Can anybody spare 10,000 pounds?

LONDON (AFP) – The last remaining bottle of the world's oldest single malt whisky left its distillery in Scotland bound for Hong Kong, where it will be the star attraction at an airport shop.

The bottle of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1937, left to mature in a cask for 64 years before being bottled, is heading for Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok Airport, where it will be available for a well-heeled buyer, but only at a steep cost.

Previous bottles sold direct by the family-owned Glenfiddich Distillery fetched 10,000 pounds (14,500 euros, 19,000 dollars) each, but the price levied by the airport is expected to be higher still.

“There are a lot of mixed emotions here,” said the distillery's “malt master” David Stewart of the bottle, claimed as the oldest single malt whisky in the world.

“On the one hand, we're extremely proud of having produced a whisky of such a fantastic quality that's stood the test of time and on the other, there's a tinge of sadness at saying goodbye.”

Sky Connection, which operates shops at Hong Kong airport, has bought the final six bottles of the 1937 malt, the last of which departed the distillery on Friday. As they are so rare, the bottles are being sent in two batches.

Just 61 bottles, described as having “chocolate and treacle” flavours, were produced from the single cask and first released in 2001.