Ardbeg Cask No. 3 sold for £16m

A rare cask of Scotch has been sold to a private collector in Asia for £16m, breaking the previous £1m whisky cask record set by The Macallan Distillery in April. The price of rare whisky, which represents the rising trend, has once again hit a new high.

The £16m single malt whisky was casked in November 1975 and is known as "Cask No. 3" from the 207-year-old Island of Islay The winery on the top - Aedbeg.

The current £16m sale price for "Barrel 3" is more than double what the owner of the Ardbeg distillery, Glenmorangie Co, a subsidiary of LVMH Group, paid in 1997 to buy the Ardbeg distillery and all its inventory.

Thomas Moradpour, president and chief executive of Glenmorangie Co., said: "'Barrel 3' is the pride of Abbe Distillery as we have watched Abbe Distillery go from 'the brink of extinction' to 'one of the most sought-after whisky brands in the world' one'."

Over the next five years, the distillery will deliver 88 bottles a year from Cask 3 to the Asian whisky collector who purchased Cask 3, priced at around £36,000 a bottle.