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Zagatti Museum opens with more than 3,000 whiskies

More than 3,000 whiskies have gone on display at the Zagatti Museum in The Netherlands, including what is thought to be the world’s oldest unopened bottle of whisky.

A quarter of the whiskies in the collection come from the Glenfarclas, Macallan and Glen Grant distilleries.

The museum, in Sassenheim in The Netherlands, displays the whisky collection of Italian collector Valentino Zagatti, which includes a bottling dating back to 1843 – thought to be the oldest unopened bottle in the world.

Zagatti’s collection was purchased by whisky investment company Scotch Whisky International in 2015 under the condition that it was not split up and would be housed in a museum.

Michel Kappen, CEO of Scotch Whisky International, said: “When we were able to obtain Mr Zagatti’s collection in 2015, the 20 investors were fully convinced of the rarity of this unique collection and the return on investment that can be achieved when the collection may be resold after 2020.

“By acquiring the Zagatti collection, we stayed ahead of candidates from Russia, China and Scotland, among others.”

The collection, which must stay together for 10 years and cannot be resold for five, was compiled by Zagatti between 1960 and 2015 after he quit smoking and wanted to spend the money he would have spent on cigarettes on “something more interesting and real, something which would remain”.

Of the 3,000-strong collection of whiskies, 97% are Scotch and about a quarter of these come from the Glenfarclas, Macallan and Glen Grant distilleries.

The oldest whisky in the collection was aged for 64 years, while the youngest reached the minimum age for Scotch whisky of three years. Zagatti’s collection contains just one bottle of Australian whisky.

The collection will be open on the third Sunday of every month and can be visited by appointment only.

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