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Meet The Over $1.5 Million – That’s Right, Million – Whisky Collection From The Dalmore Distillery

Let me take you on a fantasy journey of whisky where money is no object. You arrive in London in your private jet after a long flight from the States, enjoying custom meals from your personal chef and sleeping in the feather bed you had custom installed on your plane. You whisk through UK customs, have your private bag handler snag your super expensive luggage from the conveyor belt and off you go from the airport in your limo to the high end department store known as Harrods. There you plunk down £987,500 (around $1,525,000) in cold hard cash for the Dalmore Paterson Collection before retiring to your penthouse hotel room to enjoy your new Scotch whisky while feeling like a fat cash flush with the green stuff.

The tale I tell highlights the fact you’ll need to move among the 1% of the world’s elite to afford an uber luxury collection of Scotch for sale through Harrods that comes from the Dalmore distillery in Scotland. This 12 bottle package was put together by the Dalmore’s Richard Paterson, a legendary distiller and blender among Scottish circles. It went on sale in mid-2013 and, at least as of late November last year, was not surprisingly still listed as being available (it had been reported earlier in the year there were “a number of interested buyers,” but that no sale had been completed as of yet).

The Dalmore Paterson collection (image via The Dalmore)
The Dalmore Paterson collection (image via The Dalmore)

So what exactly does one get for over $1.5 million? To start with, there’s the 12 bottles of Scotch, each filled with special whisky dating from between 1926 up to the 1990s. According to the Dalmore, these one off bottlings were each named in honor of people who have influenced Paterson throughout his career, ranging from “his own father and grandfather to the founders of The Dalmore’s parent company, James Whyte and Charles Mackay.”

I was most curious about the one from 1926. What I learned from the Dalmore’s website is that it is dubbed “Alexander Matheson No. 10.” Matheson is the name of the man who founded the distillery itself – hence why it seems to make sense to name the oldest bottling after him. The official tasting notes of this oldest of old Scotches reveals:

Flavours of nectarines marinated in old Marsala, Muscovado, liquorice and tangy Oxford marmalade engulf the tongue. Whispers of nutty toffee, carmalised pineapple, pecan pie and sweet damsons in Pedro Ximenez aged sherry follow. The tang of Matusalem Oloroso, roasted chestnuts, succulent dates, balsamic dressing and Java coffee provide an everlasting aftertaste.

Hmm, not bad. As with all uber-expernsive Scotch, a good chunk of the show is not just the whisky, but the packaging it is delivered in. Here the Dalmore spares no expense it looks like, as each is “presented in a hand crafted full lead crystal decanter, produced by Glencairn, one of the world’s leading crystal houses. Luxury jeweller Hamilton & Inches have crafted and hand engraved the silver that adorns each bottle.”

Richard Paterson and Nick Fleming, Head Wine and Spirits Buyer at Harrods, with Richard’s hand crafted ledger (image via The Dalmore)
Richard Paterson and Nick Fleming, Head Wine and Spirits Buyer at Harrods, with Richard’s hand crafted ledger (image via The Dalmore)

And, as if that weren’t enough, the collection itself is nestled in “a bespoke wooden cabinet, created by one of Britain’s leading cabinet makers, Gavin Robertson through more than 700 hours of design and craft.” Oh my. Joining it also is a special hand written ledger by Paterson, covering more than 200 pages, that apparently took him more than 1,000 hours to write on how he, alongside Harrods wine and spirits buyer Nick Fleming, brought the collection together. The ledger, by the way, is a piece of art in itself in that it was created

by John Watson & Company Ltd, one of Glasgow’s oldest printers and long serving suppliers to the whisky industry. Each of the pages have been hand folded and individually foiled in silver with Richard’s signature before being bound in a bespoke book made of the finest calfskin leather.

So there you have it – a detailed look at one of the most expensive whisky collections ever for sale at retail. Staggering, to say the least, and certainly not something this whiskey blogger can afford. I wonder if this guy has considered going for it?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViJA69VYNeY]

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