Beam's Choice 8yr old from 1976

[flahute]

I'm visiting my parents who found religion and stopped drinking somewhere around 1977. Amazingly, they still have these old ceramic decanters on a shelf. These three are still sealed and full. There are also 4 empties in a square shape. All of them have these reproduction James Lockhart wildlife paintings on them and have a copyright date of 1976. Though it would be fun to taste these, I recall that ceramic bottles can leach lead into the whiskey and that it's probably not advised.

They also have have these little ceramic bird decanters labeled "Ski Country Bourbon Whiskey". I did a little googling on that and only came up with info the decanter manufacturer so I don't know whose whiskey is in those.

These will stay with my parents for now.

Was this whiskey any good back in the day?

[amg]

Not all ceramic glazes have lead in them. I'd probably take my chances myself.

[PaulO]

There are lead test kits for ceramics.

[jmj_203]

There are lead test kits for ceramics.

[flahute]

I dug into the archives and found the thread where michaelturtle did some actual lead testing with lab equipment and mostly found small amounts present. There were two Beam samples from the same era that tested quite low so though I don't know for sure on these since they weren't tested, it probably won't hurt to try some.

[smknjoe]

Lead is a very real possibility and the home test kits are not only usually inaccurate, but are not designed to test alcohol. So, you will likely not get accurate results from those tests. Here is a thread on some fairly recent lead testing of bourbon decanters: http://www.straightbourbon.com/forums/showthread.php?20650-Lead-testing-in-bourbon-step-by-step Some of the results were pretty high including my decanter of Weller 90 proof.

Edited June 24, 2014 by smknjoe
Bad grammar

[sutton]

To smokinjoe's point: the only way to know what you yourself are holding is to get it tested. Michaelturtle's results were great that someone had the skill and willingness to actually do their own testing and put some numbers to the speculation.

But I think the only conclusion you could draw was that there is significant variance - which is to be expected. The sample size is too small to draw a meaningful conclusion on the likely amount of lead in your individual decanter.

[Enoch]

I'm pretty sure those are painted glass decanters. You should be fine. I have several and it taste great.

[flahute]

I'm pretty sure those are painted glass decanters. You should be fine. I have several and it taste great.