A man whose father gifted him a bottle of whisky every year for his birthday is selling his collection to buy a house

• A man whose father gifted him a bottle of 18-year-old Scotch whisky for his birthday every year is selling the collection to buy himself a house.
• Matthew Robson, from Taunton, England, told the BBC he was under strict instruction from his father never to open the bottles of Macallan single-malt whisky he was gifted.
• Robson now plans to sell the collection of 28 bottles — valued at £40,000, or $53,000 — to help buy a house.

A man who received a bottle of 18-year-old Scotch whisky as a birthday gift from his father every year is said to be selling the collection to help buy himself a house.

Matthew Robson, from Taunton, England, received 28 bottles of Macallan single-malt whisky over the years, according to the BBC. He said his father told him never to open them.

His father, Pete, reportedly got him the first bottle when he was born and in total has spent £5,000 on the presents.

Now, the BBC said, the 28-year-old plans to sell his collection — valued at £40,000, or $53,000 — to put a deposit on a house.

"Each year I received it as a birthday present," Robson told the BBC. "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."

Not opening the bottles appears to have paid off for Robson. The whisky broker Mark Littler, who is selling the collection, told the BBC that the value of Macallan whisky had risen massively in the past five to 10 years.

Robson's father, who is Scottish, said he bought the first bottle of 1974 whisky to "wet the baby's head" 28 years ago.

"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 told the BBC.

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

Littler called the collection a "perfect set" and said there had been interest from buyers in New York and Asia.

"To have such a vast collection of bottles is the real selling point of these," Littler told the BBC.

Last year, a rare bottle of Scotch made headlines after it was sold for a world-record £1.45 million at auction in London.

The 60-year-old Macallan single malt was described as the "holy grail" of whisky by the auction house, Insider reported.

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