Whisky boost for hospice

The whisky fetched well over the asking price

A rare bottle of whisky more than tripled its estimated when it went under the hammer today in a bid to raise cash for a children's charity.

The Islay single malt - which had been expected to sell for around £3,000 - sold for £9,200 with buyer's premium.

Bidders from France, Japan, Italy and Holland vied for the bottle at the sale, in McTear's auction house, Glasgow.

But it was the distiller which created the tipple, Morrison Bowmore, which bid the highest.

The cash will go to the distiller's chosen charity, the Children's Hospice Association Scotland (Chas).

Chas hopes to raise £10m to open its second Scottish hospice, Robin House in Argyll and Bute, next year.

Bob Tomlinson, of Chas, said: "It's absolutely superb that Bowmore have generously made this donation, we're over the moon."

The bottle was casked in the presence of the Queen during her 1980 visit to the Bowmore Distillery on the southern Hebridean island of Islay.

The cask was poured into 648 bottles last year to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee - Her Majesty allowed bottle 631 to be auctioned for the hospice.

Whisky consultant Martin Green, who organised the sale, said: "I'm delighted we were able to exceed the estimated price and raise money for Chas."

Record sale

Among the 2,000 bottles of whisky sold were six which were salvaged from a 19th century shipwreck off the coast of Stranraer.

The bottles, which were retrieved from the wreck of cargo ship the Firth of Cromarty, which sank in 1898, all fetched between £250 and £300.

Bowmore had hoped the sale of its single malt might beat the top price ever fetched for a bottle of whisky, which stands at more than £25,000.

The 62-year-old Dalmore, also a single malt, which was bottled in Alness, Ross-shire, fetched £25,877.50 at McTear's in December last year.

Chas has several high-profile Scots who support its bid to build a second hospice including film star Ewan McGregor and Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri.