The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old: Revisiting the Most Expensive Whisky Ever Sold

O ver our 280+ year history Sotheby's has been involved in many landmark moments across our collecting categories. One such event occured on the 18^th November 2023, when our Whisky team broke the record, still standing, for the most expensive whisky ever sold at auction. The whisky in question was an extraordinary Valerio Adam 60 Year Old from The Macallan Distillery, achieving a remarkable total of £2,187,500. Join us as we revisit that historic moment.

The Macallan 1926 - The Oldest Macallan Vintage Ever Produced

After being aged in a single sherry cask for six decades, just 40 bottles of The Macallan 1926 were bottled in 1986, representing the oldest Macallan vintage ever produced. The 40 bottles were reportedly not made available for public purchase; instead, some were offered to The Macallan’s top clients.

The appearance of any of these bottles at auction over the years has resulted in extraordinary results - across 2018 and 2019, the auction record was broken three times by three different variations of the Macallan 1926 (Sir Peter Blake, Michael Dillon, Fine & Rare).

Macallan Scotch — The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old

The Macallan 1926: The Fine & Rare Label

Of the 40 bottles drawn in 1986, a maximum of 14 were decorated with the iconic Fine and Rare labels, one of which was the record-breaking bottle sold by Sotheby’s in 2019. Two bottles of this Macallan Scotch were released with no labels at all.

Of these two, one was hand painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon, a creation that saw Macallan’s own Easter Elchies House immortalised onto the bottle. When sold in 2018, it became the first bottle of whisky to surpass £1 million.

1980s
1990s
2000s
2018
2019

1980s

In 1987 a Guinness record was set for “The World’s Most Expensive Spirit”, when a bottle was sold in New York for £5,000. Rather unusual to have a 60 year old bottle at the time, this Macallan Scotch was valued in 1986 and successfully sold a year later as the most expensive spirit.
1990s

Two bottles were sold at auction: in 1991 a Sir Peter Blake labelled Macallan bottle in Glasgow for £6,375; in 1996 a Valerio Adami labelled bottle in London for £12,000.
2000s

Two unlabelled Macallan bottles were sold by McTear’s in Glasgow, in 2001 for £15,000; in 2002 for £20,150. In 2007 a Fine & Rare labelled bottle at Christie’s in New York for $54,000 (£45,293).
2018

In 2018, six bottles were sold, including the hand-painted bottle by Michael Dillon, which was the first bottle of whisky ever to surpass £1 million (Sir Peter Blake bottle: £615,062 / $766,762; Sir Peter Blake bottle: £816,983 / $1,108,485; Valerio Adami bottle: £886,112 / $1,1054,664; Valerio Adami bottle: £848,750 / $1,058,087; Sir Peter Blake bottle: £638,159 / $843,200; Michael Dillon bottle: £1,200,000 / $1,495,970).
2019

In 2019, two Macallan 1926 bottles were sold, including a bottle with the iconic Fine and Rare label at Sotheby’s in London for £1,452,000 / US$1,873,951 - setting an auction record for any bottle of wine or spirits.

The Macallan's Artistic Links - Peter Blake and Valerio Adams

Of the remaining Macallan 1926 bottles, in 1986 twelve were labeled by Pop Artist Sir Peter Blake, whose work saw the most notable events from this year in the roaring 20s depicted in black and white sketches and photography. In 1993, a further 12 bottles had their labels designed by Italian painter Valerio Adami.

The rarity factor was amplified by the belief that one of the Adami-labelled Macallan bottles is thought to have been destroyed during a Japanese earthquake in 2011, while the remaining unlabeled bottle is unaccounted for. It is also believed that at least one of the 40 bottles has been opened and consumed, verified by images taken in Japan.

The Macallan Distillery and the Reconditioning Process

Distinguishing this offering even further is the fact that this is the first bottle to have undergone reconditioning by The Macallan Distillery ahead of being presented at auction.

This process involved replacing both the capsule and the cork, applying new glue to the corners of the bottle labels and taking a 1ml liquid sample to test against another 1926 bottle at the Edrington offices in Glasgow. The Macallan 1926 Adami bottle to be offered by Sotheby’s is now the foundation for all other 1926 bottles that may undergo testing in the future, making it an incredible offering on multiple planes.

In order to recondition the capsule, a sample swatch of the old capsule was used as a material match by a producer in Austria to recreate an identical replacement matching the original.

Cataloguing Notes for the Macallan Valerio Adam 60 Year Old

As with all our whisky lots, Sotheby's provides our bidders with cataloguing notes that reflect the care our specialists take with establishing provenance. Below are the notes for this extraordinary bottle.

Valerio Adami Label, bottle #12 of 12, level: bottom neck, bottle reconditioned by The Macallan Distillery in 2023 including new capsule and cork alongside clinical testing of liquid. Labels readhered at corners by The Macallan Distillery and slightly worn, original red ribbon worn and delicate, original stickers slightly worn, original presentation case slightly worn with metal oxidised in places.

Recounting the Record Breaking Sale

As a result of the Sotheby’s whisky team’s expertise, The Macallan 1926 was presented as part of the Sotheby’s 2023 Whisky Weekender. The historic bottle was originally consigned as part of The Legendary Collection of Pierre Chen, entitled The Epicurean’s Atlas. The Whisky Weekender was a two-day event that included the aforementioned sale, as well as the こだわりKODAWARI | The Greatest Japanese Whisky Collection between November 17th and 18th.

The sale carried a total of 50 lots, with a significant 30 of those representing Macallan examples. Nearly as expected and in line with its designation as the most valuable whisky in the world, The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old hammered for 2,187,500 GBP - nearly twice the maximum estimate of 1,200,000 GBP. Jonny Fowle - the Global Head of Whisky at Sotheby’s - describes the historic bottle in great detail with the following quote,

“The Macallan 1926 is the one whisky that every auctioneer wants to sell and every collector wants to own. I am extremely excited to bring a bottle to a Sotheby’s auction for the first time since we set the record for this vintage four years ago. Working alongside our friends at The Macallan Distillery to recondition and perform clinical analysis on this bottle and liquid has elevated it to an unparalleled status. Now, as the bedrock for all Macallan 1926 authenticity and with its condition approved by master distiller Kirsteen Campbell, this must surely be the most desirable bottle of whisky ever to come to the market.”
Jonny Fowle, Global Head of Whisky, Sotheby’s

The World's Most Valuable Whisky: The Macallan Adami 1926

Whisky & Spirits

The World's Most Valuable Whisky: The Macallan Adami 1926

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