This from Richard Paterson……

Just a couple of hours left now until the Dalmore Oculus goes under the hammer…

Isn’t it a beauty? This was a really pleasant whisky to create and very soon now, we’ll find out if it becomes the world’s most expensive whisky. In fact Bonhams almost put it better than me:

The Dalmore Oculus

A rich spicy and orange zest core to the malt is first selected from cask 1781, distilled in 1951, some 58 years old. Dried fruits, ripe bananas, treacle toffee and almonds from our original fifty year old – now held in small glass jars at The Dalmore distillery – are added to develop complexity. This rare malt, selected from vintages distilled in 1868 (10 June to be precise), 1878, 1922, 1926 and 1939, truly adds the gravitas of time. To deepen and intensify the weight of the mouth feel we add long matured distillate from cask 1782, the brother in 1951 to cask 1781 – an incredibly intense oak, spice and bitter dark chocolate tannic malt. Finally we add the “capstone” to our malt – the oculus to our world of alchemistic artistry – a judicious amount of our revered 64 yo, proffering notes of coffee, aromatic spices and citrus zest.
Vatted malt, cask strength
1 crystal decanter

Estimate: £15,000 – 20,000

The Dalmore, long recognised as a single malt that truly shines as a result of long ageing, has some of Scotland’s oldest and most valuable maturing stocks.

The task of crafting this absolutely unique expression– The Dalmore Oculus – was bestowed on Richard Paterson, a man with some four decades experience and who has judiciously monitored, measured and assessed these precious stocks over the passing decades.

Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the stocks he has fused an incomparable and brilliant assemblage. His creation is the eye that invites you to look in to his world, a world of sublime maturation and peerless whisky fusion.

Never before created, never to be repeated.

The Dalmore Oculus is a singularly exceptional expression allowing a glimpse in to the world of our brilliant art.

Selecting a decanter to house this precious spirit led us to Baccarat – world renowned craftsmen from France. It is their masters of light, which create objects that infuse the everyday with a brilliant and beguiling atmosphere of attraction. Each exceptional piece is crafted using techniques that their makers and cutters have handed down from generation to generation. For Oculus it was fitting that light is captured and becomes substance in its purest form – crystal – facilitating an eye on to the liquid world of The Dalmore whisky held within. Decorated with a painstakingly crafted solid silver iconic stag – by pouring a river of molten silver in to a mould and then hand finishing and polishing – the decanter is finally engraved.

It’s going to be quite the auction.

For those of you not bidding, feel free to post in comments what you think it will sell for…