I love nothing more than a decent glass of whisky, preferably Irish (in which case, whiskey), with two blocks of ice and a cigar if I’m feeling special.

Richard Gooding liked a decent whisky too, but he took it to the next level.

The American private whisky collector spent 20 years travelling around the world sourcing different whiskies.

Over his lifetime he amassed 3 900 bottles, which make up what The Drinks Business calls “The Perfect Collection”.

Until recently, the bottles were housed in Gooding’s ‘pub’ – a dedicated room in his family home. His wife Nancy has now decided to put the bottles up for auction, describing the whisky collection as one of her husband’s greatest passions.

Following his recent death, she has decided to auction the collection, which should fetch a hefty price.

It is collectively estimated to achieve an auction price of between £7 and £8 million.

…The collection includes highly sought-after bottlings from The Macallan, Bowmore and Springbank, some of which are valued at over £1 million.

It is reported that the collection includes the largest selection of The Macallan ever to go to auction, including the 1926 Valerio Adami (estimated hammer price: £700,000 – £800,000) and 1926 Fine & Rare 60 Year Old bottlings (estimated hammer price: £1,000,000 – £1,200,000).

Other rare whiskies in the collection include bottlings from distilleries that are no longer operating, including Old Orkney from Stromness Distillery and Dallas Dhu, some of which have never appeared at auction before.

Iain McClune, founder of Whisky Auctioneer added: “The Perfect Collection by Mr. Gooding is truly one of a kind and a testament to his dedication to collecting Scotch whisky. Its sheer scale and rarity makes it one of the most exciting discoveries in the whisky world, and we’re thrilled to unveil it to the public ahead of it going live on our online auction site next year.

Let’s see what perfection looks like:

Yeah, that’s perfect. I can’t argue with that.

[source:drinksbusiness]