There may be signs that the market for collectibles such as fine wine has lost some of its potency, judging by some recent price action, but there are still eye-watering prices being paid for renowned drinks.

There may be signs that the market for collectibles such as fine wine has lost some of its potency, judging by some recent price action, but there are still eye-watering prices being paid for renowned drinks.

Bonhams Hong Kong, the auctioneer, boasted about a recent sale of Japanese and rare whisky last Friday. Some 200 lots of Japanese whisky were bought with “great gusto”, it said, with all lots sold. The whisky sale, which also included 64 lots of Scottish single malts, fetched a total of HK$6.565 million (around $847,000); 97 per cent of lots were sold.

Whoever gets to write the firm’s press releases had fun: “Spirited [geddit?] bidding among the whisky aficionados in the packed saleroom and online drove the prices of their favourite malts above their presale estimates, proving that the demand for rare single malt whiskies and in particular Japanese ones remain at an all time high.”

One example, a Yamazaki-50 year old, described as “one of the rarest and oldest Japanese single malt whiskies of all time and the true connoisseur's dream”, fetched HK$257,250, which was 70 per cent above the presale low estimate of HK$150,000.

If that isn’t enough to give the reader a thirst, other whiskies such as Hanyu Ichiro's Playing Card series from the silent distillery achieved prices above presale estimates. A set of "Royal Flush" featuring Ace of Clubs, Two of Clubs, Three of Clubs, Four of Clubs and Five of Clubs sold for HK$159,250. While the set of “Six Full House” consisting of Six of Hearts, Six of Diamonds, Six of Spades, Five of Hearts and Five of Diamonds achieved HK$100,450.

Bonhams said the most coveted Scottish single malt remains the Macallan.  The top lot of the sale went to a bottle of Macallan 55 Year Old limited edition in a Lalique crystal decanter which achieved HK$294,000.