A 1975 cask from the Scottish distillery Ardbeg has gone for a jaw-dropping sum. Part of the profits will be donated to good causes on the island of Islay.
A cask of single malt Scotch whisky was sold to a collector from Asia for £16 million (about €19 million) at a private sale in early July. The record profit was achieved with Cask No. 3 of Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, created in 1975 by Ardbeg, the oldest bottling distillery. Since Ardbeg produced very little single malt in the 1970s, this is a rare dram indeed.
The Cask No. 3 single malt was distilled on Tuesday, 25 November 1975 – at that time, Ardbeg was still malting its barley on-site – and it was bottled in one bourbon and one Oloroso sherry cask. For 38 years, the two casks matured under the watchful eye of several generations of staff. In 2014, Dr Bill Lumsden, Ardbeg’s director of whisky creation, had the two casks "married" to compose an exceptional single malt. "Its aromas are nutty, herbal and smoky, while its tastes of tar, espresso coffee and spearmint have an astonishing finesse for a whisky of such age", Lumsden says of his creation.
The cask will gradually be filled into around 440 bottles by 2026. In the meantime, the cask will be kept in a "secure location" on the island of Islay. To ensure Ardbeg’s home island benefits from the record sale, the company is giving £1 million to charity. "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", said Thomas Moradpour, CEO of the distillery. It is the result of “generations of hard work”.
