pricing query

[tess]

Hi all, wondering if you can help me out with some idea of how much the following bottle of Wild Turkey is worth.

My Dad bought it for me when he was stationed in the New Zealand base in Antarctica. This was about 30 years ago.

It is a 101 proof, 8 year old Wild Turkey bottle. It has a red US Internal Revnue tag over the cap with the numbers 547564601.

Does anyone have any ideas about this bottle? Would appreciate your help & knowledge!

Thanks

[bobbyc]

Hello Tess, Here goes , since it's not legal for individuals to resell liquor the secondary market for it just really isn't there. Not like decanters for instance. However your 30 year old bottle of wild turkey is worth something . At the Bourbon Festival in Bardstown they have a bourbon auction and bottles like yours show up from time to time plus it's audience is "The Bourbon Crowd" I would expect yours to go from 50 to 100. It would depend on who was there and their interest in wt products. There really wouldn't be any consideration for the fact that your Dad bought it for you . That is a value know only to you. And the fact that it went half way around the world is pretty unique but would be hard to value. The auction benifits the Getz Museum, thye would accept the bottle as a donation and any thing it brought would go to the museum .

Bobby Cox

[Winslow]

Tess:
Can't help you with the price, but I have a similar treasure. My dad bought a bottle of 8 year old Schenley Imported O.F.C. Canadian blended whiskey. It has the bonding label over the top and a certificate of sorts on the back. It says that the whiskey was aged in charred white oak barrels since 1953 (I forget the date) and bottled in April of 1961. It had sentimental value to him because he bought it while he and mom were on vacation in Florida that year, and as legend goes, I was concieved. I'm their only child after many years so he kept it to give to me when I hit 21.

I think it will always be drinkable, but I don't believe whiskies age any more out of the barrel. It won't get better. I don't think I'll ever try to sell or drink it.

[cowdery]

Whiskey does not age in the bottle. Unpasteurized beer and wine change in the bottle because there are still active biological agents present. The high heat of the distillation process has the same effect as pasteurization. It kills any active biological agents and, if it doesn't, the high alcohol content of the distillate does. Although both are called "aging," bottle aging for beer and wine, and barrel aging for whiskey are two completely different processes. Nothing biological is happening in the whiskey barrel. The change is a result of whiskey expanding and contracting into and out of the wood, especially the charred inner layer.

Straight whiskey in a full and well-sealed bottle should last forever. It won't get better but it won't get worse either. It's very stable.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://cowdery.home.netcom.com>--Chuck Cowdery</A>

[tess]

Winslow,
Thanks for your reply. What a great story!

I understand about not wanting to sell it or drinking it (I don't drink bourbon!) I feel the same way especially as my father has since died.

Thanks again
Tess

[tess]

Bobby,

Thanks for the information. As you said the sentimental value is very high!!

Thanks,
Tess