Scotland’s Ardbeg Distillery has donated £1 million pounds to the local community for their “patience” after the world record sale of a single malt cask to a mystery collector.
Just days earlier, a new record for the most expensive cask of whiskey sold had been set when a one-of-a-kind 1975 cask of Ardbeg Islay single malt Scotch whisky was sold at £16 million to a private collector in Asia.
The cask is one of the oldest ever released by Ardbeg Distillery — ‘Cask No. 3’. As a cask, it survived the Distillery’s two brushes with closure and was created during a time when little single malt was being created by Ardbeg in the 1970s with the Distillery being closed through much of the 1980s and ’90s.
The one-of-a-kind release was separated into two different casks’; one Bourbon, one Oloroso Sherry, and left to mature for 38 years. They were combined in 2014, with Ardbeg’s director of whisky creation, Dr Bill Lumsden “marrying” them in a refill ex-Oloroso Sherry butt.
The unnamed collector will receive a total of 440 bottles of single malt from Cask No. 3 presented in a unique format. She will receive 88 bottles per year over the course of the next five years, giving her a vertical series of 1975 Ardbegs aged for 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50 years by 2026. Based on the auction sale, each bottle will be worth £36,364.
Ardbeg CEO Thomas Moradpour said: “This sale is a source of pride for everyone in the Ardbeg community who has made our journey possible. Just 25 years ago, Ardbeg was on the brink of extinction, but today it is one of the most sought-after whiskies in the world. That is a reflection of generations of hard work: from those in the stillhouse who craft our smoky spirit, to the warehouse staff who care for our casks over decades, to teams around the world who build the reputation of our whiskies with fans, bartenders and collectors.”
Ardbeg’s description of the cask reads:
Created in a bygone era when the Distillery still malted its barley onsite, the smoky, balanced spirit of cask No. 3 was distilled on Tuesday, 25th November 1975, and laid down to age in two separate casks – a bourbon and an Oloroso sherry. Those casks were patiently matured by generations of Ardbeg’s skilled warehouse workers over 38 years. Then Ardbeg’s acclaimed Director of Whisky Creation, Dr Bill Lumsden, decided to marry the two casks, creating an even more extraordinary single malt. On 31st March 2014, he transferred their whisky into a single refill Oloroso butt, selected to give only the subtlest of wood influence. There it has remained ever since. Today, more than 46 years after its story began, this single malt is a smorgasbord of sherried, smoky aromas and rich, elegant tastes.
