Posted on 02/25/2005 5:36:40 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
Last bottle of world's oldest single malt whisky leaves Scotland
Fri Feb 25,12:29 PM ET Offbeat - AFP
LONDON (AFP) - The last remaining bottle of the world's oldest single malt whisky left its distillery in Scotland bound for Hong Kong, where it will be the star attraction at an airport shop.
The bottle of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937, left to mature in a cask for 64 years before being bottled, is heading for Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok Airport, where it will be available for a well-heeled buyer, but only at a steep cost.
Previous bottles sold direct by the family-owned Glenfiddich Distillery fetched 10,000 pounds (14,500 euros, 19,000 dollars) each, but the price levied by the airport is expected to be higher still.
"There are a lot of mixed emotions here," said the distillery's "malt master" David Stewart of the bottle, claimed as the oldest single malt whisky in the world.
"On the one hand, we're extremely proud of having produced a whisky of such a fantastic quality that's stood the test of time and on the other, there's a tinge of sadness at saying goodbye."
Sky Connection, which operates shops at Hong Kong airport, has bought the final six bottles of the 1937 malt, the last of which departed the distillery on Friday.
As they are so rare, the bottles are being sent in two batches.
Just 61 bottles, described as having "chocolate and treacle" flavours, were produced from the single cask and first released in 2001.
Not so, but it has to be a very good scotch and handled very well. It is true that the run-of-the-mill single-malt shouldn't be in the barrel more than 20 years.
"A former girlfriend ran out of her Canadian Mist one evening, so she poured my last shot of Glenfiddich into a glass of 7-Up... I entered the kitchen just as she set the empty bottle down."
Hmm, now I know why she's a 'former' girl friend.
I can relate - One of my 'former' boyfriends mixed some of my Scotch w Coke
I prefer Islay myself, but I can appreciate this. The oldest I have is 40-year Laphroaig, and a cask-strength 29-year Bowmore, towering over the usual Lagavulin. Very smooth, the older stuff. Fortunately, bottles of Scotch last me forever so I've usually forgotten the price tag by the time the bottle is finished.
Lucky you.........
Yes, but only when out of Jamison's.
There was a very famous liquor store in DC years ago whose owner used to regularly bid on and buy very old bottles of wine. He, of course, displayed his "catches" in his store. I asked him one time just what he expected from a 100+ year old magnum currently on display. He said, "Great wine or great salad dressing -- one or the other."
$93.65 for a dram if it is a 750 milliliter bottle!
Eventually I married another woman, who didn't like scotch.
I wonder...
I remember hearing a few years ago that he had given up drinking because of liver problems. Now that's all gone and he's drinking again. It does make one wonder.
LOL... it's the "How could you possibly do that?" reaction.
LOL!
I'm saving it for my 5th wedding aniversary.
(sobering note)
I'm 51 and still single.
Good Luck!
Ah, there you go lad, finally someone talking about whiskey the way God intended it. I'm awfully fond of Redbreast myself. Very, very nice Irish whiskey.
It's a damn shame that the French have been buying up all the Irish ditilleries too. Jameson and Bushmills are both owned by Pernod Ricard now. And Diageo owns Guinness, just what is the world coming too?
Ageing in the bottle does nothing for it. Ageing has to occur in the wooden cask. It's the chemical interaction between the alcohol and the charred wood that causes the taste to change. Once in the bottle no further changes take place. If it was 11 years old when bottled, it should still taste like 11-year old Scotch (or worse) when opened even if opened 30-40 years later.
I don't know if I could call it "worse". I can only glad I had no matches around. It really didn't have a whiskey taste, more of a PGA taste.
Say you have a shrewish wife and no-account kids who have made your life a living hell. What a fitting act it would be to, as one of your final acts, have them gather around and watch you drink that $19,000 bottle of hooch.
Heck, I do!
Trajan88
Cheers and Roebucks!
No one who knew English...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.