My 2¢ worth.
My outlook on old whiskey comes from my Maternal family, all Swiss emigrants, and my Paternal family, a dukes mixture of Scotch, Irish, PA Dutch, and Native American.
My maternal family, considered, by their friends, and neighbors to possess average wealth, drank any alcoholic beverages available, to them, that they could afford, or brew themselves. They imbibed alcoholic beverages, all day long day long, and yet I never saw one of them inebriated.
My paternal family, showed the effects of alcohol, to a much higher degree. especially my Dad, who could smell the cap of a beer bottle, and become inebriated immediately. Maybe there is some truth in the the old belief, that Natives Americans can't handle their booze. True?
In 2000 my wife and I toured the Kentucky distillery area, with an Airstream RV club. We visited, and sampled the wares of the popular distilleries in the area.
Somewhere on that tour, I was made an honorary Kentucky Col.
On that tour, I acquired a few commemorative bottles of KY Bourbon, one a stone jug of Evan Williams bourbon, a bottle of Makers Mark, that I sealed, and labeled myself, a decorative bottle of Jim Beam, and possibly others that I've forgotten.
A few years ago while moving some of my stored, favored, Booze, I picked up the stone jug of Evan Williams, I noticed that it seemed really light in weight. Upon examination I discovered fine cracks in the bottom of the jug, and all the bourbon had all slowly leaked out, or evaporated, and that, still sealed jug is empty.
In 1944, when I was 13 yrs old, My Dad sent me a small bottle of 50 yr old White Horse Scotch, found, in a old safe in a historical hotel in Athens, OH, that was being renovated. That booze was stored nearly 60yrs, before it was dumped in the trash, by a loved one.
Those were memorable lessons that I learned, about the futility, of hoarding things away for a later day.
While on that tour, I discussed KY booze, with the proprotor of a large booze store in Bardstown KY, and he informed me that the highest grade KY booze is never sold in the USA, but to other Countries, that are willing to pay much higher prices for the best USA booze than USA buyers. True?
Chubbo
