Ultra-rare whisky raises £44k for heroes

The second bottle of Glenfiddich Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve sold for £44,000 in aid of Walking With The Wounded in London last Friday.

The bottle, one of only 11 in the world of the 55-year-old single malt, was sold to an anonymous bidder on the phone from the US.

With an opening bid of £20,000, the sale quickly evolved to a battle between a bidder in the room and one on the phone.

As the price rose higher, encouragement from the room and Christie’s auctioneer, James Bruce-Gardyne kept the total up before the hammer came down at £44,000.

The sale narrowly misses the target set by the first bottle late last year, which was sold by Bonhams’ Edinburgh office for £46,850.

Nevertheless, it is still the second most expensive Scotch ever sold at auction and all proceeds will go to Walking With The Wounded, a charity dedicated to the re-training and re-education of UK service men and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The sale came as Glenfiddich announced a partnership with the charity, which is sending a team to scale Mount Everest this spring, following a trek to the North Pole last year.

The remaining bottles of Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve will be split between Glenfiddich’s major markets, where they will be auctioned for chosen charities.

One more remains to be sold in the UK, also in aid of Walking With The Wounded.