Old Whiskey

[TZOLK]

Hey, Ive just been given some old bottles of whiskey with the red and white federal seals still over the caps. The only one with a date is a Seagrams white label dated 1959. The others are a Glenfidditch, 100 pipers and Ballentines scotch. Does anyone know if the whiskey is still good. I really dont want to open them. :dunno

[snoone]

Definately no good, however I am working on an invention using old whiskey as an alternative fuel in my 1150GS. I'll gladly pay freight.

[lorazepam]

I would imagine it is, and dont let anyone in here talk you out of them.

[BobFV1]

Hey, Ive just been given some old bottles of whiskey with the red and white federal seals still over the caps. The only one with a date is a Seagrams white label dated 1959. The others are a Glenfidditch, 100 pipers and Ballentines scotch. Does anyone know if the whiskey is still good. I really dont want to open them. :dunno

They should be absolutely fine, with or without the seals. They could even have been open and placed in other containers and they would still be fine. Contrary to urban legend, whiskey is not wine and once it is aged and blended (unless a single malt, which is not blended) it pretty much stops changing, unless it is mixed with another liquid or exposed to some very unusual environmental conditions (like being left in open containers in a place with something that can get in to the whiskey).

So your bottles can be open and enjoyed any time. The Glenfiddich is most probably the best that you have - that one should be savored, drunk neat or in a glass with a little fresh water - not over ice or mixed with anything else. the Ballentine's and 100 Pipers are probably very average blended scotch whiskies (although check the Ballentines, they have bottled some single malts). The Seagrams is just an old bottle of very quotidien canadian whiskey, but it may be worth something, it its current sealed and unopened state, to somebody born in 1959, or with some other affinity for that fine year (for example - my wife was born that year and she is of extremely fine vintage).

Enjoy the whiskey. I am available to assist with the GS fuel conversion process if snoone wants to go forward with it :thumb - while listening to "Tennessee Jed".....

[TZOLK]

The glenfiddich says is unblended and 10 years old at time of bottling. Oh yeah and theres an old Old Grandad as well. Thanks for the info. You guys are great. :clap Sometimes I spend more time talking to you'all then to the misses :doh

[lorazepam]

You might consider saving a bottle of scotch for the Rounder ride, if it lasts that long :D

[TZOLK]

If you mean the Solstice then, yeah. Ill bring a bottle :buds . The little women wont let me touch the Glenfiddich until our wedding night. :cry

[lorazepam]

Yeah the Solstace ride, the snow is making me think rounder today, You should save the best for a great event like that

[BubbaZanetti]

we bought a 3 liter bottle of Canadian Club (ugh, i know) whiskey for a christmas party last year. the label on the bottle was dated 1955 and it said it had been aged 5 years. the guy at the store said he'd had it since the 1970s when he bought it as a novelty due to its size. i'm not a big whiskey fan, but that stuff was much smoother than any new bottle of canadian club i've ever tried............

[kbasa]

It's no good. Send it to me for proper and safe disposal. :1drink

[BubbaZanetti]

kbasa,

you could buy 5 bottles of maker's mark for the price of shipping on this bottle..........

[kbasa]

kbasa,

you could buy 5 bottles of maker's mark for the price of shipping on this bottle..........

Okey dokey. Send those over instead. :evil

[rocketman]

Hmmm, as long as there is no seditment and it has not discolored due to contaminents should be OK.
On the other hand... reminds me of some whisky we once found in my friends house after his parents died. It was called, I beleive, Wilson's Whisky, and below the label it stated simply "That's All" ! Well it looked kinda cloudly and had some serious sediment at the bottom (it was about half empty) so we decided against sampling it. Must have been in the back of the "medicine" cabinet since well before WWII.

So .........

RM

[TZOLK]

The GlenFiddich has a little sediment in it. But Ill be damn if its gettin tossed!!
Curious thing I just saw, well, im into the 100 Pipers already- Its a blend from Glen Keith /Glenlivet- and when I took the cap off twice, there was like this little ring of "smoke" that went up into the air from the bottle top. Weird!!

[rocketman]

The GlenFiddich has a little sediment in it. But Ill be damn if its gettin tossed!!
Curious thing I just saw, well, im into the 100 Pipers already- Its a blend from Glen Keith /Glenlivet- and when I took the cap off twice, there was like this little ring of "smoke" that went up into the air from the bottle top. Weird!!

Did a drunken Genie appear shortly afterwards? :D

RM

[paulsibek]

Unless it's corrupted, exposed to some bacteria or crap it actually will continue to get better with age if the seal is good. Wine does too but is very tempermental and can be spoiled by changes in temperatire or exposure to light and air. With wine you run the chance of getting vinegar with Whiskey all you get is WHISKEY!!!

Cognac also gets better, waaaaay better with age.

Just had a 50 year old single malt Scotch and it was almost too smooth.

Once you open it and see how good it's become you get mad at yourself for opening it, and on and on and on...

Careful though, if you want to put it in a flask, make sure the flask is a good one or the whiskey will react to the metal unless it's SS or better yet titanium. Glass is best.

[BobFV1]

Unless it's corrupted, exposed to some bacteria or crap it actually will continue to get better with age if the seal is good. Wine does too but is very tempermental and can be spoiled by changes in temperatire or exposure to light and air. With wine you run the chance of getting vinegar with Whiskey all you get is WHISKEY!!!

Cognac also gets better, waaaaay better with age.

Just had a 50 year old single malt Scotch and it was almost too smooth.

Once you open it and see how good it's become you get mad at yourself for opening it, and on and on and on...

Careful though, if you want to put it in a flask, make sure the flask is a good one or the whiskey will react to the metal unless it's SS or better yet titanium. Glass is best.

Hate to be a contrarian but (unlike wine) distilled liquor stops changing when bottled, it is only the age at bottling that determines the quality and taste, and depending on the particular booze, older is not neccesarily better. A 10 year old Glenmorangie bottled in Tain, Scotland, may be roughly equivalent in quality to a 12 year old Glenlivet or a 15 year old Macallan - although that is all subjective. An 18 year old Glenmorangie is, however, as smooth as - well, it's like wiping your a** with silk...