ByGuy Martin,
Senior Contributor.
The Macallan-Glenlivet Distillery’s Hogshead No. 4378 does not, at first blush, look like it might be bumping its lid on a high-end valuation of a half-million dollars. The exterior brush-marks of the barrel-blacking coming up over the lip of the hogshead, the bead of the lid’s caulking poking its nose out from under the the mallet scuffs as the gentlemen of the Speyside warehouse were tapping it down, it’s all quietly about process. But in another very different and lovely way, each scar of the intense hand labor and the craft required — from that of the cooper to that of the master distiller of the contents — to put together a sumptuous, well-aged distillate tells the tale: This is close to the bone. More at the source of all good labor in making fine things than this hogshead is hard to get.
And, for those whose pocketbooks allow such interests to flow where they may, speed is now of the essence: In sealed bids only, a rarity of extreme seriousness, the lot will close December 5 at 4:01 p.m. London (11 a.m.). The bids that are lodged by that hour will be adjudicated, and that’s that. Incidentally, sealed bids means sealed: No auction results will be announced after the sale deadline passes at 4:01 p.m. (11 a.m. Eastern), according to Sotheby’s.
