Glenfiddich 50 year old? $16k, please

William M. Dowd photo illustration

• This is part of "Gotta Have ...", a series of occasional postings on unusual products at unusual prices.

William Grant & Sons Distillers Ltd. today released a half-century-old whisky it is selling for $16,000 a bottle.

The Glenfiddich 50 Year Old is being released in 500 numbered, hand-blown glass bottles decorated with Scottish silver and packaged in leather-bound cases.

"I’d expect interest from Asia to North America for a 50 year," said Campbell Evans, director of government and consumer affairs at the Scotch Whisky Association in Edinburgh. "A few might drink it, but I suspect most would keep it for the investment."

The new release is the second most expensive whisky ever, by most accounts. A 60-year-old Macallan sold for a little over $10,000 (US) in 1991 but today is valued at nearly $38,000 (US).

William Grant had aged only two casks of this particular single malt since the 1950s at its Dufftown, Scotland, facility.

Peter Gordon, William Grant’s chairman and a fifth-generation family heir, said in a statement that the Glenfiddich maker now has "more aged stock than any other distillery."

The 50-year-old will be distributed in 50-bottle lots over a 10-year period, selling at airports for two months and then at other retailers.

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