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Islay’s oldest whisky fails to sell at auction

Islay’s oldest Scotch whisky, Bowmore 1957, has failed to sell at auction after bids fell short of its £100,000 reserve.

Bowmore 1957, Islay’s oldest whisky, failed to sell at auction yesterday

With just 12 bottles existing of the 54 year-old Islay single malt – the oldest whisky produced by the distillery – producers Morrison Bowmore anticipated strong demand during the auction at Bonhams in Edinburgh yesterday.

“Whilst we came close to reaching the minimum reserve today (10 October 2012), we couldn’t accept anything less, especially with all proceeds going to our chosen charities,” the group said in a statement. “We’ve always appreciated that with auctions it’s down to the luck of the draw on the day.”

Morrison Bowmore intended to sell two of the existing 12 bottles of 42.1% abv Bowmore 1957 at auction, and having stored a further two safely away in its archives, sell the remaining eight at its distillery on Islay for £100,000 a piece.

The Edinburgh auction will remain open for another week, while the second, held at Bonhams in New York, is scheduled to take place on 28 October.

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