There is expensive, and then there is I just bought a drink worth a house expensive. What makes a drink worth a fortune? The Macallan 1926 Valerio Adami: the bottle that turned whisky into high art It is hard to beat The Macallan 1926 Valerio Adami 60-Year-Old. Sotheby’s says one bottle sold for £2,187,500 in November 2023, making it the most expensive whisky ever sold at auction. What makes this bottle so special is not just age. It is the full package. The whisky came from the famous 1926 cask no. 263, only 40 bottles were created, and some of those bottles were dressed up with labels by artists including Valerio Adami and Sir Peter Blake. That means the bottle sits at the intersection of spirits, art, luxury branding, and collector obsession. Sotheby’s noted that this particular bottle was also the first Adami bottle to be reconditioned by The Macallan before sale. In other words, even at this level, collectors care about restoration...