The “Holy Grail” of whiskies smashed the record for the most expensive bottle ever sold, going for £1.45 million (about ₦672 million) at a London auction.

They initially expected the Macallan 1926 60-year-old single malt from cask number 263 to sell for up to £450,000 (₦208.5 million). However, it went under the hammer for £1.45 million (₦672.1 million, $1.9 million, 1.7 million euros). This beat the £1.2 million (₦556.2 million) fetched last year by another bottle from the same cask.

Distilled over 90 years ago and aged in European Oak for 60 years, the bottle was one of only 40 that Macallan, based in Moray, northern Scotland, has confirmed were bottled from Cask 263 in 1986.

“This is the most iconic of all bottles of Scotch whisky, the essential centrepiece of any great collection,” said Sotheby’s auction house. It organised the sale. “This bottle provides the ultimate opportunity to taste the ‘holy grail’ of all whiskies –- a once in a lifetime experience.”

The bottle of the most expensive whisky to date was the first with the batch’s “Fine and Rare” label for one to see at auction in more than a decade.