Laphroaig 1967 Samaroli auctioned for record price
At the latest online auction, the final bid for a Laphroaig 1967 15 year old Sherry Wood signed by Samaroli was £61,000
Already in the apron the advertising drum for this rare and probably unique chance to possess such a rarity was stirred largely. At the online auction portal Whisky Auctioneer in Perth, Scotland, one of world's highest regarded and sought-after whisky in the world was set to go under the hammer from 27 July to 6 August: a 15 year old Laphroaig 1967 Sherry Wood, signed by the Italian bottler Silvano Samaroli. Sixtyfive bids were placed from all over the world, with the winning bid of a record sum of £61,000 coming from Germany.
Signed bottle
Whisky Auctioneer's director, Sean McGlone, said: "Chances are few and far between to not only get a hold of this whisky widely regarded as incomparable in taste, but with the added uniqueness of the bottle being signed by the legendary Silvano Samaroli himself.” In fact, only 720 bottles of the 15 year old Laphroaig were bottled in 1982 at 57.0% abv. One of them was signed by Silvano Samaroli himself, who died in 2017, making this bottle a truly unique whisky collector's item. Born in Libya, he was a single malt pioneer. He founded Samaroli in Rome in 1968 and became the first non-Scottish and non-English independent Scotch Whisky bottler.
Highest ratings
The Laphroaig 1967 Samaroli dates from a time when the southern Islay distillery still produced 100% of the malt with its own in-house malting floor. Whisky connoisseurs all over the world, who have been fortunate enough to taste a dram consider it the best and most flawless whisky of all time. Serge Valentin of Whiskyfun.com gave it 98 points, one of his highest scored reviews of all time. Also at Whiskybase.com this exceptional whisky reached a top score of 96.37 out of a maximum of 100 rating points.
In good company
Four years earlier, a Laphroaig 1967 Samaroli – albeit without the signature of Silvano Samaroli – was also auctioned off. Based on the recently achieved record price, the sum of £5,700 at that time was almost modest. But times seem to have changed. Currently, at whisky auctions, one highest price is chasing the other. Last month a rare Bowmore 1966 Samaroli Bouquet was auctioned for £51,611 and recently a bottle of the 50 year old Dalmore came under the hammer for £28,000, which still cost around £6,000 in 2012 (see our report here).
The many whisky friends who were not fortunate enough to bid for this rare bottle can at least take some comfort in another limited 15 year old bottling by Laphroaig. By the way: who noticed that there is a spelling error on the original label of the Laphroaig 1967 Samaroli?
