Single shot of Japanese Yamazaki whiskey costs Rs 4.7 crore. Here's why

The Yamazaki 55 is the oldest and most valuable whisky ever bottled in Japan. This year a 750 ml of this whisky and was sold for a whopping $8,00,000 (about Rs 65.2 crore) at Sotheby’s auction, making a single shot of the drink cost about Rs 4.7 crore.

First distilled in 1960, the Yamazaki 55 is the oldest single malt whisky in the history of the House of Suntory and is a blend of three exceptional single malts from the 1960s distilled under the supervision of Suntory’s founder Shinjiro Torii and later aged in Mizunara casks.

The right blend was formulated by Suntory’s fifth-generation chief blender Shinji Fukuyo and third-generation master blender Shingo Torii. Together they mastered the signature art of blending it properly and lending it its characteristic depth and complexity after maturing for more than 55 years.

Describing the liquor, Shinji Fukuyo, one of Suntory's chief blenders says in their website, "Very old Scotch Whiskies gave me this impression of them being perfect Greek sculptures with beautiful toned beauty. Instantly impressive as a piece of art. But the Yamazaki 55 is more like an old Buddhist statue. Calm and mysterious. It takes time to take in its inner beauty with the smell of Japanese incense and stripped old wood, like the Toshodaiji Temple in Nara.’’