Bottle of whisky sold for world record £848,000 Published duration 3 October 2018

image copyright PA

The world's most expensive bottle of whisky has been sold for £848,000 at auction in Edinburgh.

The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 60-year-old went under the hammer at Bonhams Whisky Sale.

The whisky, which was in a vat for 60 years from 1926 then bottled, fetched £700,000 plus a £148,000 sales premium.

Experts describe it as the holy grail of whiskies, because of the combination of its rarity, vintage and unique artwork.

Another bottle of The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong in May this year for a then world record £814,081 (HK$8,636,250).

Macallan commissioned pop artists Peter Blake and Valerio Adami to design labels for a limited edition of 24 bottles -12 Adami and 12 of Blake.

The latest bottle to be sold came in a specially-commissioned cabinet, or tantalus. Its previous owner bought it direct from the Macallan distillery for an undisclosed sum in 1994.

image copyright Bonhams

Although 12 bottles of The Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 were produced, it is not known how many of them still exist.

One is said to have been destroyed in an earthquake in Japan in 2011, and it is believed at least one of them has been opened and consumed.