Older Whisky Isn’t Always Better. Here’s What You Can Buy Instead
The current bounty of superaged Scotch is great in theory. Until you actually try to get your hands on it.
Good things come to those who wait. Perhaps nowhere is this saying more apt than in the world of whisky, where patient maturation often pays dividends in the form of a dram with unrivaled elegance—and price.
The past year stretched this reality to new extremes. Yamazaki released a 55-year-old spirit that went down as history’s most senior Japanese offering. (Dekanta listed a bottle of it for $950,000—and it’s out of stock.) Likewise, independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail unveiled what was then the oldest Scotch ever, an 80-year-old single malt from the Glenlivet, which sold at auction for $193,000. Just this Wednesday, the Macallan one-upped them by a year with the Reach, a $125,000 decanter containing liquid first laid down in 1940. To say these venerable expressions come at a premium is a comical understatement.