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The demand for whiskey has reached unprecedented levels over the past decade or so, and fans of the drink have become accustomed to paying more than they’d prefer for some of the most sought-after bottles. However, none of them come close to fetching more than a bottle of Macallan 1926 that recently set a new record after being auctioned off at a truly wild price.
The folks at Macallan have been using their distillery in Scotland’s Speyside region to pump out whiskey (or, if you want to be pedantic, “whisky”) for close to 200 years, and the brand produces some of the most popular scotch the industry has to offer.
Its core lineup features liquid that spent between 12 and 40 years aging in the ex-bourbon and sherry casks Macallan is known for harnessing, and some of those older offerings boast a pretty staggering price point. However, there’s one bottle in particular that blows the rest out of the water.
In 1986, the distiller produced a grand total of 40 bottles of Macallan 1926, which spent a grand total of 60 years in the barrel. It was never available for retail purchase, as the limited run was reserved for people who had a good relationship with the distiller.
12 of those bottles featured labels designed by Italian artist Valerio Adami, while another dozen were adorned with a sticker dreamed up by Peter Blake (the British artist who had a hand in crafting the iconic cover for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band).
There were also 14 that featured a slightly more pedestrian “Fine and Rare” label that was affixed to the bottle that sold for around $1.7 million in 2019, which made it the most expensive alcoholic beverage ever sold. However, that’s no longer the case in the wake of an auction that was recently held at Sotheby’s in London.
According to CNN, a bottle of Macallan 1926 with an Adami label set a new mark to beat after being auctioned off for $2.7 million on Saturday, which Sotheby’s claims is a “record for any bottle of spirit or wine sold at auction.”
At this point, it is believed to be one of just ten in existence; one was broken in an earthquake in Japan in 2011, while another was reportedly opened and used for its intended purpose at some point in the past few decades.
It’s hard to imagine the person who bought this actually intends to drink it, but you never know.