'Prohibition' whisky set to fetch £5000

Published on Thursday 9 October 2008 09:59

A RARE bottle of 100-year-old whisky found hidden behind a wall in an American house could fetch up to £5000 when it goes under the hammer at auction in the Capital.

Experts believe the bottle of Glencadam single malt was stashed away during the Prohibition era between 1920 and 1933 and then forgotten.

It only came to light in the 1950s when the wall was taken down during renovations of the house in Washington state.

The well-travelled bottle has since been stored in Sweden, where the seller now lives.

The bottle of Old Pot Still Scotch Viking (Glencadam) will be sold at Bonhams in Edinburgh on November 12, where it is expected to fetch between 3000 and 5000.

It will be the auction house's first sale dedicated to whisky.

Bonhams' whisky consultant Martin Green described the bottle as "one of the rarest early 20th century malt whiskies to appear at auction in recent years".