AN historic Stourbridge wine and spirits merchants has released a celebratory whisky to toast its 225th anniversary.

The rare single cask from the Daftmill distillery was bottled exclusively for Nickolls & Perks, based in Lower High Street, with just 220 bottles released.

The launch was split over four days in the shop to give whisky connoisseurs a fair chance of purchasing a bottle, which retails at £165.

Those who couldn’t make it to the shop will have the opportunity to enter an online ballot in July along with the shop’s global customer base for the chance to buy a bottle.

Jerome Marks-Gardener, director at Nickolls & Perks, said “We were delighted to work with Daftmill, another family-owned company, to celebrate this landmark year.

“People were queuing up for hours to get a bottle.”

He added: “The first person in the queue was Alan Anderson from Derby, who arrived with his camp chair at 4.30am.

“We also welcomed a group who had travelled all the way from Fife, just a few miles from the distillery.”

The online ballot will run from July 4 to 11.

Due to the limited number of bottles available, entries to the ballot will only be open to customers who have placed an online order with the Nickolls & Perks website within the last 12 months (before 11.59pm on Monday July 4).