When it comes to finding precious dusties, taking a second look in your basement is never a bad idea — especially if you live in a Scottish castle.
On Wednesday, Whisky Auctioneer announced that bottles of Scotch whisky believed to have been distilled almost 200 years ago will go up for auction in November. Believed to house the oldest Scotch whisky in the world, the bottles were discovered under a hidden, 750-year-old cellar door at Blair Castle in Perthshire, Scotland. Immediately following the discovery, a local whisky expert and the Atholl family — who have presided over Blair Castle for over seven centuries — sampled the bottles before contacting Whisky Auctioneer.
Credit: Whisky Auctioneer
The whisky is also rumored to have been sipped on by a young Queen Victoria during an 1844 visit to the castle. According to Bertie Troughton, resident trustee at Blair Castle, approximately 40 bottles of the whisky — all of which are estimated to have been distilled in 1833 and bottled in 1841 — were discovered late last year. Three years after the Scotch was bottled, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the castle for three weeks to stay with the Queen’s close friend, the 6th Duchess of Atholl. Based on Victorian-era news reports surrounding the royal’s love for “Atholl Brose,” a drink containing whisky and honey, experts have determined that it’s likely the royals sipped on whisky from the same batch as the bottles headed to the auction block.
The bottles were authenticated by the
