The Macallan 1926: Bottle of rare whisky predicted to sell for more than £1.5m at auction

A post made in January 2021, discussed how bottled rare whisky could hit record amounts at auction. This particular bottle was rare from the moment it was produced, as it was only 1 of 40 bottled and only 14 now remain. Although the final figure fell short of the predicted price, it still managed to break £1m mark. Here are extracts from the post at iNews.

A rare bottle of whisky is predicted to become the most expensive ever sold when it is auctioned next month. 

The Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare 60 Year Old is one of only 14 of its kind still in existence and is expected to sell for more than £1.5m – the world record price – when it goes under the hammer.

Described as “the holy grail of whisky”, the Macallan 1926 from cask number 263 was bottled in 1986 after ageing in oak barrels for 40 years. 

Very rare

The whisky will lead the sale of the second half of one the world’s largest private whisky collection.

Whisky lovers will now get the chance to bid for what is described as the drink’s “pinnacle” bottle in an online auction in February.

Mr McClune said: “The 1926 has only been at auction once in recent years and at that time it broke the world record for the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold, and we’re hoping that will happen again.

“The second part of the collection we expect to sell for several million pounds. It’s a fantastic opportunity; the collection covers so many iconic, scarce and high-value bottles.

High value

“We’ve got whisky dating back to 1921 – 100 years ago – and others from closed distilleries in Scotland that have rarely been seen before at auction.”

Angus MacRaild, an expert on old and rare whiskies, said: “There’s never been a collection of this volume, breadth and scale that has come up for auction ever. It’s really quite an unexpected thing to happen in the whisky world.

“There’s a good chance the Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare will break the world record for the most expensive whisky sold. For completists, particularly of Macallan, it’s the pinnacle bottle.

“There’s lots of other bottles in the collection as well which will break individual records for their particular bottling’s.”