Glenfiddich 1937 Auction Tonight

Tonight at Grand Central Terminal's Vanderbilt Hall, a bottle of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937, will be auctioned off to benefit City Harvest, which seeks to end hunger in New York. This bottle is the only 750ml bottle of the 1937 ever produced (The standard bottling in the UK is 700ml). The spirit was aged in cask for 64 years and bottled in 2001.

The auction kicks off at 7pm with cocktails; bidding starts at 8pm and the event should be over by 9pm.

Vanderbilt Hall is a large hall right off of the center 42nd street entrance.

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An Auction for The World’s Oldest Bottle of Whisky – Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937
As part of New York’s Tartan Week celebrations (a week-long series of activities highlighting Scottish culture and heritage), Glenfiddich has partnered with City Harvest to auction off one of the four remaining bottles of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937. In fact, because it has to be imported into the United States, a special bottling was created so the bottle on display is the only 750 ml bottle of the Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937 ever made. This one-of-a-kind bottle will be sold to the highest bidder (reserve price is $19,000) with proceeds donated to City Harvest. Just a few years ago, a 700 ml bottle from the same cask sold for almost $80,000, so this night should truly be one to remember. The event will be held on April 4, 2006, in Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal, with cocktails at 7:00 pm and the auction at 8:00 pm.

Glenfiddich Malt Master David Stewart notes:

Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937 is a truly unique and exquisite malt whisky of exceptional character. As well as being the oldest Scotch whisky in the world and a very collectible piece, if you can afford to share it with your friends, it would make for the most wonderful taste experience.

Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937 was distilled in the same year as the Coronation of King George VI, the same year JRR Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ was first published and Walt Disney’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was first released as a full length animated feature film. At the time, The Glenfiddich Distillery was one of only six distilleries open and producing whisky in Scotland.

KME - There is no cost to attend, but you need to get on the list by calling 212 982-8300 x 111

Comments

[MacFhearghais]

Is there a cost to get in the door?

[Kevin Erskine]

No Cost to get in, but you do need to call and rsvp...

[MacFhearghais]

Thanks for the information, I've called and reserved.

I've been meaning to ask, though -- is this actually the world's oldest bottle of whisky? I've heard stories of older ones, casks sunk at sea, old cellars opened up...it wouldn't surprise me at all if there were older whisky sitting around somewhere, known or unknown.

[Kevin Erskine]

I would guess there were plenty of OLDER bottles sitting in basements as well as the bottom of the sea :).

However this is apparently the oldest whisky ever bottled. Meaning this whisky was aged IN CASK for 64 years BEFORE being bottled.

Those other (perhaps older whiskies) may be phyically older, but since whisky doesn't continue to mature in a bottle, their time in storage doesn't make the whisky itself older.

If I store a 10 year old whisky for 100 years, it doesn't become a 110 year old whisky, but rather, a 100 year old, 10 year old whisky (if that makes sense).

[MacFhearghais]

Oops, I missed that it was bottled in 2001.

[J Stanley]

Very interesting but confusing.
Alcohol strength at bottling HAS to be 40%
to be called whisky. I suggest this one may be bottled at 40.01 ?%. Another year in cask to 65yo would probably excluded it from the hall of fame.

[matt]

What did this end up going for?

[Shasta MacNasty]

So who ended up winning the auction and how much did it go for?

[Brian MIller]

Does any one know what it finally went for?

[Kevin Erskine]

Hey All, just back from New York.
Ian Millar told me it went for $20,000. To a "well-known" collector...

[MacFhearghais]

Oh, I watched as the winning bidder was interviewed. The bottle went to Dan Weiss of Pisquataway. The first bottle he ever bought (for collecting, I assume) was the Glenlivet Royal Wedding Reserve from the marriage of Charles and Diana, he said in the interview.

I spoke to the starting bidder, Edgar Harden (he hand wrote his name tag, hard to read), who bid up to $19,000. He said he wasn't very interested in scotch himself, the bottle was meant to be a gift to his friends on the birth of their child.

[Lisa]

Please advise if any half jack's were ever produced in the Glenfiddich range - if so, what year was it produced?

[Dana Beecher]

I was given a bottle of Glenleven Scotch -1896. The label, which looks 'stamped' says "The University Club, Baltimore". I'm certain it has been in the bottle this whole time, so it may not have 'aged'. But it is the original bottle. The top is wrapped in lead.
I have photographed the bottle. Any ideas, anyone?