The 6-Bottle Scotch Set That Sold For Over A Million Dollars

There are plenty of high-priced bottles of Scotch floating around in the market. Food & Wine reports that the most expensive single bottle of Scotch whisky ever sold went for more than $6.2 million, but that may have been because the bottle was covered in diamonds, according to News18. Then there are the collections that distilleries will sometimes release. Johnnie Walker made 100 bottles of its Master's Edition blend in a signature black Baccarat decanter and sold each of them for $25,000 (via PR Newswire). Ardbeg Scotch also released an entire cask of its oldest Scotch whisky for the price of $19 million.

The Cold Wire points out there are lots of factors that lead to this pricing. Everything from the barley that goes into a single malt, to the barrel it's aged in adds to the price of a well-made bottle of Scotland's finest. In addition to all Scotch being imported from Scotland, the high price tag accounts for the land that a 12-year-old bottle of the stuff will have to sit on for all that time, as well.

One of the latest additions to the list of high-priced Scotch whisky was sold at auction last year for just over $1 million (via The Drinks Business).

In October 2021, a set of six Scotch whiskeys from The Dalmore Distillery was sold at an auction in Hong Kong for a final price of $1.1 million, which made it the most expensive whisky collection sold in 2021, per The Drinks Business. The auction was organized by Sotheby's Hong Kong, and the whiskey was purchased by a high-profile Asian collector.

This highly desirable Scotch whisky set consisted of six bottles that represent different decades. The bottle originally distilled in 1951 represents one of the oldest liquids ever sold by the distiller. According to Food & Wine, the other five were also sold at a more modestly priced (relatively speaking at least) set for $275,000. This set consisted of vintages from 1967, 1979, 1980, 1995, and 2000, and were sold with their own display case. Only 15 of them were released.

Scotch Whisky says that The Dalmore Distillery was originally ​​opened in 1839. Many of The Dalmore's finest scotches are aged in casks that held Matusalem oloroso sherry that is sourced through an exclusive partnership with sherry house González Byass. Food & Wine reports that the 2000 vintage is an example of one of the sherry cask-aged whiskeys. The others were aged in different combinations of bourbon, port, and Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine containers to give them each a distinctive flavor and character.