A single decanter of whisky by distillers Port Ellen could realise as much as £300,000 (around $400,000) at auction in a charity sale in October.
The whisky is a 46-year-old single malt bottled for the 200th anniversary of the Islay distillers and christened Port Ellen Prism.
The long aging process has resulted, says Aimée Morrison, master blender of Port Ellen, in a flavour with “amber-gold layers of currants, berries, and chocolate with smoke from the core, combined with hints of spices, cinder toffee, and a lingering sea breeze”.
It has been donated by spirits giant Diageo and will be sold at Hopetoun House, Edinburgh in the Distillers One of One auction on October 10.
The sale will benefit charities, including the Youth Action Fund, which supports young people in Scotland.
Port Ellen on Islay, home of some very exclusive whisky. Image by JM Briscoe, Wikimedia.
The whisky will be sold in a decanter made by Radley’s, who make scientific glassware, further encased in a glass sculpture by Wilfried Grootens, a German born glass artist.
The piece is expected to sell for between £150,000 and £300,000 at a sale hosted by Sotheby’s.
The Port Ellen Distiller was founded in 1825. It closed in 1983, but has recently been revived.
A second whisky will be released later this year to celebrate the bicentennial of its founding.
Whiskies can raise huge prices at auction. Special editions are often sold in valuable packaging. This sale will include a visit to Islay in the price.
In 2022, a cask of Port Ellen 1979 sold for £875,000. The most expensive whisky ever sold is a Macallan 1926 that made £2.2 million in November 2023.
Bidding on the Port Ellen whisky opens on September 15 and closes on October 10.
