New world record for whisky cask auction in HK

A full cask of The Macallan Scotch whisky has smashed its pre-sale estimate to fetch almost HK$2million at auction in Hong Kong, setting a new world record for a whisky cask sale.

Spink auction house sold the cask, containing the equivalent of approximately 490 bottles at cask strength of 53.4%, for HK$1.952m on Friday 4 July.

The sale was part of Spink’s Wine and Spirits auction, which saw the sale of 136 valuable and rare bottlings.

The 24-year-old cask of The Macallan, containing liquid first barreled in 1991, was initially estimated to fetch HK$1.6m at auction.

While the world’s first cask of whisky ever to be sold at auction – a 25-year-old barrel of The Macallan – was bought for HK$793,000 in Hong Kong, this recent sale of The Macallan barrel is said to have created a new world record.

Other highlights of last week’s sale included two crystal decanters of Scotch whiskies by the independent bottler Silver Seal, fetching HK$32,940 and HK$35,380 respectively.

A collection of nine single malts commemorating the 30th anniversary of Moon Import fetched HK$40,260, while a Louis XIII de Rémy Martin fetched HK$24,400 and an 18 year old Macallan 1979 Gran Reserva was bought for KH$19,520.

In January this year, a six-litre decanter of The Macallan M broke the Guinness World Record for the world’s most expensive whisky when it sold at auction in Hong Kong for £381,620.