The Last Drop: Very Old (and Very Expensive) Whiskies

This interesting little bottle popped up on Uncrate this afternoon:

Oh, and only 1347 bottles produced, coming in at about $2000 a pop.

Check out the website for more info. Judging from the affiliations of the founders (big commercial scotch brands, rather than individual distilleries), I suspect the price may reflect a fair bit of novelty and rarity above quality.

But it begs a question I'm really interested to hear the whisky connoisseurs here chime in on. What's the oldest and/or most expensive bottle/glass of whisky you've ever enjoyed? How was it? Where did you find it? Did you experience buyer's remorse?

castlecraver said:

This interesting little bottle popped up on Uncrate this afternoon:

"Created by three liquor industry legends, the Last Drop is made from a variety whiskies, the youngest of which was distilled in 1960. Once all had hit the age of 12 years, they were blended and put into new sherry casks, inside which they spent the last 36 years, becoming more interesting and flavorful as the years went by."
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Oh, and only 1347 bottles produced, coming in at about $2000 a pop.

Check out the website for more info. Judging from the affiliations of the founders (big commercial scotch brands, rather than individual distilleries), I suspect the price may reflect a fair bit of novelty and rarity above quality.

But it begs a question I'm really interested to hear the whisky connoisseurs here chime in on. What's the oldest and/or most expensive bottle/glass of whisky you've ever enjoyed? How was it? Where did you find it? Did you experience buyer's remorse?

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I have THIS, haven't opened it yet. Present from the better half, who got it wholesale, and didn't be anywhere near this. No regrets.

i am currently working on a bottle of a.h. hirsch 16 yo reserve. i've been sipping on it for about six years. i bought it for $80 and its now going for $200+. it is getting low =[

jtomm said:

i am currently working on a bottle of a.h. hirsch 16 yo reserve. i've been sipping on it for about six years. i bought it for $80 and its now going for $200+. it is getting low =[

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Doesn't it stink watching the level drop? I have half a bottle left and it is now reserved for special occasions.

I was at a wedding a few years ago where both families were (are) ludicrously rich. I mean the kind of rich where they have more money than you could imagine having, sponsor foundations, run charities, and everyone still works their behinds off anyway. After the reception was over, I was hanging with the wedding party and one of the guys pulls out an unmarked bottle that was about half full. I had been a scotch kinda guy already, so I was somewhat excited to see what it was he had in the bottle.

He dropped the name (sounded very Scottish, with like 4 syllables of Scottish accented mumbling) and poured a touch into my glass (which was like a slightly fluted snifter) and dropped in a tiny spherical icecube (SPHERICAL. No kidding!!). I waited a few moments and took a sip. To this date I've never, ever had anything like it. There was an explosion of interesting flavors - peat everywhere, with some sherrylike tones and... hell, I can't describe it. I don't have the scotch-tasting vocabulary.

Later on he told me the scotch was around 60 years old from his father's personal stock, and that his family has small-batch scotches from distilleries which haven't existed in 100 years in cellars around the country.

I didn't ask how much a bottle like that would have cost - but I think selling ONE of my 2 daughters...

no wait
never mind. not my daughters. Someone else's maybe...

I want to bump this thread because I know there've got to be some gents out here who've sipped some mind-bogglingly old and expensive whisky. C'mon... you can brag.

I have owned and consumed 3 bottles of Glenfarclas 30

One bought for me
One given to me when it wasn't to the buyer's liking
One bought by me

The most expensive whisky that I owned but never tasted was

The Macallan Private Eye (A limited edition of 5000 bottles in 1996)

This contained various ages of Macallan including some from 1961. I saw an advert in the Guardian newspaper and sent off for a bottle, as soon as it arrived, I wished I'd ordered two

The value of it steadily rose until it got to the point where I couldn't bear to open it. I sold it to a gentleman in New Jersey for £200 more than I'd paid for it and spent the proceeds on other delicious malts, a nice wind up Eterna watch, and some lovely vinyl

Oldest I have is a Van Winlkle 20 year old. Damn good stuff.

A couple years ago I paid just under $3000 for a bottle of the 200th anniversary edition Johnny Walker Blue Label. Besides that, I can think of a few bottle I just gave my son that were $1000+ a pop.

Highland Park 25 and Balvenie 21 are the oldest Scotches I've had. For bourbon, Van Winkle 20 and Black Maple Hill 21.

30 year old Ballantine's in the early 70s when it was still a good scotch. I was working in OK at the time and the packaged goods prices were supposedly lowest in the US; do not remember the price but that was the best blended scotch I have drunk, the only time I have seen it, the only bottle in the store. Glenlivet was the only malt I could find during those times along with Glen Grant when I transferred to CA shortly thereafter. No regrets about it or their 20 year old either.

Rollsshaver said:

A couple years ago I paid just under $3000 for a bottle of the 200th anniversary edition Johnny Walker Blue Label. Besides that, I can think of a few bottle I just gave my son that were $1000+ a pop.

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That's incredible!

Rollsshaver said:

A couple years ago I paid just under $3000 for a bottle of the 200th anniversary edition Johnny Walker Blue Label. Besides that, I can think of a few bottle I just gave my son that were $1000+ a pop.

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If I remember correctly, that particular bottling had less to do with the scotch than with the crystal decanter that it came in. I could be wrong though.

My buddy brought back from Ireland some Jameson 12 year. I also just finished off a jug of old corn whiskey I got from my parents, no idea the age. Granted not nearly as expensive as most of the stuff in this thread, but hey we are college students that get flack for drinkin vsop brandy and middle shelf stuff when everyone else is drinking karkov. My old roommate used to tell me that he knew I had good stuff cause he had never heard of any of it.

johnniegold said:

If I remember correctly, that particular bottling had less to do with the scotch than with the crystal decanter that it came in. I could be wrong though.

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Honestly, the product was not much better than the regular blue label. It seemed a bit more potent though. The bottle was pretty, until I broke it during a particularly destructive bender......................................