Bottle of rare Irish whiskey for sale at $182,000

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By Kevin Smith

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A rare bottle of Irish whiskey is up for sale at a record 100,000 pounds, making it the world's most expensive single malt.

The whiskey -- spelled whisky in Scotland -- dates from the late 1800s and is believed to be the last surviving bottle from the Nun's Island Distillery in County Galway, western Ireland, which ceased production in 1913.

"It is a lot of money but it's like looking for the last dinosaur really," spirits expert Ken Thomas told Reuters on Friday. "This is surely one of the rarest bottles in the world."

Thomas, who runs a specialist drinks store in southwest England, is selling the whiskey via his Web site -- whiskyandwines.com -- on behalf of its owner, who inherited it.

"This woman walked in with the bottle in an old carrier bag and said she thought it might be worth money, and the more I looked into it the more exciting it became," Thomas said.

He said he believed the whiskey would be in good condition should its eventual buyer actually pull the cork.

"Whiskey is renowned for holding its own," he said.

Irish whiskey is generally smoother than Scotch, due to differences in the processing of the barley from which it is made. It is also often distilled three times as opposed to twice for Scotch, and lacks the "peaty" taste associated with single malts from Scotland.

The previous record price paid for a bottle of "the water of life" was 32,000 pounds, forked out by a businessman in a hotel in southern England two months ago.

The man and his friends reportedly polished off most of the 1943 vintage Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt in an evening.

Earlier this year, a Hong Kong dealer bought six bottles of 1937 Glenfiddich Rare Collection for $48,500 each.