The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926: a whiskey only for some chosen
“The Macallan 1926 60 years is considered the holy grail of whiskeys. Its rarity and quality place it in a separate league and all serious collectors wait for many years for a bottle to go on sale. It is a museum piece.”
Martin Green, Bonhams whiskey specialist, 2018.
www.bonhams.com
The truth is that with this whiskey we are facing the rarest, select and exclusive bottle of the Fine and Rare collection of Easter Elchies, one of the most prestigious British distilleries, owned by the well-known Macallan brand.
It was distilled in 1926 and to age it were used barrels that, to date, had been used to age sherry wine, a factor that makes it an exceptional whiskey, elegant, dry and full of nuances. It was bottled in 1986 and, as if that were not enough, only 40 bottles were made, leaving 24 to be sold to artists with personalized labels. Half of these 24 went to the British artist Peter Blake, while the remaining 12 were bought by the Italian painter Valerio Adami, known for being one of the fathers of Futurism or Pop-Art.
All this has managed to increase its value exponentially since they were launched.
It can only be purchased at specialized auctions or to the few individuals who have been lucky enough to get any of those 40 bottles. This has made it a true museum piece. Its starting price in any auction is around forty thousand dollars, but they have come to pay real barbarities.
During the last years, the considered best whiskey in the world has been revalued arriving at prices of real madness
This bottle has reached prohibitive prices throughout these last years. At the end of 2018, an anonymous buyer acquired one of these 40 bottles for a whopping $ 1.1 million at an auction of the Bonhams house. Already in 2007 one was sold for $ 75,000 and, ten years later, in 2017, its auction price had amounted to more than $ 600,000. The truth is that each time one of these bottles is consumed or sold, the price of the others is revalued and multiplies exponentially. In short, we have whiskey turned into a work of art. Don’t you think so?
