Ore. man buys $27K bottle of Scotch

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PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 9 (UPI) -- An Oregon man paid $27,000 for a bottle of Scotch, the most expensive single bottle in the state's history, officials confirmed.

The bottle, a 50-year-old Glenfiddich single-malt Scotch, was one of 450 bottles being released in groups of 50 through 2017. The scotch comes in a hand-blown glass bottle. A sterling silver neck bears Queen Elizabeth II's likeness and is sealed with a professional fly fisherman's knot that can only be undone by being cut, not untied. It has been stamped 183, the bottle's number in the series.

The (Portland) Oregonian said Wednesday the purchaser, Lyle Schellenberg, a retired businessman from Salem, Ore., said he wanted to buy "something different."

"I could have bought a sports car, but this was something different, something interesting to me," he said.

He remembers traveling to the Glenfiddich distillery with his grandfather, who was Scottish, 40 years ago.

Mitch Bechard, Glenfiddich's West Coast brand ambassador, was at the Hillside Liquor Store Friday for the sale and has tasted the distillery's 50-year old single malt. It's aged in American oak and the first notes are "mango, pineapple and orange marmalade. It's surprisingly light. Not woody," he said.

Schellenberg said he does plan to open the bottle and wants to drink the Scotch rather than keep it as a collector's piece. He said it'll probably happen with a small gathering of friends and family sometime this year.