The Macallan 1926 whisky sells for $2.8 million at Scotland auction

A bottle of The Macallan 1926 Fine & Rare single malt whisky sold for £2.125 million (approximately $2.8 million) at a Sotheby’s auction held in Moray, Scotland. The event, titled ‘Live from The Macallan Estate’, marked the first time an auction was hosted directly at The Macallan Distillery in Speyside.

Distilled in 1926 and bottled in 1986 after 60 years in sherry-seasoned oak cask No. 263, the whisky is part of an extremely limited series. Only 40 bottles were drawn from the cask, with just 14 carrying the ‘Fine & Rare’ label. While the sale set a new auction record for this specific expression and the highest price ever achieved for a bottle of whisky in U.S. dollars, it did not break the overall record for a whisky bottle in British pounds, which remains held by a 2023 sale.

The auction featured 42 lots of rare Macallan whiskies sourced from private collections, totaling £3.3 million in sales and exceeding high estimates.