REWRITING THE STORY
When Andy Simpson, co-founder of whisky valuation consultancy Rare Whisky 101, got a phone call from the PA of a Vietnamese businessman in April 2019 asking for a valuation of the latter’s whisky collection, it was a surreal experience. “The first call I received was Mr Viet’s PA saying, ‘My boss wants to fly you to Vietnam next week, you will stay in five-star accommodation and value his whisky’.” Simpson didn’t fly to Vietnam, but instead Viet and his PA, who were in London at the time, postponed their flight home and went to meet him at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society on Edinburgh’s Queen Street.
After Simpson’s valuation, Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan’s whisky collection (which includes a 1919 Springbank, a Macallan 1926, and Bowmore’s oldest vintage) was officially named the world’s most expensive by the Guinness Book of Records, sitting at a cool £10.8m. Two years on, Simpson reckons Viet’s 535-plus bottles of Scotch and Japanese whisky could now be closer to £20m.
Whisky-drinking culture in Vietnam is growing. Where the likes of Chivas Regal and Johnnie Walker were once the mainstays of collections and home bars, now Dewar’s, Bowmore, The Balvenie – and even bourbons
