There are whiskies that are liquid history, and then there are creations like Dragon in Clouds. The newly revealed 60-year-old single malt Scotch from Kandoblanc, Dhavall Gandhi’s luxury whisky house, feels less like a bottle and more like a philosophy disguised in glass and lacquer. It will make its debut at the Distillers’ Charity and Sotheby’s Distillers One of One Auction, taking place October 10, 2025, at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh.
A Singular Speyside Malt: Kandoblanc Dragon in Clouds
Drawn from a Speyside distillery Gandhi has chosen not to name, the whisky has spent six decades resting in refill Sherry casks. Time has imprinted it with layers of dried and tropical fruit, lapsang-like smoke, bitter marmalade, cocoa nibs, and that elusive waxy texture connoisseurs love to chase in older malts. The Sherry casks add depth in the form of chocolate, dates, and a finish laced with gentle pepper.
In Gandhi’s words, Dragon in Clouds is an “emotional artefact,” something made to stir a person as much as to be consumed. The whisky will be auctioned in a 1.5-litre magnum format, a gesture that feels ceremonial in its own right.
An Object of Art and Myth
But it is the vessel itself that turns the whisky into legend. Conceived over two years, the design is a collaboration between Japanese lacquer artists from the Hikoju Makie collective and Italian master glassmakers at Venini in Murano.
The form borrows from Japanese ceramics—smooth, flowing contours that appear simultaneously in motion and at rest. A dragon’s paradox, as Gandhi notes: able to exist in both heaven and earth. Gold powder, applied through the ancient Togidashi maki-e lacquer technique, creates dragon imagery inspired by the 13th-century Chinese painter Chen Rong, whose work shaped centuries of East Asian art.
Venini’s glasswork is no less radical. The piece fuses Inciso (engraving) with Battuto (hammering), a combination never attempted before, creating a surface where transparency and opacity chase one another like light and shadow on water. A disc of precious metal at the base offers a ceremonial anchor, grounding the vessel in ritual.
Kandoblanc’s Yukari Collection
Dragon in Clouds inaugurates Kandoblanc’s Yukari collection, described as a design journey into “emotional depth through singular objects d’art.” Two more pieces will follow, each rooted in Japanese cultural icons, each testing the edge between tradition and modernity.
For Gandhi—who once shaped whisky at The Macallan and The Lakes—Kandoblanc is a “blank canvas,” a place where the rigid traditions of whisky-making can be painted over with new possibilities. The guiding principle is kandō, a Japanese idea of quiet beauty that moves the soul.
Distillers One of One 2025
The release joins a growing list of remarkable donations to the 2025 Distillers One of One, including Diageo’s 46-Year-Old Port Ellen Prism and the 47-Year-Old Old Pulteney Polaris. Proceeds from the auction support the Distillers’ Charity, funding initiatives for disadvantaged young people across Scotland.
With Kandoblanc Dragon in Clouds, Gandhi has given not just a whisky but a statement—that the most enduring spirits are those that live as much in the imagination as in the glass.
For more information on the auction, head over to the official website.
