The Last Drop Scotch whisky

True to its name, The Last Drop Scotch whisky didn't make a huge splash when it launched last month. This may be as well given the scale of production. A launch party of the sort that usually accompanies the birth of a new brand might have swallowed all 1,347 bottles.

This special whisky was conceived by three veterans of the trade. Working together at IDV and Seagram's, Tom Jago, Peter Fleck and James Espey helped create Malibu, Bailey's and Piat d'Or, along with whiskies such as Chivas Revolve and Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

The Last Drop is a blend of over 40 malts, mainly Highland and Speyside, that were distilled in 1960, filled into a handful of sherry casks 12 years later and then forgotten.

They were discovered by Jago, now in his eighties, in the cellars of Auchentoshan distillery near Glasgow. By then, two thirds of the whisky had evaporated leaving a rich, highly concentrated whisky with notes of plum pudding and chocolate.  "The angels have had their share, now it's your turn," says Espey. Such rarity doesn't come cheap, of course. The Last Drop costs £1,000 a bottle, but its scarcity—and therefore its value—will increase with every drop drunk.