Cheers to £42,000 bottle of whisky (From Daily Echo)

Cheers to £42,000 bottle of Glenfiddich whisky

1:54pm Thursday 24th May 2012 in Food News

AS drinks go, they do not come much more pricy than this – and you definitely wouldn’t want t buy a round.

With a price tag of £42,000 a bottle of whisky has become one of the most expensive drams in the world.

Although buying the bottle may have set one firm back almost the price of a new BMW X5 it has helped a Hampshire charity with its work in the Third World.

The bid by the World Duty Free Group was for one of 11 bottles of Glenfiddich, a 55-yearold single malt commemorating the life of Janet Sheed Roberts, granddaughter of the distillery’s founder, William Grant.

Janet reached the age of 110, the oldest living woman in Scotland, before she died last month.

The money was given to Women in Travel, which chose the Fordingbridgebased Lotus Flower Trust as its beneficiary.

Surprisingly, the special edition Glenfiddich is not the most expensive bottle of whisky ever. The last bottle of The Dalmore 62, released from the personal collection of master distiller Richard Paterson, was sold at Changi Airport in Singapore last September for £125,000.

The trust was set up by John Hunt, 71, towards his projects, which have seen him building homes and schools in the remotest and most poverty-stricken regions.

Mr Hunt, a former Army captain and Marks & Spencer boss who lives in Hyde, in the New Forest, founded the trust three years ago.

He has since spent three months a year in India overseeing projects and meeting the children he hopes to benefit.

In that time he has helped create more than 15 schools and buildings.

He is currently working on building a home and school for 50 to 100 mentally and physically disabled children in the foothills of the Himalayas, which will enable them to attend school for the first time.

The foundations are being dug and it is hoped it will be open by November.

To find out more about how to get involved in the Trust, go to lotusflowertrust.org, or contact Mr Hunt on 01425 650493, or at johnhuntnfo@ lotusflowertrust.org.