World's Largest Bottle of Whisky Sells for $1.4M To Mystery Buyer

An unnamed overseas buyer paid $1369538.50 for the whisky at Lyon & Turnbull auctioneers in Edinburgh.

The vessel, called The Intrepid, rises at a towering 5 feet 11 inches tall and can store enough liquid to fill 444 ordinary bottles.

Parties from all around the world expressed interest in the bottle, but the final cost was about $114.57 per dram.

The concept was created by Daniel Monk of Fah Mai and Rosewin Holdings, who stated it had "always been about more than money."

Credit: PA

‘This is a passion project to celebrate the life of my late father, Captain Stanley Monk, who was himself an explorer and achieved many amazing things during his life,’ he said.

‘Today would have been his birthday so it was a perfect date to put The Intrepid up for auction.’

The bottle's name is a tribute to 11 of the world's greatest pioneering explorers, who are featured on the bottle, according to its makers.

Credit: PA

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Jamie Ramsay, and Karen Darke are among them.

The project also benefits the explorers' chosen charities for environmental, physical, and emotional well-being.

Among them are Marie Curie and the Campaign Against Living Miserably.

Mr. Monk continued: ‘The Intrepid project has been an adventure from the start.’

Credit: PA

‘I started contacting explorers during lockdown to get them on board and found people who could make and fill the largest bottle of Scotch whisky and together we have achieved the dream.’

When the Intrepid was bottled last year, Guinness World Records confirmed it as the world's largest, and there were hopes that it might sell for as much as $1,868,407.50 at the auction, making it the most costly ever auctioned.

Charles MacLean, Master of the Quaich and one of Scotland's leading whisky specialists, characterized the Scotch as "an elegant whisky with subtle complexity."

Credit: PA

Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky, one of the premier independent whisky bottling companies, bottled the alcohol last year after 32 years of maturation in two sister casks in Macallan's Speyside warehouse.

A limited number of 12-bottle sets were also made, each filled with the leftover whisky from the same casks that were used to fill the record-breaking bottle.

The set contains a reproduction of the main bottle design, as well as individual copies devoted to each of the project's explorers, which were also auctioned off.

Gavin Strang, managing director of Lyon & Turnbull, said: ‘It certainly isn’t every day you get to auction a bottle of high-quality, single malt, that also happens to be a record-breaker.’

Credit: PA