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World's Most Expensive Whisky? It's Not The One We Toasted

The record-holder, according to Guinness: A bottle of 64-year-old Macallan whisky in a Lalique Cire Perdue decanter. In 2010 it sold for $460,000.
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The record-holder, according to Guinness: A bottle of 64-year-old Macallan whisky in a Lalique Cire Perdue decanter. In 2010 it sold for $460,000.

On Sunday, Weekend All Things Considered aired an interview with Glenfiddich Malt Master Brian Kinsman. He talked about the $94,000 that a buyer recently paid at auction for one bottle of Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve 55 Year Old whisky.

Kinsman said, during part of the conversation that didn't make it on the air, that he thought that was the most ever paid at auction for a bottle of whisky and our colleagues from the show crafted a Two-Way post with the headline "This Is The World's Most Expensive Whisky."

Alas, as Two-Way reader Elliott Back pointed out, a bottle of 64-year-old Macallan single-malt whisky in a Lalique Cire Perdue decanter sold in 2010 for $460,000. That's recognized by Guinness World Records as the most ever paid for a bottle of whisky at an auction. The proceeds, as are those from the sale of 11 bottles of the Glenfiddich, went to charity.

Earlier this year, by the way, a single dram of the Macallan was selling for $64,000 at a Beverly Hills bar (with that money also going to charity).

One more bottle of the Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve is due to be auctioned tonight in Los Angeles. If it fetches more than the Macallan did, we'll pass along the news.

Our apologies for the earlier post.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.