Valuable Pop Art-Adorned Whisky Bottle Sells for Over $2 Million

Did you know that only 40 bottles of Macallan's 1926 vintage whisky known as "Adami" were produced? Today, the whisky aged for an exceptional 60 years in casks, making it the oldest Macallan ever released. Of those bottles, just 12 were adorned with labels designed by acclaimed Italian Pop artist Valerio Adami. Two of those 12 bottles have since been consumed or destroyed!

One of the remaining Adami-labeled bottles broke records at a Sotheby's auction in London, when it sold for £2.1 million, surpassing its estimated price range. This made it the highest price ever for a single bottle of wine or spirits at auction. It also became the first whisky to sell for over £2 million. Before the auction, the distillery reconditioned the bottle by replacing its cork and reattaching the label.

Italian artist Valerio Adami was born in 1935 and studied at the Accademia di Brera art school in Milan. In the early stages of his decades-long career, his works were done in expressionist and cloisonnist styles inspired by Chilean artist Roberto Matta and French Post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin. However, Adami is best known for his Pop art, characterized by bold flat colors, fragmented imagery, and dark outlines - influences drawn from Roy Lichtenstein's work in advertising. The Macallan label Adami designed in the 1980s displays these signature stylistic traits, featuring a nude figure gazing at a bottle of Macallan whisky. The same figure is depicted on the label appearing within the composition. Adami's innovative design tapped into his experience producing recognizable Pop artworks through a motif that blended the subject of the spirit with its surrounding branding.

Adami's partnership with Macallan originated four decades ago through the Italian agent for the Scotch brand, Armando Giovanetti. Seeking to expand its Fine and Rare collection, Giovanetti proposed collaborating with Adami as part of the series. Over five editions of Macallan's 1926 60-year-old release, the first 12 bottles featured labels by renowned Pop artist Peter Blake. Following Blake's designs, Adami crafted labels for his edition of the rare whisky. Subsequently, Fortnum & Mason commissioned one unique bottle in 1999 painted by Irish painter Michael Dillon. His handiwork depicted Macallan's Easter Elchies House estate in the Scottish highlands as the label. Through Giovanetti's initiative and multiple artist collaborations, Macallan broadened the creative dimensions of presenting its limited-edition vintage whiskies.

The Macallan whisky that set the new record is a rare expression called Macallan Adami, first released in 1993. It is considered one of the most coveted bottles in the world. Saturday's sale surpassed the previous record, which was set by another bottle from the same cask—Macallan 1926 from Cask Number 263. In fact, between 2018 and 2019, the auction record was broken three separate times, each by a bottle of Macallan 1926 from that era. Demonstrating the strong collector interest in the brand, earlier this month an empty display case merely meant for Macallan Adami bottles was purchased on eBay. However, it has since been appraised at a much higher value, showing the brand's significant appeal among whisky enthusiasts.