Old Whiskey (Pictures Added)

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
 
personally, i am a cheap drunk. company functions and they pick up the tab, i like to drink the best they have. if i'm buying, which i hear is to often, i drink cheap rum. never been able to tell the difference in the buzz. no denial, that is why i drink. never caused any problems, family, work or with the law. my wife says i am a functioning alcoholic. what does she know, she doesn't drink at all. krs/kenny :)
 

Attachments

  • 2012-10-19 (1).jpg
    2012-10-19 (1).jpg
    101.2 KB · Views: 61
as a side note...
whisk(e)y does not age in a bottle
a 32 year old bottle of 15 year old scotch is still just 15 year old scotch..[/QUOTE

The same goes for my 10 year old rum in the bottle? Even though I have had it about 20 years......

Doesn't matter what spirit it is. It's the high alcohol level, in most countries a minimum required 40% ABV/80 proof for real spirits (as opposed to liqueurs and other slop). I can't give you a competent explanation of the chemistry, but stuff that's just fermented, like beer and wine, still has residual sugars and such that can continue changing the liquid in the bottle; distilled spirits, not.

Only the oxidization I mentioned above can change spirits; they just go "flat" in a way, but not quickly. Certain connoisseurs obsess about it and use inert gasses like argon to keep oxygen out of opened bottles, but I've found that as long as you open a bottle only for pouring, an open bottle won't noticeably change for several years.
 
sorry but yes.. once in a bottle spirits are done aging

And to add one more nerdy thing:

This is why most experts don't talk about aging, but prefer the term maturation.

You can take whiskey or rum distillate off the still and put it in a sealed stainless steel or glass container for 10 years. It will be 10 years older, but it won't have aged at all :)

For spirits, age only matters as the time the spirit spends interacting with the wood, most often oak, of the barrels.

Conventional wisdom says that on older stuff, like scotches over 20 years, the wood is responsible for up to 75% of the character and flavor. The percentage number is a bit random of course. But it's a lot.
 
I worked at the Stizel Weller distillery in the early 90s and acquired a lot of bourbon. I am down to 5 bottles from that time. One of which was distilled in 1975 and aged 10 years. I have one drink left in that bottle and I'm very reluctant to drink it.

When I was working at the distillery I had the opportunity to have a few oz from the first batch distilled after prohabition. Pretty cool.
 

Attachments

  • B22CBA2C-99E7-4DB8-B700-611156EA7D57.jpg
    B22CBA2C-99E7-4DB8-B700-611156EA7D57.jpg
    72.2 KB · Views: 30
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

I found that true when trying to buy I.W. Harper in more modern times. It was almost unavailable for years, and the word was that pretty much all of their production went to Japan, as it was highly prized there and they were willing to pay the tab. :(

John
 
I found that true when trying to buy I.W. Harper in more modern times. It was almost unavailable for years, and the word was that pretty much all of their production went to Japan, as it was highly prized there and they were willing to pay the tab. :(

John

True, but it had nothing to do with quality or the Japanese paying a higher price.

It was simply a corporate decision to allocate the Harper brand to the Asian market.

Harper was and likely still is Bernheim bourbon, meaning it is contract-distilled for Diageo of London, the corporate owner, by Heaven Hill at the New Bernheim distillery in Louisville.

New Bernheim also distills the bourbon for many other brands, Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Henry McKenna to name a few. They don't cook a different recipe for every brand. Any differences are in aging, barrel selection, and marketing.

And when the Asian whisky market expanded, Harper was assigned to that market. Same thing happened to Four Roses. As long as Seagrams owned the brand, you could not get it in the US, only in the Far East. Ironically, it took a sale to new Japanese owners to bring Four Roses bourbon back to the US market.
 
I recently drank an unopened bottle of Scotch I had found at my grandparents house. I dated it to the late 1950's. I then bought a modern bottle of the same brand and discovered much to my dismay that it was actually better tasting than the old stuff.

Of course; "aging" stops once the whiskey is taken out of the cask and put into a bottle. After bottling, it just gets older, not better.
 
I killed a LOT of CC in my youth.

Health issues forced me to give up alcohol years ago. I never liked wine, beer I can live without, but I sure miss good whiskey.
 
I remain a Bushmills friend. Sometimes if available here (which Is rarely) Buffalo Trace and a good Scotch Glenlivet for single malt and Dewars White label for blended been thinking of trying the Dewars Black label.
 
You like it, buy it, enjoy it, it's never a waste of money if its something we like, I bought a penn last week, did I need another reel, Bwahahahahahahahaha, ahem, anyway, enjoy and take care.
What kind of Penn-you can't say something like that and not give details:D
 
True, but it had nothing to do with quality or the Japanese paying a higher price.

It was simply a corporate decision to allocate the Harper brand to the Asian market.

Harper was and likely still is Bernheim bourbon, meaning it is contract-distilled for Diageo of London, the corporate owner, by Heaven Hill at the New Bernheim distillery in Louisville.

New Bernheim also distills the bourbon for many other brands, Elijah Craig, Evan Williams, Henry McKenna to name a few. They don't cook a different recipe for every brand. Any differences are in aging, barrel selection, and marketing.

And when the Asian whisky market expanded, Harper was assigned to that market. Same thing happened to Four Roses. As long as Seagrams owned the brand, you could not get it in the US, only in the Far East. Ironically, it took a sale to new Japanese owners to bring Four Roses bourbon back to the US market.
Whiskey's dirty little marketing secrets. Think that's bad do some research into what they do regarding marketiting scotch. That bottle of "Beanobobbin" from the distillery at the headwaters of the Firth of Fry that Whisky spectator gives a 94 rating to may very well turn out to be the overage from the Laphroig distillery contracted out to a bottler in Canada. They are selling the name and snob appeal.
I bought a bottle of Kirklands 22 year old Speyside Single Malt for $60 a while back. Have no idea where it came from as I do not think COSTCO has a distillery but it tastes suspciously like a McCallan.
It is not the sellers fault, the Distillers DEMAND their name be kept out of it.
Buy it cause you like the taste don't buy it for the story behind it. Today more and more that applies to whiskey and whisky. Don't be afraid to experiment!!!
 
Last edited:
I have a bottle of Beefeater gin that was in my mother in law's cabinet when I started dating her daughter over 40 years ago. When my MIL died my wife threw it in the garbage but I got it out and now it sits in my cabinet.
I'm not a gin drinker but I just could not throw away a never opened bottle that is that old.
You are lucky. When my mother in law drank gin she got wicked mean
 
.....
I bought a bottle of Kirklands 22 year old Speyside Single Malt for $60 a while back. Have no idea where it came from as I do not think COSTCO has a distillery but it tastes suspciously like a McCallan.
It is not the sellers fault, the Distillers DEMAND their name be kept out of it.

Unfortunately Costco can't sell liquor in Oregon, or I'd be all over it. The Kirkland brand of scotch is well-known to frequently camouflage some treasures.

Obviously prestige brands like Macallan have no interest in it being known that you can get the same stuff and age under Costco's label for a tenth or less of the price of the distillery-labeled bottle.

So part of Costco's deals for getting cheap batches of surplus barrels are non-disclosure agreements.
 
After drinking almost nothing but Jack Daniels for years, my family doc and another forum poster introduced me to George Dickel 12. Small mistake. Now I buy Dickel 12 in the 1.75 liter bottles. My doc is cool: every 3 months, we discuss whiskey and gambling. I bought him a bottle of the latest Dickel Bottled-In-Bond last month. I go over my health issues with my broker in NY. I've got things pretty well figured out. ;)

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103
 
After a few drinks you wont care! Remember all the ladies look like young Rachel Welch at closing!

My old saying "go ugly early"

When I read this I laughed-out-loud..........wife heard me and asked what was so funny. So, I showed her and she punched me pretty hard. :D

Wives have no sense of humor sometimes. :rolleyes:


Don
 
Back
Top