What has been your most expensive whisky purchase?

let’s begin

Like a true Englishman, I didn’t think many people spoke about money they have spent on whisky, or indeed anything really, but the more GreatDrammers I meet at events, the more I see how much you all like to talk about your most expensive whisky purchases. And I love it.

Honestly, I have people telling me how they saved up loads of money to buy special bottles of The Macallan, or how they were chuffed to bits when their colleagues bought them something super-special for their retirement.

Then there was this one guy who was gifted a whisky – he didn’t remember which one, either time we met – and he stashed it away for years, though he went looking for it when someone told him it was worth £32,000, he discovered that his wife to gave it to her brother in Australia when he visited on holiday. Though in truth I’m dubious as one ending to the same story included him finding it at the bottom of the wardrobe with his wife having wound him up about giving it away, and one ended with his brother-in-law drinking it. I’m just hoped he did find it… and sold it! What a great result that would have been!

Either way I love hearing whisky stories, especially about your most expensive whisky purchases.

If you’re interested, mine was a £995 bottle of Port Ellen, bought from Dougas Laing when we moved house in 2016, leaving where I grew up in Ealing, West London to live in Cheshire.

In all the expense of moving, the new house, the solicitors and the estate agents, not to mention cardboard boxes, tape, movers and all the other stuff you probably don’t think about until you really need to think about moving, this was a treat to me, from me. And I loved it. I still have half of it left, opening it the first night we were in the new place, and sharing it with those very close to me since when they have visited.

The bulk of my collection was bought for around the £100 – £250 mark, with many bought for sub-£30 at the time, and some have appreciated quite nicely, some have been sold when I’ve noticed that their value has risen sharply or someone has made me an offer I literally could not refuse. But the bulk remain on my shelves or in boxes in storage.

Naturally there are some that are worth, and cost, significantly more, such as my Laphroaig 30 Year Old Single Cask which was distilled around three months after I was born, or my Craigellachie 31… and 33 Year Old, but I’ve never breached that £1,000 mark for a bottle. Well, not at the time of writing.

I’m on the hunt for a new ‘statement bottle’ this year, though I am unsure what to buy. I’m not bothered about whether it is for investment or for enjoyment, but I want something cool, different and just a bit different.

What would you suggest GreatDrammers? And more to the point, what are your most expensive whisky purchases? I want to hear all about them, and the story behind you now owning them!

Tags: expensive whiskyThe Macallan

Greg

My name is Greg, and I’m a brand strategy consultant, writer, speaker, host and judge specialising in premium spirits. My mission is to experience, share and inspire with everything great about whisky, whiskey, gin, beer and fine dining through my writing, my brand building and my whisky tastings.