LONDON -- In a darkened room with soft jazz playing in the background, spotlights are trained on the glinting stars of Sotheby's latest auction -- Japanese whisky.
Drinkers may not always associate whisky with Japan, but distillers in the country have been making the spirit for 100 years. The crown jewel of the Japanese collection to go under the Sotheby's hammer on Friday, from an anonymous seller, is 1960 whisky from the now-closed Karuizawa Distillery, valued at 260,000 to 350,000 pounds ($322,600 to $434,300).
