Bowmore 1966 sells for £51k at auction

A bottle of a 1966 Bowmore has sold for a record-breaking £51,611 (US$68,367) at auction, at the same time as a Macallan miniature sold for three times its estimated value.

A bottle of Bowmore 1966 Samaroli Bouquet fetched £51,611 at auction

The Bowmore 1966 Samaroli Bouquet, sold by Perth-based Whisky Auctioneer, broke the previous mark of £4,200 in 2014. The bottle received 50 bids from across the world, with the winning bid coming from Hong Kong.

First bottled in 1984 with only 720 bottles produced, the Bowmore 1966 Samaroli Bouquet is the result of a collaboration between the Islay distillery and Italian bottler, the late Silvano Samaroli.

Sean McGlone, director at Whisky Auctioneer, said: “It’s widely known that the Bowmore 1966 Samaroli Bouquet has legendary status within the whisky industry. We knew that there would be strong interest in its listing and that it would likely break the previous records, but it has exceeded all our expectations by fetching over £50,000. It goes to show how committed people are to collecting and investing in rare vintage whisky, something we are seeing a huge increase in.”

Meanwhile, at a McTear’s auction on 6 July a 32-year-old miniature bottle of The Macallan sold for £3,300 (US$4,370). It was estimated to fetch between £800 and £1,000 (US$1,060-US$1,325).

The Macallan 1937 Fine & Rare Aged 32 Years Miniature was distilled in 1937 and bottled in 1969, then rebottled in 2002.

McTear’s whisky expert Graeme Maxwell said: “We are delighted with the price achieved for the bottle. The Macallan 1937 Fine & Rare, which was rebottled in 2002, has never come to auction before so we knew it would attract a lot of interest.

“It was an extremely lively auction and after some fierce bidding the lot was eventually sold online to a collector in Italy.”