Rare spirits, especially whiskies, provide collectors with a piece of history

For some, the lure of owning the rarest spirits in the world is worth almost any price. While astronomical sums for fine wines have made headlines for years, a small but growing group of distilled liquor aficionados are spending up to US$250,000 to get their hands on a prized bottle. Rare whiskies easily top the spending scale, with spirits such as Cognac, rum and tequila also fetching big sums. Collectors have also created a much more affordably priced market for niche liquors, such as byrrh, vermouth and Curaçao sec.

The most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold is The Macallan six-litre "M" Decanter by Lalique, which fetched HK$4.9 million at auction in Hong Kong in January 2014. But the jaw-dropping price was as much about the bottle - only four crystal decanters were made, each one taking 17 craftsmen more than 50 hours to complete - as it was the contents. But for aficionados, fancy packaging is just a distraction. It's owning - and often drinking - liquid history that counts.

"The holy grail of whisky is the 1926 Macallan Fine & Rare, of which a measly nine bottles were ever produced from the last remaining liquid in one of the oldest casks at the distillery. This whisky is north of US$250,000 per bottle when it can be located," says Gil Lempert-Schwarz, founder and director of Hong Kong-based Dragon 8 Auctions, which held an auction of fine and rare spirits last month. The auction included a bottle of the 1962 Macallan as part of a complete set of all 51 bottles released in the Macallan Fine & Rare 1926-1990 collection. Other sought-after whiskies include the Spring Bank 1919, of which only 24 bottles were made and which is valued at around US$75,000 per bottle, and the fabled Highland Park 1902, again of which only 24 bottles were produced. A bottle certified by Oxford University was auctioned for the first time ever at last month's auction.

Most collectors are men, aged 30 to 60, and wealthy enough to spend US$20,000 to US$50,000 on a bottle to open with friends. These connoisseurs then often share their stories with whisky clubs and on blogs and other social media.

"Once a pinnacle has been reached, it's about tasting them and drinking them, rather than just collecting them," Lempert-Schwarz says. "There's a certain amount of reverence one feels in the presence of such great bottles made 200 or more years ago. It's the taste of history and craftsmanship, from the distillation process to the meticulous maturing in cask. Every time I drink one of these rare old whiskies, I reflect on many things in life, and on how lucky I am."

The United States has the highest number of collectors, followed by Germany, Italy, Taiwan and Hong Kong. A new breed of collector has also emerged on the mainland, where the rarest 50-year-old and even 100-year-old mou tai fetches astronomical prices on the home market.

Japan has its own market centred around its whiskies. The most sought-after Japanese single malts are from "lost" or "silent" distilleries - those that have closed down, leaving aficionados around the world fighting over the few precious bottles that still remain.

"There's a cult following for certain Japanese distilleries, such as Karuizawa and Hanyu," says Kiran Kumar of London-based spirits retailer The Whisky Exchange. "There's always a flurry of interest when new bottles of whisky from these lost distilleries go on sale."

Bonhams Hong Kong set two world records at its whisky sale in August last year: a bottle of 1960 Karuizawa "The Cockerel" sold for HK$918,750 - a new world auction record for any single bottle of Japanese whisky - and Hanyu Ichiro's Full Cards Series (52 cards and two jokers) went for almost HK$3.8 million, a record for any Japanese whisky series. Both lots were bought by an anonymous buyer from Southeast Asia.