BOWMORE 1957 BRINGS IN A BONANZA

The amount of money whisky collectors are willing to shell out for a rare bottle never ceases to amaze. The No.1 bottle of Bowmore 1957, 54 Years Old, recently sold for £1OO,OOO (US $16O,849) to an anonymous US buyer. The bottle is the oldest whisky the distillery has ever released as well as the oldest Islay single malt ever released. Morrison Bowmore Distillers, owners of Bowmore, will donate all net proceeds to five Scottish charities. Distilled in 1957 and bottled in 2O11, the whisky was aged in oak barrels in Bowmore’s No.1 Vaults, the oldest maturation warehouse in Scotland. Only 12 bottles exist, two of which are kept in the Morrison Bowmore archives, and nine remain for sale at the Bowmore Distillery. The bottles were hand-blown and sculpted by glass artists Brodie Nairn and Nichola Burns into the shape of waves reminiscent of those that crash against the No.1 Vaults’ sea-facing walls, and the glass is inlaid with flecks of platinum. On each bottle is a platinum neck collar hand-engraved with the bottle number and ABV. The platinum stopper was handcrafted by Hamilton & Inches, Warrant Holder to the Queen.