Would you pay a million for a bottle of whisky?
Sixty very special bottles have been created to mark Queen’s Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee in this year.
According to a press release, John Walker & Sons has created a diamond jubilee blended scotch whisky, a unique blend of grain and malt whiskies all distilled and maturing since 1952.
Finished in a marrying cask of English oak from the queen’s Sandringham Estate, just 60 of these rare editions, one for each year of the queen’s reign, have been offered for sale at £100,000 (about R1,2 million) each. They are on offer to a private list of guests who have been invited to purchase one of 57 bottles.
One bottle was presented to the Queen and two will go into the John Walker & Sons vault.
No purchaser’s names have been released.
The press release notes that the luxury crystal decanters were created in a diamond shape with six legs representing each decade of the Queen’s rule, The decanters are decorated with Britannia silver adornments, including a half-carat diamond.
The decanter is accompanied with lead crystal glasses by Cumbria Crystal engraved with wildlife scenes from the Balmoral and Sandringham estates.
All these items are housed in a bespoke cabinet made from oak and native Caledonian pine from the queen's Sandringham and Balmoral estates.
Every element was hand made.
The press release notes that master blender Jim Beveridge and his apprentice Matthew Crow explored vast stocks of Scotch whisky to seek out some of the most exceptional casks of whiskies distilled in 1952.
The Diamond Jubilee marrying casks were created by master Cooper David Taylor, working with his journeymen tutors and apprentices. Sandringham oak, provided by kind permission of the queen, was cut and carved into staves, shaped by hand and jointed seamlessly using age-old techniques to create the two small casks.
Resting at Royal Lochnagar Distillery, on the edge of the queen’s Balmoral Estate, the casks were observed closely through this traditional finishing process, which allowed the flavours to combine gradually, before the bottling on 6 February 2012, 60 years to the day since The Queen acceded to the throne.
John Walker & Sons will donate the profits from the sale, with a guarantee of at least £1- million, to QEST, the charitable arm of the Royal Warrant Holders Association that preserves rare craft and conservation skills and enables them to flourish. - IOL