Chinese man pays S$14,000 for whisky shot at Swiss bar

GENEVA — Have you heard the one about the guy who walked into a bar and ordered a shot of whisky that cost more than S$14,000?

A young Chinese man paid 9,999 Swiss francs (S$14,019) last week at a Swiss hotel for a glass of whisky made in 1878 by the revered Scotch maker Macallan, the 20Minuten website said.

The report was confirmed by an employee of the luxury Waldhaus Hotel in St. Moritz, northeast Switzerland.

The hotel’s Devil’s Place Whisky Bar has been honoured for its 2,500 bottle collection, including by the Guinness Book of World Records.

But proprietor Sandro Bernasconi told 20Minuten he never expected to open this particular treasure.

After entering the bar with a group of people, the client expressed particular interest in the Macallans — the hotel has 47 options, with prices starting from seven Swiss francs.

“I told the customer that the most expensive Macallan was not for sale,” Bernasconi was quoted as saying by the website.

The client persisted, so Bernasconi called his father, who had run the hotel for 20 years and never had a client order the 1878. The elder

Bernasconi told his son to go for it, even if the customer was not going to pay in advance.

“I was nervous,” Bernasconi was quoted as saying, explaining that he was concerned the ancient cork would disintegrate.

But everything went down smoothly, including the 2cl measure, Bernasconi said.