The 190-year-old whisky is expected to sell for over $12,000 a bottle. Here are all the details on the liquid, including how you can get your hands on some of it.
Late last year, a hidden trove of whisky was discovered in a cellar room deep within a 13th century Scottish castle. The liquid was subsequently tested and determined to have been distilled back in 1833, making it the oldest known scotch in existence. Now two dozen bottles of it are going under the hammer in a November auction.
Scotch 1/4 as old as me costs $50. Scotch nearly half as old as me costs $250. Scotch as old as me costs $35k. Following that progression to four times as old as me suggests those bottles will command a sum that could change the course of human history by eliminating hunger or curing diseases or colonizing Mars.
Reminds me of a movie, 'The Freshman' with Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick. The Mafia tells people that they can eat endangered animals for $10,000.00 a plate. Naturally, there's a line of decadent yuppies a mile long waiting to get into the secret restaurant. [Spoiler] it's all goat meat, because who has ever tasted what real rhino tastes like?
The longer a whisky is aged, typically it is more expensive. However, aging only happens inside the wooden barrel. The whisky develops more flavours due to interaction with the wooden cask. There is diminishing returns to ageing the whisky longer.
This isn't what's happened here. The whisky was stored in bottles. These bottles shouldn't cause any ageing. However, these two ideas can be conflicted.
The value of this whisky is a taste of the past. A way to physically experience some history. People with an idea that things were better in the past may want to believe this was a better whisky.
I would guess this isn't going to taste better. Improvements in manufacturing, quality control and knowledge of whisky probably make a better whisky today. Any high end whisky is going to be better. However, these same processes make low end whisky cheaper and probably worse.
Remember, whoever buys this, for whatever price, feels like they're entitled to that money while children go without: food, water, shelter, electricity, and education.
They also have armies of useful idiots to defend them in the vain hopes they can join them.
I can't get behind ancient alcohol. It's a curious finding, but at this point it's probably undrinkable. Like something you've forgotten in the fridge for too long.