The world’s most expensive whiskeys

By Pascale Le Draoulec

updated 7:38 p.m. ET June 4, 2007

On a recent trip to New York City a young man from Toronto stepped into Park Avenue Liquor Shop and bought a $10,000 bottle of single malt Scotch for his son.

"He wanted something very special," says Vice President Jonathan Goldstein, who sold him his second-to-last Macallan 50-year-old in its Lalique crystal decanter. "I don’t think he actually has a son — yet," says Goldstein. "In fact, I don't even think his wife is pregnant."

The man, barely 30, had flown into Manhattan but drove a rental car home to protect his purchase — one that will only increase in value until baby makes three.

Ten, 15 years ago, any fine bottle of single malt Scotch would have been worthy of most of life’s hallmark moments — a wedding or a daughter making partner at a law firm.

"It used to be that a [$200] bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label was the crème de la crème," says Goldstein. "Now, there seems to be no limit at the high end of whisky."

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Last year, a bottle of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937 (one of only 61 the cask yielded) fetched a jaw-dropping $20,000 at auction in New York.

But it's not just save-them-for-a-special-occasion bottles being bought. At the Old Homestead steak house in the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, N.J., they’re pouring the 1926 Macallan Fine & Rare at $3,300 a dram. The bottle would cost $38,000 retail, but none is left to sell. You can, however, still buy Macallan’s "step down" Scotch: the Macallan Fine & Rare Collection 1939, for a mere $10,125.

Sales of deluxe Scotch whiskies are soaring. From 2005 to 2006, sales of "super premium single-malts" jumped 17 percent, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Frank Coleman, senior vice president of DISCUS, credits "our virtuous economy" — one in which consumers are happy to shell out $5 for a cup of custom coffee at Starbucks. Is it such a stretch, then, to buy a $400 bottle of whisky to savor with friends?

"This is a kind of affordable luxury," says Coleman. "And it’s a lot cheaper than buying a BMW."

Greg Leonard, director of public relations for Diageo, the world’s largest premium drinks business, says more than just expensive whisky, they’re "selling a lifestyle." Whisky has become a type of badge that says a lot about who you are, he says, and how far you've come.

"People who have found wealth are wanting only the finest things that money can still buy," he adds.

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