The final unsold bottle of Glenfiddich's 1955 Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve whisky is to auction today (December 11) in Los Angeles, with all proceeds benefitting international think-tank World Resources Institute (WRI).
One of just 15 bottles ever produced (four of which are set to remain with the Glenfiddich family), previous sales of the rare drop have proved record breaking.
 Will the rare whisky sell for £60,000 ($96,500) this afternoon? |
The current whisky auction record is held by one of the 15, which sold for $94,000 (£59,350) at a US sale in March.
In October 2012, another bottle of the esteemed scotch sold for $52,000 at a sale in Toronto, becoming the most valuable single bottle of whisky ever to sell in Canada despite failing to meet its $70,000 estimate.
The present bottle, which has received a great deal of global attention, has been given a potentially world record-breaking £60,000 ($96,500) estimate.
Fifteen bottles of the Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve were taken from cask 4222 in 2011 to commemorate the 110th birthday of Janet Sheed Roberts, the granddaughter of Glenfiddich founder William Grant.
This, the 11th bottle, is the last that will be offered for sale by Glenfiddich as part of a charity auction. The bottles symbolise the 11 decades of Sheed Robert's life.
The scotch, which has been cask-aged for 55 years, was described by Glenfiddich malt master Brian Kinsman as, "absolutely beautiful".
"It's quite different from what you might imagine," he told npr.org.
"You might imagine a very old whisky would taste really woody and oaky and quite powerful. And it's absolutely the opposite of that. It's very delicate. It's very floral and fruity. It's quite sweet. And it's just incredibly elegant."
Today's auction will be a good test as to whether the market for Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve is as buoyant as it was a year ago. For more information on the sector, please visit our investing in wine, whisky and cigars investment page.
