First edition Black Bowmore sells for ‘record’ price

A single bottle of first edition Black Bowmore 1964 has smashed its pre-sale estimate to fetch £11,450 (US$14,850) – thought to be a record auction price for the expression.

The bottle of Black Bowmore 1964 sold for more than double its pre-sale estimate

The rare Islay single malt, labelled 1,111 of 2,000, was estimated to fetch £4,000 to £5,000 during McTear’s Rare and Collectable Whisky Auction last week. It was matured in Sherry casks for 29 years and bottled in 1993.

“The Black Bowmore has been rising in price at almost every auction, but this latest result is quite an achievement,” said McTear’s whisky expert, Laurie Black.

“It is hard to believe that in the 1990s you could buy a bottle of Black Bowmore for £70. With this latest sale we are now seeing bottles change hands for over 150 times that amount.”

In November last year, Bowmore released Black Bowmore 50 Year Old, The Last Cask – the fifth and final edition of its historic 1964 collection, priced at £16,000.

The most expensive lot sold in the McTear’s auction was a bottle of 50-year-old Dalmore 1926, which fetched £14,600.

A bottle of 50-year-old Dalmore 1926 fetched the highest price during the auction