Historic Japanese whisky fetches HK$250,000

One of the world’s rarest bottles of Japanese whisky, a 50-year-old Yamazaki single malt, has sold at auction in Hong Kong for more than HK$250,000.

A rare bottle of Yamazaki 50 Year Old – one the world’s oldest Japanese single malts – has fetched more than HK$250,000 at auction

On Friday 15 August, Asia’s largest ever sale of Japanese whisky took place at Bonhams Hong Kong, where the rare Yamazaki bottle fetched HK$257,000 (£19,886).

Bottled in 2011, the rare whisky is one of only 150 produced and sold above its pre-sale estimate of HK$190,000, Bloomberg reported.

A collection of Hanyu Ichiro’s Playing Cards whisky, said to be the most comprehensive in the auction history of Hong Kong, also sold for HK$159,250 (£12,310).

Meanwhile, four bottles of Karuizawa Geisha distilled between 1977 and 1983 sold for HK$104,125 (£8,049) and a bottle of 21-year-old Karuizawa sold for the same price.

The most expensive whisky sold as part of the auction was a 55-year-old The Macallan Scotch whisky bottled in Lalique crystal, which fetched HK$ 294,000 (£22,727). The bottling was part of 64 lots of Scotch whisky offered.

The auction saw a total of HK$6.56 million worth of whisky sold.

It was revealed last week that Bonhams had cancelled all future whisky auctions at its New York site pending an evaluation of the “profitability” of whisky sales.