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A Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare 60 Year Old whisky is set to potentially break records in an upcoming sale of one whisky lover’s “Perfection Collection.”

Set to take place from February 12-22 and hosted by whisky auction specialists Whisky Auctioneer, the sale will include over 1,900 bottles of the rarest, most coveted and expensive single malt whiskies in existence. The Macallan 1926 is drawn from cask #263, containing liquid distilled during the height of the Prohibition Era, and is one of 14 in the world adorned with the iconic Fine and Rare label. The headlining label is expected to reach a hammer price of over one million pounds ($1, 373, 315 USD).

Read the full article (The Whiskey Wash) →

• Plan is for tidal power firm Nova Innovation to install turbines between the islands of Jura and Islay, which are part of the Inner Hebrides
• The waters around Scotland boast a range of interesting projects focused on marine energy.

Whisky distilleries on an archipelago west of mainland Scotland could soon be powered using electricity generated by subsea tidal turbines.

Tidal energy firm Nova Innovation said Wednesday it would install the turbines between the islands of Jura and Islay, which are part of the Inner Hebrides. The move will be another example of how marine energy can play a role in the decarbonization of communities and businesses.

The idea is that the 3 megawatt (MW) “Oran na Mara” project will reduce the islands’ reliance on fossil fuels by sending renewable electricity to the grid.

This electricity will be made available to the whisky distilleries — Islay has nine, while Jura has one — via a direct connection or through the grid.

Crown Estate Scotland, which manages marine, coastal and rural assets, as well as commercial property, has provided Nova Innovation with an Option Agreement for the project, which allows the company to commence development work. If all goes to plan, the project could be up and running by 2022.

The waters around Scotland boast a range of interesting projects focused on marine energy. The archipelago of Orkney, for instance, is home to the European Marine Energy Centre, or EMEC, where wave and tidal energy developers can test and assess their tech in the open sea.

Read the full article (CNBC) →

A 72-year-old bottle of Glen Grant single malt whisky from Scotland fetched more than $70,000 at an auction in Hong Kong on Friday. It is the first time that the 1948 Glen Grant whisky, by independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail, was offered in an auction. It is number 88 of 290 decanters bottled by the company and was auctioned off by Bonhams, fetching a price of 421,600 Hong Kong dollars ($70,754) including premium.

Read the full article (9News) →

Japanese products are revered for their quality and design. Today, we take a look at Grand Seiko and Yamazaki whisky, a match made in heaven.

Forget matching your watch strap with your shoes. In a new series for Watchonista, we’re pairing watches with unexpected brands that complement their values and aesthetics, beginning with two exquisite Japanese brands dedicated to craftsmanship and tradition: Grand Seiko and Yamazaki. Both have adopted foreign products — Swiss watches and Scotch whisky — and added unique Japanese twists to create masterpieces that have earned their place on the global stage.

Brand Curator for Grand Seiko Corporation of America Joe Kirk agrees the two brands make an ideal match. Speaking to Watchonista, Kirk said, “Although watchmaking and whisky making are fundamentally different crafts, Grand Seiko and the Yamakazi distillery share several common bonds in terms of history, Japanese craftsmanship, and dedication to perfection.”

Read the full article (Watchonista) →

Bonhams first Whisky Sale of 2021 will highlight Scotch whisky in Hong Kong, and takes place on January 29th.

A decanter of Glen Grant-1948 — a 72-year-old by Gordon & MacPhail is a headliner this year. This rare spirit was bottled in 2020 and is making its debut at the auction this year. The bottle is numbered 88 out of the 290 bottles made — 88 is a symbolic number in Chinese culture which means wealthy. The 72-year-old has 52.6% alcohol by volume. The estimated retail price of this decanter sits at HK$300,000-380,000.

Macallan will sell more than 30 lots which span the 1950s to the 1990s, including Macallan Lalique 50-year-old — estimated at HK$700,000-950,000 and the Macallan Lalique Motor Car-1937-37-year-old estimated at HK$450,000-550,000.

Read the full article (The Whiskey Wash) →

• Diageo reported an unexpected one per cent rise in organic net sales growth 
• Firm experienced strong growth in North America, where sales rose 12.3%
• Don Julio and Casamigos tequilas were among company’s strongest performers

Drinks giant Diageo today revealed coronavirus lockdown has driven a demand for higher-end spirits as customers begin to create their own cocktails at home.

The global firm beat analysts forecasts to report a one per cent rise in organic net sales for the six months to December, despite the impact of the pandemic.

In the UK, net sales grew two per cent, with sales in supermarkets and off-licences offsetting the fall from pub closures during long periods.

Beer sales were hardest hit – primarily driven by Guinness pumps not being pulled as British pubs faced restrictions and lockdowns.

Bosses said the famous stout did however see a surge in off-licence sales, with cans of Guinness draft rising 24 per cent during the period globally.

Spirits sold strongly, rising 15 per cent, with ready-mixed cocktails and Baileys also popular – up 8 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

Read the full article (Daily Mail) →

Our tireless pursuit to find the best bottles of scotch whisky at every price point has landed us in one of the first prime price points. Bottles of scotch between $40 and $50 are where things really start to get interesting. This is the range where the blended scotch gets really good and the single malts start to pop.

Granted, those single malts are still pretty young. But they’re solid and offer a nice baseline for newcomers to sippable Scotch whisky.

As for the prices of each of these bottles, well, that’s going to vary greatly depending on which coast you’re on (it simply costs more money to get this stuff to the West Coast, folks), which state you’re buying the bottle (local taxes range wildly), and which store you’re in. Because as Pappy proves, stores can charge whatever they want for this stuff depending on demand.

All of that being said, these bottles are going to be worth the search and the cash. The defining factor for each bottle’s inclusion on the list is that it is a great tasting bottle of scotch at a fairly accessible price point. Sure, you can get two quality bottles of bourbon for the price of most of these bottles. But where’s the fun in that?

Read the full article (Uproxx) →

Only 2,580 bottles will be made available worldwide.

The year 1989 was a helluva time. Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web, the Berlin Wall came down and Bowmore set aside some prized single malt for the scotch connoisseurs of the future. At last, said spirit is finally ready for sipping.

The 30-year-old in question was matured for three decades in the finest sherry hogsheads and bourbon barrels within the storied Bowmore No. 1 Vault (one of the world’s oldest maturation warehouses). Like the internet, the expression has evolved over time yet is colored by its history.

Selected from just two casks each year, Bowmore says the coveted drop has the past 30 years at the very core of its character. With a burnished gold natural color, the whisky is bottled at a cask strength of 45.3 percent and features what the distillery describes as a “rich fruity and subtly smoky style.”

Read the full article (Robb Report) →

Whisky expert Richard Woodard trawls the diverse world of Scotch whisky to select his favourite drams…

Drawing up a list of ‘the best’ Scotch whiskies is a bit like being asked for your Desert Island Discs: too many to choose from, too many reasons to pick one over another – plus the chosen whiskies change all the time, depending on mood and occasion.

One of the joys of exploring the rich and diverse world of Scotch whisky is finding new favourites, rediscovering forgotten joys and reassessing the merits of names you might have previously overlooked.

There are no rules to constructing your own top 10 (or, in this case, top eight) of best whiskies. It so happens that this list includes a couple of blends and a grain whisky alongside five single malts, and the price range is fairly broad. About half of the whiskies here would also – arguably – be considered classics by many among the whisky-drinking population.

But none of that is by design – ask me again next month and you’ll probably get an entirely different list.

Read the full article (Decanter) →

One of the world’s rarest single malt whiskies is predicted to become the most expensive bottle 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.

It is expected to beat the current world record hammer price of £1.2m, which is held by a Macallan from the same original bottling batch.

The bottle leads the sale of the second half of one the world’s largest private whisky collections to go to auction.

The “Perfect Collection’ was amassed over decades by former US bottling magnate Richard Gooding, who died in 2014.

The first part of the collection – more than 1,900 bottles – made more than £3.2m when it was auctioned online last year.

The remaining 1,900 lots were due to go on sale last April, but Perth-based seller Whisky Auctioneer pulled the auction after it was hit by a cyber attack. The company later reported that no data was compromised and the issues had been resolved.

Read the full article (BBC) →