At HK$2.659 million (US$343,000) for a bottle, this Japanese whisky ain’t for mixing.
We’re talking about a rare 50-year-old Yamazaki first edition, which went under the hammer at Bonhams auction house in Hong Kong on Friday.
Its price — which includes the buyer’s premium and exceeded the expected range — broke a record for a bottle of Japanese single malt, previously held by an Expression of Karuizawa 1960-52 year old-The Dragon, which fetched HK$2,450,000 (US$312,130) in May, also at Bonhams in Hong Kong.
One of just 50 made, the 700ml bottle auctioned on Friday is one of the rarest produced by Yamazaki, Japan’s oldest whisky distillery established in 1923.
It was matured in casks made from mizunara (Japanese Oak) before being bottled and released in 2005.
“The Yamazaki-50 year old is a very rare and special whisky, and I am expecting a lot of interest from collectors,” Bonhams Head of Fine Wine and Whisky in Hong Kong, Daniel Lam, said in a statement prior to the auction.
According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the buyer, who joined the auction via phone and chose to remain anonymous, was from Asia.
Its price, though impressive, paled in comparison to the more than US$2 million paid in May for two bottles of rare 60-year-old Macallan whisky.
That sale, also at Bonhams in Hong Kong, shattered the previous world auction record for the spirit.
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