Tomorrow will see the presentation of what is said to be the world's largest, most expensive collection of Scotch whisky- more than 10,000 rare bottles valued at £14.5 million (€22.9m) - in London prior to its sale at auction.
The Macallan Fine and Rare collection of vintage single malt whiskies will go on display at the Getty Images Gallery in London as part of a world tour before the whiskies are sold at auction next year.
The whiskies in the collection span some 26 different years from 1926 to 1972, with the most expensive bottle - a whisky distilled in 1926 and bottled some 60 years later - valued at a mere £20,000. There are just 12 bottles remaining in the world of The Macallan 1926, and earlier this year another bottle of the same whisky was sold at auction for a record price of £20,150.
The collection also includes rare 19th century vintages, such as The Macallan 1856 which has a £10,000 price tag.
But potential bidders need not have several thousand pounds to spare if they want to take part in the auction. There are miniature versions of some of the whiskies, each hand labelled, which are expected to sell for a more reasonable £61 - a mere snip for the true whisky connoisseur.
"We have often been asked why the extraordinary range of vintage Macallan has never been available for sale,"said David Cox, director of fine and rare whiskies at the Edrington Group which owns the brand.
"After all you can buy vintage bottles of the great chateau-bottled wines, with which The Macallan is often compared. In response to that demand we are making available the greatest range of single malts ever seen."
All the bottles will be available for sale at the distillery except the 19th century vintages, which will be auctioned on The Macallan website.