Whiskey Bargains and the Most Expensive in the World
January 5, 2009 | Weird News
For small-ticket items like umbrellas, polyester money-belts emptied of cash or novelty hats, bargain hunters and holiday-shopping cheapskates can save a few shekels when shopping for those who have nothing by hitting their local public transit auction.
If you’d like to get your greasy mitts on bigger-ticket items with the serial numbers filed off, you can always hit a police auction and take your pick of the repository of stuff confiscated from local riffraff—a station wagon with the tires shot out, an outboard used for immigration excursions into the Florida panhandle— before your friendly neighborhood beat cop has a chance to sell it back to them.
For bona fide high rollers who would like to squander their riches on things like a a thong that once flossed the arse of Demi Moore or a bottle of Elvis’ halitosis breath, there are auction houses like Sothebey’s and Christie’s where there’s also a lucrative market for those heirlooms that mysteriously came into your family’s possession after the war.
At an auction held by Christie’s in New York State last year, the paddles were flapping faster than a round of amphetamine-fueled table tennis when a bottle of 81-year-old Macallan Scotch sold for $38,000, the highest price the fire water has ever fetched at the auction house.
The whiskey was distilled in 1926 in Scotland and bottled in 1986 before being purchased by a private investor. An expensive wine of that vintage that had been exposed to air would most likely prove useful only to wilt flowers and ward off bats in an enclosed space, but, fortunately for the purchaser of the rare bottle of hooch at Christie’s, whiskey suffers from no such limitations.
“You can open it up, have some, close [it] and enjoy it again at your leisure. It’s not going to spoil,” according ot the head of wine and spirit sales for Christie’s America.
Apparently though, the real bargains can be had on Ebay, though product appraisal can be difficult [for a case in which it's not so difficult at all, please see our Top 10 Crappiest Christmas Ornaments Found on Ebay or considering the product pictured here, a certain Hankey Bannister, please see our list of the World's Worst Sounding Booze Brands] .
According to a National Examiner piece, there are two very active but equally idiosyncratic collector subsets, Jack Daniel’s collectors and Maker’s Mark collectors. Both producers encourage collecting (but not of the variety that includes a corner store and pantyhose pulled over your head) by issuing many limited edition commemorative bottles.
One of these, which we purchased in Tennessee, hauled across the border and consumed hastily on the other side, was one such lovely bottle of Gentleman Jack, ’cause we’re gentlemen, Jack.
Their neighbors in Kentucky also do some distilling of some very drinkable bourbon, however their state is known for it’s beautiful horses and fast women.
Oh and that Hatfields and McCoys thing but they make their own hooch.
Thanks David,
The Kentucky situation reverses over the duration of the Derby weekend…actually, we were referring to the Canadian border.
Also, with pockets of prohibition still permeating parts of the Bluegrass state, you’ll want to take note before consuming anything too hastily as soon as you leave TN.
Isn’t it the utmost in irony (or hypocrisy depending on one’s viewpoint) that some fine liquors are produced in counties where it is illegal to drink that very product.
Ah, America – Ain’t she great?
Uhmm, I pretty much thought you meant the US-Canada border but I refuse to dwell too much in reality.
You can open it up, have some