Man camps out for days to buy $36K bottle of Glenfiddich

Vancouver developer beat out others with a nose for fine whisky by camping for days at the edge of a parking lot to bag the prize bottle, the only one in Canada.

Bruce Langereis camped for days outside Vancouver liquor store for a shot at the rare single malt

Yvette Brend · CBC News · Posted: Nov 07, 2015 5:20 PM EST | Last Updated: November 8, 2015

B.C. man camps out in Vancouver to bag rare single malt scotch

9 years ago

1:39

Bruce Langereis paid $36K for Glenfiddich and plans to take the first drink himself

Bruce Langereis camped at the edge of a Vancouver parking lot for four wet days for his shot at getting a 50-year-old bottle of ultra-rare single malt Glenfiddich.

He walked away with the dark, silver-necked bottle — which had a $36,000 price tag.

"I will probably have the first drink out of it," said Langereis, of Delta Land Development Ltd., who plans to set the "showcase spirit" on the mantel at a bar his company built — Rosewood Hotel Georgia's Prohibition Bar — where one shot will cost salivating scotch lovers up to $2,000.

This bottle of 50-year-old Glenfiddich is the only one to go on sale in Canada this year. (Doug Kerr/CBC)

Some might ask: why?

"The taste, the textures, the sophistication of the fluids. There is a reason that a bottle costs $36,000," said Langereis.

Langereis was not alone in the lineup. Hundreds of scotch aficionados braved November rain to bag other bottles, with prices ranging from $60 upwards.

But the Glenfiddich was the ultimate prize.

Orange marmalade with a faint wisp of smoke

"These bottles are exceptionally rare. Fifty years old means it was put away 50 years ago and so it's a really exceptional layered flavour for a scotch," said April Kemick of B.C. Liquor stores.

"Some will collect it ... but there are people who do believe that good whisky should be poured. So some people actually share it with their friends if you can believe it," Kemick said.

I will probably have the first drink out of it.- Bruce Langereis

The ultra-rare single malt is one of only 50 bottles available worldwide this year, and the only one to be sold in Canada.

"On the palate what it tastes like, is you get this sweetness that comes through like orange marmalade with a faint wisp of smoke, with a lovely, velvety finish," explains Glenfiddich scotch ambassador Mitch Bechard.

The sale is part of the B.C. Liquor Stores annual premium spirit release.

Joining it on the shelves will be whiskies, cognacs and bourbons from around the world.

The Glenfiddich sold Saturday morning at the Cambie Liquor Store. The rest of the premium stock will be available at 30 stores across the province.