For the man who has everything, $12,000 whiskey
TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Looking for a Christmas gift for someone with rich taste? You might want to consider a bottle of super-expensive Scotch whiskey.
Macallan, one of the world's leading brands of whiskey, is selling a 55-year-old single malt in a Lalique crystal container in a limited edition for C$12,000 ($11,840).
Only 420 will be sold worldwide.
"You very seldom encounter 55-year-old whiskies because the chances for the whiskey to continue to age beautifully, to continue to interact with the wood in such a way that it remains nice and positive and harmonious are rare as the whisky grows older," said Marc Laverdiere of Macallan.
First released in 2006, the single malt was matured in Scotland for half a century in a sherry oak cask. Laverdiere said it takes three years by law to make whiskey but most varieties are matured for only 10 to 12 years.
"If you have an exceptional cast, the whiskey in it will mature gracefully over a long period of time," he added.
The most expensive Scotch whiskey sold at auction was a 1926 bottle of Macallan Scotch that fetched $54,000. It was bottled in 1986 after spending 60 years in a wooden barrel. A private New York investor bought the bottle earlier this month.
At the same sale in New York an anonymous buyer paid $102,000 for what was described as "an instant Scotch library" containing 729 bottles from blended Scotches to single malts from distilleries in the Scottish Lowlands and Highlands.
(Reporting by Claire Sibonney; Editing by Patricia Reaney)
