Single Malt fans will want to head to London next month for this auction: The rarest Glenfiddich ever released will be going on sale at Christie’s. Bottle No. 42 of 61 from the Glenfiddich Rare Collection, distilled in 1937 and bottled in 2001, will be offered from the collection of an anonymous private collector with an estimated value of $78,000-$110,000. The bottle leads Christie’s auction of Fine and Rare Wines Including Rare Spirits, which will be held in London on June 7 at 10:30am.
Here's the story as Glenfiddich tells it: In 1937, cask 843 was filled with spirit from the stills at The Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown and laid down in a dark, damp dunnage warehouse to mature and develop. It was discovered to be an unusually slow-maturing whisky, and over its life ten consecutive warehouse masters watched over the cask and frequently nosed and tasted the whisky, noting its development. After 64 years, the longest time a single malt whisky had remained in cask at that time, in October 2001, Glenfiddich's Malt Master David Stewart declared that cask 843 was finally ready to be bottled. Just sixty-one bottles were left in the cask, of which the present example is bottle forty-two.
Also on offer is The Bowmore Trilogy, 1964 (estimate: $19,000-23,000) which comprises a Black, White and Gold bottle, each aged in oak cask. (In 1964, the Bowmore distillery began utilizing steam-powered stills rather than the original coal-fired units, which enabled more precise temperature control, and resulted in much smoother and more consistent spirits. It is from those stills that this particular trilogy was born.) Glenfiddich Private Reserve 1955 and The Macallan Select Reserve 52 year old will also be available.