DUNCAN GARDHAM
London, June 16: A hotel guest has bought a bottle of whisky for £32,000 and drunk it in one night.
The anonymous regular at the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey, was joined by a group of friends who helped him put away the world’s most expensive single malt in the oak-panelled surroundings of the establishment’s Ascot bar.
The bottle, a Dalmore 62-year-old malt, was produced by the tiny Scottish distillery at Alness, Ross-shire, three years ago. The distillery combined casks of malt from 1868, 1878, 1926 and 1939 to make the single malt, making the youngest of the ingredients 62 years old when bottled.
The bottle, drunk one evening last month, is believed to be the only one of
12 to have been opened. One remains at the distillery and the others were sold to private collectors.
David Broadhead, the general manager, would not reveal the buyer’s identity, but described him as a “regular hotel guest”.