30-Year-Old Whiskey Just Sold For Over $1 Million At Auction
on Apr 26, 2022 • Updated Jan 15, 2025
Forbes just announced that the online auction, Whisky Hammer, just sold the most expensive cask of whisky ever purchased on record at an auction.
The “forgotten” cask of whisky sold for £1,017,000 ($1,295,500), which broke the previous record set in 2021 by Bonhams for the sale of a 30-year-old, re-racked, Sherry hogshead from Macallan, which at the time, sold for a whopping £439,000 (574,000 US dollars).
The 374-liter cask of whisky was originally filled on May 5, 1988, at the Macallan Distillery in Moray and purchased by an expat that same year for just £5,000 ($6,292).
The expat forgot they even had the cask and was notified 34 years later by the distillery that it was still in the warehouse maturing.
Daniel Milne, co-founder and managing director of Whisky Hammer, told BBC, “When this cask was listed in our auction, we knew it had the potential to make history. To come across a cask of this age, quality and size is extraordinary in itself, enhanced by the fact the liquid was distilled at The Macallan which is reflected in the global attention the cask has attracted. It’s been incredibly exciting for everyone at Whisky Hammer to have represented what has become the most expensive cask ever to be sold at auction.”
The online auction ended on Sunday evening with the cask being purchased by a private individual based in the US.
Whisky Hammer, which is a family-run auction service founded by brothers Daniel and Craig Milne, said that the cask would yield 534 x 70cl bottles of single malt whisky.
