Whisky aficionados will have a further chance to own a bottle of the much lauded Bowmore 1957 later in the month.
It follows today's Bonhams auction in Edinburgh, where one of just 12 bottles of the 54-year-old whisky ever produced failed to meet its tough £100,000 ($162,000) reserve.
 One of just 12 bottles of the Bowmore 1957 ever produced |
Had it reached that figure, the bottle would have comfortably become the world's most valuable whisky ever auctioned.
"The skill and patience that has gone into the production of this product has not been appreciated by the market," Martin Green, a whisky specialist at Bonhams, told Bloomberg.
It remains to be seen whether Bonhams will drop the reserve ahead of the New York auction on October 28.
Hopes were high for the scarce 1957, which was bottled in 2011 following a patient ageing process in the finest quality oak barrels, making it the oldest whisky ever produced by the distillery, and on the island of Islay.
The current whisky auction record stands with a 55-year-old bottle of Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve Glenfiddich, which sold for $94,000 (£59,350) at a US auction in March 2012.
Despite the disappointing result, the whisky market is in excellent health, with Highland Whisky recently predicting a 17.44% pa increase in market value from 2011 to 2020.
Indeed, the auction produced some strong results away from the headline act, with a bottle of The Macallan Select Reserve 52-year-old 1946 making £3,750 ($6,004), while a bottle of The Macallan 1950 achieved £2,125 ($3,402).
There were also good performances from the ever popular Ardbeg distillery, with a bottle of the 1975 making £1,625 ($2,602).
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