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Total noob type question (compared to what else you guys discuss) so I'm posting it here. I'm looking for some tips on how to read the numbers on bottles and labels to determine different years of bottlings and manufacturing dates. Any tips for how I'd go about doing this?
Could you post a photo or two of the label(s) in question?
While this question was inspired by a particular bottle I'd like a more general "how to" on reading anything that's not obvious on the label.
I always look for the DSP #. Anything with DSP 16 is going to be good. Sometimes you can find a date n the bottom of the bottle. One of the members posted a list of DSP nos. Maybe with some research you can find it. After 5 years, that's all I know.Quote:
Originally Posted by StraightNoChaser
On the bottom on the bottle there are usally four numbers/letters/symbols and they are again usally set apart like in a four corner pattern.
One of those number will for example say 06 that would be the date the bottle was manufactured, 2006.
They use the bottles fast so that is a good indicator of when that bourbon got bottled.
Obviously anything with a tax strip, or almost anything with a faux tax strip, gives you an idea that it's not new. There's a thread somewhere that talks about when the tax strips went out, were replaced by faux strips (by some bottlers), and then replaced altogether by tamper-resistent caps. Rughi's thread called, "Dating Old Forester" deals with that as it concerns OF.
In many cases the address on the bottle also says alot (e.g. if a bottle of Ol' Grand Dad says only Frankfort, it is probably National Distillers. If it also says Clermont, it is probably made by Beam)
The presence of a bar code, a.) denotes that it was made after a certain date, and b.) will tell you who made it. Again, I think there's a thread with a list of bar code numbers that will tell you, for example, if your bottle of Old Weller was made by SW or BT.