled over the next five years. The company has stated it is to donate £1 million of the sale to local community causes in Islay.
The whiskey, which has been called ‘Cask No. 3’, is said to have an extraordinary flavour, with tastes of coffee, spearmint and tar.
