Son sells 28 years of birthday whisky to buy first home

A man whose father gave him 18-year-old whisky every year for his birthday is selling the collection to buy a house.

Matthew Robson, from Taunton, was born in 1992 and over the course of his life his father Pete has spent about £5,000 on 28 bottles of Macallan single malt.

The collection is now worth more than £40,000 and has been put up for sale.

The 28-year-old said it “probably wasn’t” the best gift for a young boy but with “strict instructions never to open them” they had become a nest egg.

“Each year I received it as a birthday present,” Matthew said. “I thought it was quite a quirky little present as I was slightly too young to start drinking.

“But I was under strict instructions, never, never to open them and I tried my hardest and succeeded and they’re all intact.”

His father Pete, who is from Milnathort in Scotland, said the first bottle of 1974 whisky was bought to “wet the baby’s head”.

“I thought it would be interesting if I bought one every year and he’d end up with 18 bottles of 18-year-old whisky for his 18th birthday,” he said.

“It wasn’t the only present he got from us. It was just meant to be a unique present but it was a little bit of luck that we kept it going.”

Since then, experts say Macallan has become collectable and Matthew is hoping to sell his collection for £40,000 and use the money for a house deposit.

It is being sold by whisky broker Mark Littler, who has described it as a “perfect set”.

“The value of Macallan has risen massively over the last five to 10 years,” he said. “To have such a vast collection of bottles is the real selling point of these.”

He said there had been “a lot of interest already” in the collection, mostly from buyers in New York and Asia.