"Perfect Collection" of 4,000 rare whiskies to go on sale

Lovers of very expensive whisky will get the chance to bid on nearly 4,000 rare bottles acquired by a late US soft drink bottling company executive.

The Whisky Auctioneer company said that the so-called "Perfect Collection" includes some bottles believed to be worth millions of pounds, "some of which have never before been seen". "It's the largest collection by value, by volume as well," Whisky Auctioneer founder Iain McClune said in a statement.

(Related: Rare bottle of Scotch whisky fetches record price)

The bottles were collected by Richard Gooding, the head of a Pepsi bottling company, who died in 2014. Gooding travelled repeatedly to Scotland to find special bottles from small distilleries, "some of which have ceased to exist," the company said.

They include a bottle of 1926 Fine and Rare Macallan, one of which became the most expensive in the world when it sold for £1.5 million (S$2.7 million) in October.

(Related: The price of the Macallan Edition No. 1 has risen tenfold since its release in 2016 – here's Edition No. 5)

The collection will become available next year in two online auctions organised by the company – from Feb 7 to 17, and from April 10 to 20.

"He loved every aspect of it, from researching the many single malt distilleries to visiting them and tasting their whiskies," Gooding's widow, Nancy, said on the auctioneer's website.

"His mission was to collect a bottle that represented every single distillery."

(Related: Private casks: Diageo is now offering customers the chance to buy a whole barrel of rare single malt)

(Photo: Peter Dibdin Photography)