Macallan's 'The Reach' was laid down in the dark days of WW2 and worth hundreds of thousands. Video / Daniel Hutchinson
As Hitler’s Luftwaffe dropped bombs on London and fears of a full-scale Nazi invasion grew, Scottish distillery workers moved fast on a final batch of special whisky.
Now, more than 80 years later, a rare bottle made from that WW2-era single malt has arrived in New Zealand and been soldfor hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When Macallan’s ‘The Reach’ came onto the global market last year, it sent cashed-up whisky collectors and investors scrambling.
At 81 years old, it immediately became the world’s most aged single malt and was changing hands for huge sums.
Matured in a single sherry cask, it comes cradled by a bronze sculpture of three hands, each representing characters in Macallan’s history: the distillery workers of 1940; former Macallan chairman, Hollywood screenwriter and producer behind The Queen’s Gambit, Allan Shiach; and current Master Whisky Maker Kirsteen Campbell.
The rare bottle has been fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars. Photo / Daniel Hutchinson
Macallan billed it as a tribute to “the people who made this precious whisky” and their “enduring spirit which never wavered”.
There was also interest Down Under.
Taupō-based online retailer, Whisky and More had a local collector get in touch, keen to get their hands on one.
Only 288 were produced but they have been trickling onto the market over the last year – and no bottles were allocated for New Zealand.
They are extraordinarily rare. The average global price currently stands at around NZ$670,000, according to wine-searcher.com.
Whisky and More director Floris Heijdenrijk put the feelers out to fellow brokers across Europe, the UK and America, trying to source one of the prized bottles.
Whisky and More director Floris Heijdenrijk imported the rare bottle which arrived at his Taupo shop this week. Photos / Daniel Hutchinson
And when Heijdenrijk heard one had popped up on mainland Europe, he moved quickly.
“We snapped it up really quickly,” he said.
“It’s quite a sensational bottle and a neat find for us.”
But it was around a year before Macallan released it.
It arrived in Auckland last Wednesday and was transported to Heijdenrijk’s Taupō base in a large wooden crate.
Prising open the precious cargo, Heijdenrijk said it felt like he was handling priceless Egyptian antiquities.
It has since been sold again – for an undisclosed sum - but it’s understood that the bottle will stay in New Zealand.
Heijdenrijk, however, believes the bottle will never be opened.
“It’s a shame that nobody will ever drink but it’s an amazing investment. If you hang on to this for another 10 years, it will be well over a million dollars,” he said.
“Investment wise, this calibre of whisky is very good.”
Floris Heijdenrijk said it felt like handling an ancient Egyptian artefact when it arrived. Photo / Daniel Hutchinson
In the meantime, he can picture it becoming the centrepiece of a high-class cellar or whisky room.
There is no shortage of top-shelf collectors in New Zealand, he said, often selling bottles at more than $100,000.
Last year, his company was selling a Yamazaki 55 Japanese single malt whisky for $1.5 million but Heijdenrijk has never seen a bottle of Scottish single malt as expensive as the Macallan The Reach.
“We have great connections with brokers around the world and a network of high-end customers in New Zealand who are looking for these sorts of bottles,” Heijdenrijk said.
“There is a lot of money here, and around the world, for these kinds of investments. And that’s how it should be seen, a solid investment, not just a drink.”
Kurt Bayer is a South Island correspondent based in Christchurch. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2011.
