A $40,000 bottle of single malt whisky has turned a Saskatchewan town’s liquor store into a destination for scotch collectors and connoisseurs.
In Good Spirits Liquor Company in Outlook, Sask., has the province’s only bottle of Tullibardine 1952 available for sale.
Only 70 bottles were made of the 60-year-old beverage originating in the Scottish Highlands. The first 25 bottles were pre-sold by the time the scotch was bottled in 2012, according to Curtis Andrew, co-owner and manager at the Outlook store.
“The longer it sits on the shelf, the more it’s worth,” Andrew said.
The whisky comes in a decanter set complete with a burl walnut box and Baccarat crystal – often considered the most luxurious brand of crystal.
Andrew’s company purchased the bottle in October as part of a marketing strategy to increase foot traffic. Now, people visit the liquor store in the 1800-person town simply to see the bottle.
“People stop in and want to see the whisky, see this beautiful bottle and they might choose to buy a bottle of wine when they’re in the store,” Andrew said.
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Most people purchasing a Tullibardine 1952 won’t pour a drink from the bottle.
Instead, the set comes with a gold key, which gives the owner access to a private locker at the Tullibardine distillery. Inside the locker sits a piece of the framed cask used to create the whisky.
Then, the owner visits a private room for a taste of a Tullibardine 1952.
The Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority (SLGA) doesn’t set maximum prices on alcohol, leaving the regime up to retailers, beyond provincially-mandated minimum prices.
A spokesperson said SLGA is unaware of the highest priced product ever sold in the province.
For $40,000, an SLGA shopper could buy more than 1,200 bottles of Crown Royal whisky. If they drank a standard 750-millilitre bottle every two weeks, the supply would last more than 24 years.
Alcohol blogger James Romanow, also known as ‘Dr. Booze,’ called a Tullibardine 1952 a “peculiar hedge,” not unlike buying bunches of diamonds.
An investment portfolio worth around $2 million “can easily afford to put $40,000 in a bottle of scotch,” Romanow said.
“It’s rather like being the world’s oldest man. For a brief period of time, this will be the most expensive scotch,” Romanow said.
Outlook is approximately 75 kilometres south of Saskatoon.