Auction all in good spirits

Scottish whisky aficionados were all but expected to sell their wives, children and the crown jewels if needs must to place winning bids on a collection of The Macallan whisky, auctioned by Sotheby's last Wednesday.

The collection included a bottle of the extremely rare Select Reserve 1946, described as having a "glorious floral, heather-in-bloom fragrance". Ms Serena Sutcliffe, head of the wine department at Sotheby's, described the whisky, estimated at £1,000 (#1,632) to £1,400 sterling per bottle, as "intense elegance at its apogee" and "pure bliss".

Meanwhile, the Macallan Select Reserve 1948, estimated at £1,400 to £2,000 per bottle, was "zesty, orangey warmth on the bouquet, tangy concentration, with amazing peaty power and attack", she said.

The Macallan Millennium Caithness glass decanter filled with 50-year-old Macallan, estimated at £1,400 to £2,000, was "jazzed up oloroso - rich, velvety, totally enveloping, with toffee elements all through", she said.

The highlight of the collection was an "extremely rare limited-edition bottle of The Macallan Fifty Year Old which, in keeping with its rarity, has an estimate of £4,500 to £6,000. The bottle, numbered 126 of 500, contains whisky distilled in 1928 and bottled in 1983 - the ultimate trophy bottle for any serious whisky collector," said Sotheby's.

Dr Barry Walsh, chief blender with Irish Distillers Group, says that since Irish whiskey is generally milder than Scotch, "30 to 35 years would probably be the most they could go. After that they tend to get a bit woody".

Whether very old whiskey tastes well depends to a certain extent on the type of barrel that it has been put into. "If the barrel has only been used once, it'll mature quicker but it won't last so long. It'll tend to go woody," he says.

So might a 50-year-old whiskey - or Scottish whisky - taste ghastly? "It could taste too woody. It might be unbalanced. I'm sure that people selling this would have checked it. It's going to be certainly drinkable. But in the generality of things, old whiskeys have to be viewed with caution," he says.

And do collectors just look at or consume their collections? "They probably drink it in very small amounts for very special guests. I don't think they just stick it in a bank and look at it. From what I gather they are treasured and doled out in minute quantities, particularly if they're very expensive," he says.

Unlike wine, whiskey will keep after the bottle has been opened, preserved by its high alcohol level. But especially with older whiskeys, you shouldn't leave too much air space.

"What you would probably do is, if you drank half a bottle, you would then decant the other half into a smaller bottle," he says.

It's also important to keep whisky out of light. "Strong light destroys a whiskey," he says.

Collectable Irish whiskeys include a rare Midleton, which is produced each year, which retails at about £70 a bottle.

"If you have the full range it's very much a collector's item. If you have them since 1984, you're sitting on a little gold mine. An appreciating gold mine," says Dr Walsh.

Other collectable Irish whiskeys include the Midleton 30-year-old pure pot still, which retails at £500, and the 25-year-old Midleton retailing at £400, both of which are believed to have sold out and so may be increasingly sought after.

A Midleton 26 year old is being launched on October 5th next in Midleton.

Jameson Special Reserve 15 year old costs £75 as does the Bushmills Single Cask Malt, while Powers 12 year old retails at £25.