The World's Oldest Scotch Whisky Is About to Go Up for Auction, Here's How to Place a Bid

If it's good enough for a queen it's good enough for us.

In 1844, a then 25-year-old Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, spent three weeks at a Scottish castle with her friend Anne Murray, the Duchess of Atholl. The Household Book for Blair Castle notes that the Royals drank whisky during their lengthy visit — and who wouldn’t need a drink if they had houseguests for three weeks? But just last year, the castle’s Resident Trustee found several dozen bottles of whisky tucked in an unassuming room in the cellar, and due to the whisky’s age, it’s believed that they could be the same vintage that Vicky and Albert drank 179 years ago. 

According to Atholl Estates, which manages Blair Castle and its grounds and gardens, the 40 well-hidden bottles of whisky are believed to have been distilled in 1833 and bottled eight years later. (The Estates note that it was also rebottled in 1932.) The Estates have also announced that 24 of those bottles will be put up for auction later this year, and they’re being described as potentially the world’s oldest known Scotch whisky. 

The whisky has been researched and authenticated, and scientific analysis suggests that it was “distilled from grain grown before 1955” and “provided a high probability” that it dates back to the early 1800s. The Scotch Whisky Research Institute also chimed in to estimate that it had an eye-watering 61.3% alcohol by volume (ABV), which means it clocks in at over 122 proof.

According to Whisky Auctioneer, which is selling off the bottles later this year, a 19th-century cellar inventory from Blair Castle listed 72 bottles of “Store Whiskey” that were aged in wood. “This is a profoundly historic whisky and a remarkable artifact of Scottish distilling that is unlikely to ever be equaled in terms of provenance and preservation,” Angus MacRaild, the co-founder of Scotland’s Kythe Distillery and a rare whisky expert, told the company. “That it has been carefully re-bottled and preserved at natural strength, maintaining the freshness and power of this spirit for nearly two centuries, is frankly, astonishing. “

MacRaild added that he had tasted the whisky, describing its flavor as “strongly [involving] medicinal characteristics without any notable or pronounced peat smoke.” (Despite that assessment, he did say that drinking it was “pleasurable.”)

The 24 bottles will be offered for sale on the Whisky Auctioneer website, and the auction will run from Friday, November 24, through Monday, December 4. Interested bidders can complete a form on the website to receive more information about the auction.

Your guests would undoubtedly be impressed if you gave them a sip of the same whisky that might’ve been served to Queen Victoria. But, unlike that particular monarch, maybe they wouldn’t hang around your guest room for three weeks. 

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