The first of eleven bottles. It seems like a lot of distilleries have squirreled away some older whisky, which are now being released. This one’s not as old as Gordon & MacPhail’s 70 year old Mortlach, but it’s not too far behind.
The official listing on the Bonhams site is here, but there’s still no information (or images of the bottle) up there yet. Details below in the press release.
£20,000, VERY RARE BOTTLE OF 1937 GLENFIDDICH AT BONHAMS WHISKY SALE
An exceptionally rare bottle of Glenfiddich distilled in 1937 is for sale at Bonhams Whisky sale in Edinburgh on 16 June.
It is one of only 11 bottles of the 1937 produced by the distillery and is the first to appear at auction. Having matured for 64 years it is also one of the oldest whiskies ever released onto the market. It is estimated to make between £15,000 – 20,000 and is likely to be keenly sought after.
Bonhams Whisky consultant, Martin Green, commented, “It isn’t very often that such a rare bottle comes along and it’s a privilege to be handling it. As soon as I recognised the significance of the bottle I got in touch with the distillery to let them know that we were including it in the auction.”
Libby Lafferty speaking for Glenfiddich said, “We were very excited when we heard that the 1937 was going into the sale and immediately invited Martin Green from Bonhams to bring the bottle back to its home distillery to photograph for our archives. It really is that special.”
ends
For further sale information please go to www.bonhams.com/mechanicalmusic
For further press information please contact Andrew Currie on 0207 468 5871 or andrew.currie@bonhams.com or press@bonhams.com
Hum, must have missed this one in the warehouse
I can’t help but wonder if it tastes like anything more then oak water at such an age.
Brian, just after the Mortlach 70 came out, I was talking to someone knowlegeable about scotch and asking them how they imagined the 70 might differ from this (mindblowing) 50 that I tried. This person answered “probably not that much. By that time the whisk’s gotten just about all of what it’s going to get from the wood. The changes over those last twently years were probably small and mostly had to do with the cask ‘breathing.’” I could see that. Another thing to keep in mind is what type of cask was used, particularly whether it was first, second, dump, etc. My feeling is that the really great ultra-aged whiskies mostly come from barrels that have been used a few times so they have less wood juice to impart after althose years.
Having tasted the Mortlach 70, I was surprised at how it DIDN”T taste one-dimensionally woody. Also realize that the producers are sticking these barrels in the parts of the warehouse where the aging process (and wood impact) will be minimized.
I just inserted an image of the bottle which I received from Bonhams, so you have have a look at it.
the label on the bottle says there were 61 bottles?
Indeed it does. Maybe a rep from the distillery can elaborate. I’ll enquire.