1986 Wild Turkey 101 in 750ml Turkey and Skunks decanter

[edo]

I stopped by this food market that sells a little whiskey today. They get strange things in from time to time (Bought the only bottle of Craganmore there a while back, and some close-out Hawaiian beer once.) Anyway, today I noticed they had three Wild Turkey 8 y.o. 101 in Turkey and Skunk decanters from 1986. The Japanese tag said there was 750 ml inside. The 'tax stamp' tape was broken on one of them. There was no price and when I asked the guy stocking, he said maybe ¥8000, about $80. He opened the one with the broken 'tax stamp' and the cork had rotted away-only half was still attached to the top, and about half the juice had evaporated. The other two might be okay. (The 'tax' seal is still all together, and when I turned them it sounded like the right amount of juice was inside.) When the guy saw the bad cork, he said maybe he could lower the price. He disappeared to look it up, but couldn't find it. He told me to come back later.

My question: What are the chances that the whiskey is still good in the other two bottles? Any idea? What would you guys pay for one of those that might be okay?

[scratchline]

No more than 25 bucks for the whiskey. And that's a good price for 750 of regular Wild Turkey. Any more and you're paying for the decanter which is of no interest to me.

-Mike

[ggilbertva]

The whiskey inside, assuming it's relatively full, will be very good bourbon. I have WT from that decade it's superb. As long as the tax stamp is intact, the cork hasn't been tampered with and the contents are somewhat full, there should be good whiskey inside.

I guess my question is regarding the price, is that a normal price you would pay for a dusty there in Japan? I've paid no more than $40 for a handle of WT from the 70/80's.

[fishnbowljoe]

What a coincidence. Returned to a store to pick up a WT12 split label I left there a while back. While I was browsing, my wife told me she found something I might be interested in. She took me to another area of the store, and up on shelves they had boxes and boxes of decanters. About half Jim Beam and half WT 8 101, plus a few other odds and ends. There was one from WT that was the first in a series and was dated 1976 or 1978. I opened another one and the head/top was off with the cork broken off in the decanter. Of course the tax stamp was broken too. There were a couple that didn't have prices, but all the ones that did were $89.99. I'd really like to try some WT 8 101, but not for $90.00. Joe

[gothbat]

I have one of these but I've never opened it because I'm not very confident in the contents. Every single one of these at the store I got it from was leaking and wet (except the one I bought but I wouldn't be surprised if it had leaked and just dried), I've had much older bottles hold up a lot better so I wonder if they used cheaper corks on these for whatever reason. Another thing to think about is the fact that the decanter is porcelain, I've never had any problems with this but some say it will affect the taste of the whiskey. Then there is the price. $80 or $90 is pretty much what I was told the original retail on these was but if you have access to current WT101 8 year you wouldn't pay nearly as much for the same amount of whiskey; I'm not sure what I paid for the litre of WT101 8 year but when you think about it like that you're probably paying more for the decanter than the whiskey.

I think I paid $40 for the one I got but in retrospect I probably paid too much.

[edo]

Thanks, guys. Ggilbertva, I've seen very few dustys in Japan, and when I do, the price is way high. The reason isn't because they are jacking the price, but rather, it's just the price they were charging when the store first got it and the yen was a lot weaker (in the 70s -80s, it was about ¥300 to $1.) and import taxes were a lot higher. So if they just kept the same price, in yen, its 4 or 5 times more expensive than newer booze paid for with the strong yen and low import tax.

'New' Wild Turkey 101 8 y.o. is readily available everywhere here. I bought a liter on sale for about $23 a few weeks ago. Generally, that's the price for the 700ml size.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. When I go back, I'll take a scale and see which one is the heaviest. Given the risk, I won't pay more than $40.