IT’S always nice to receive a gift. Often, however, it’s equally rewarding to do the giving, especially if your present really hits the mark.

Perthshire dad Pete Robinson certainly knew just what his son would like for his birthday, although his boy perhaps did not appreciate this at the time.

Matthew Robinson, 28, was born in 1992 – and his proud dad Pete bought a bottle of 18-year-old Macallan whisky to celebrate the baby’s birth.

He then decided he would buy his son a bottle of single malt every year until he was 18, but as the brand became more successful the price went up.

Pete ended up shelling out £5000 on the whisky … but it was money well spent.

The collection is now worth more than £40,000 and will help Matthew buy his first house after the collection has been auctioned.

Pete, 64, from Milnathort, was working for a company that manufactured some of the raw materials for Macallan, and that’s what made him choose the brand.

He said: “Looking at the bottle, I realised that it would be quite interesting to collect 18 bottles over 18 years and then give my son the final bottle, which would be his birth year.

“I also liked the idea that the materials I made would eventually be used in the making of the Scotch.”

Matthew admitted: “I never anticipated the potential it could have for me in my life.”

I bet, though, that Matthew the boy might have preferred a pair of football boots or some Lego for his birthdays.

It just goes to show that you should never dismiss the potential in a gift.

I recall returning from a holiday in Greece some 30 years ago. I arrived bearing gifts. For my father, a bottle of Metaxa and a watermelon (it’s amazing what you were allowed in your hand luggage back in the day!). For my boyfriend … a ladle, a slotted serving spoon and a bunch of dried oregano.

To say there was gift envy going on is a mild understatement. But the Metaxa and watermelon are long gone. The ladle and slotted spoon are still dishing up family meals, the boyfriend having long since become my husband.

Admittedly, not every gift’s a winner and he never quite saw the appeal in the electric drill I gave him one year. And the wind chimes made from upcycled cutlery that sound more alarming than soothing have yet to convince him either. Indeed, they are making their way out of earshot further and further down the garden.

Matthew’s malt whisky collection is being sold by brokers Mark Littler Ltd, with every bottle in its original box.

Littler explained: “In the whisky and wine world, we call a consecutive run of vintages a vertical.

“Normally it would take a lot of time and effort to amass a vertical like this, but this is the opportunity for a collector to purchase them all instantly.”

Unless, of course, you drink the stuff. Then it’s more a case of horizontal.