The most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold at auction is a Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old 1926, which fetched £2,187,500 (about $2.71 million) at Sotheby’s London on November 18, 2023. That sterling price is unbeaten as of October 2026, although a Macallan Fine & Rare 1926 sold for £2,125,000 at Sotheby’s on October 9, 2026, and in dollars it came out higher. This list ranks the five highest prices paid for single bottles, each taken from the sale itself.
| Rank | Bottle | Price with premium | Sale date | Sold at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old 1926 | £2,187,500 (about $2.71 million) | November 18, 2023 | Sotheby’s London |
| 2 | The Macallan Fine & Rare 60 Year Old 1926 (cask 263) | £2,125,000 (about $2.81 million) | October 9, 2026 | Sotheby’s, at The Macallan Estate |
| 3 | The Macallan Fine & Rare 60 Year Old 1926 | £1,452,000 (about $1.87 million) | October 24, 2019 | Sotheby’s London |
| 4 | The Macallan Michael Dillon 60 Year Old 1926 | about £1.2 million (about $1.5 million) | November 29, 2018 | Christie’s London |
| 5 | The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old 1926 | £848,750 (about $1.1 million) | October 3, 2018 | Bonhams |
1. The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old 1926: £2,187,500
The Macallan filled 40 bottles from a 1926 cask in 1986 after 60 years in sherry wood. Twelve of them carry labels designed by the Italian painter Valerio Adami. This bottle was the first the distillery reconditioned ahead of an auction. Sotheby’s sold it in London on November 18, 2023, against a pre-sale estimate of £750,000 to £1.2 million.
How we valued it: the final price with buyer’s premium. The price before premium was £1.75 million.
2. The Macallan Fine & Rare 60 Year Old 1926: £2,125,000
This is the newest big result. Sotheby’s held its first auction at The Macallan Estate in Speyside on October 9, 2026, a century after the spirit was distilled. The Fine & Rare 1926 from cask 263 went for £2,125,000 with premium, about $2.81 million. The hammer price was £1.7 million, in line with the low estimate. It beat the previous Fine & Rare record from 2019 but not the 2023 Adami in pounds.
How we valued it: the final price with buyer’s premium. We rank it second because the 2023 bottle fetched more in sterling, the currency of both sales. In dollars, 2026 comes out ahead because of exchange rates.
3. The Macallan Fine & Rare 60 Year Old 1926: £1,452,000
Sotheby’s London sold this bottle on October 24, 2019, as the top lot of its Ultimate Whisky Collection sale. The price was about $1.87 million with premium, and it was the highest-value wine or spirits sale Sotheby’s London had held.
How we valued it: the final price with buyer’s premium.
4. The Macallan Michael Dillon 60 Year Old 1926: about £1.2 million
This bottle is the only one with a hand-painted view of Easter Elchies House, The Macallan’s home, by the Irish artist Michael Dillon. Christie’s London sold it on November 29, 2018, and reports put the total at about £1.2 million. It was the first whisky to pass £1 million at auction.
How we valued it: the reported final price with premium. The price before premium was about £1 million.
5. The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old 1926: £848,750
One of the 12 Adami bottles sold at Bonhams on October 3, 2018, for £848,750 with premium (about $1.1 million), then the world record for a bottle of whisky. Reports place the sale in Edinburgh. A Peter Blake-label 1926 sold in Hong Kong in May 2018 for about $1.01 million, and a second Blake bottle fetched $843,200 at Sotheby’s New York on October 13, 2018.
How we valued it: the total with buyer’s premium, converted to dollars by the reporting outlets at the time.
Non-Macallan: Yamazaki 50 Year Old
The best result outside Macallan is a Yamazaki 50 Year Old made for Club Natsume, a private club in Nagoya. Bonhams Hong Kong sold it on May 30, 2026, for HK$8.25 million, about $1.05 million, a world record for Japanese whisky. It beat the HK$6.2 million paid for a Yamazaki 55 Year Old at Bonhams in 2020. Because it is below the fifth Macallan in pounds terms, it sits just outside the five above.
What drives these prices
- Age. A whisky distilled in 1926 cannot be made again.
- Tiny runs. Only 40 bottles were filled, and a handful carry artist labels.
- Artists. Adami, Peter Blake and Michael Dillon turn bottles into art objects.
- Provenance. The 2026 sale took place in the distillery that made the whisky.
Keep reading
- Expensive habits people call normal: where drinking and collecting costs add up
The habits that let people afford this
Short audio lessons on money, mindset and discipline, in the Alux app.
Get the Alux app →FAQ
What is the most expensive whisky in the world?
The Macallan Valerio Adami 60 Year Old 1926, sold for £2,187,500 at Sotheby’s London on November 18, 2023.
Has the record been broken since 2023?
Not in pounds. A Macallan Fine & Rare 1926 sold for £2,125,000 at Sotheby’s on October 9, 2026, which is about $2.81 million and higher in dollars only because of exchange rates.
Why is Macallan 1926 so valuable?
It is a 60-year-old whisky with only 40 bottles made, and some wear labels by named artists.
What is the most expensive Japanese whisky?
A Yamazaki 50 Year Old made for Club Natsume sold for HK$8.25 million, about $1.05 million, at Bonhams Hong Kong on May 30, 2026.
How we put this list together
We ranked bottles by the final price with buyer’s premium from the sale itself, in the currency of the auction, and gave dollar figures as reported at the time. Prices are rounded and change with exchange rates.
Last updated: October 2026.
