Dates of Bottleings.

[MrClennam]

I have recently picked up some old bottleings of varous Bourbon Whiskies and dare I say it,

some Japanise Whiskey as well. A couple ( I picked up two old Benchmark's) have the Federal Tax stamps marked "Bureau of Distilled Spirits" on

them and they have no Warning Labels. The others have no tax stamps but have no warning labels and one

(A bottle of Johnny Drum) has a makeshift warning label glued over the regular label.

My questions are:

1. When were Federal Tax Stamps last used?

and

2. When were the warning labels first required on domestic and import spirits bottleings.

Answers should help me date these interesting Bottleings.

Thank you,

Mark

[cowdery]

The answer to both questions is early 1980s, though I don't remember the exact year. For the warnings, there would be an exact date when everyone had to start using them. The tax stamps disappeared more gradually. They continued to be used even after they were no longer required, as companies adopted other ways to seal their bottles to make tampering evident, but did so at their own pace.

[MrClennam]

I was thinking the mid 1980's for these bottleings as well. I am surprised that I found them

(dusty as they were) still on the shelves.

I was hoping to hear from some of the distillers out there some more definite dates on the government warning

labels and the tax stamp thing.

Did they continue using old tax stamps to show a seal even when they were no longer required by the government?

And are the stamps I describe even true tax stamps?

Regards,

Mark

[cowdery]

Did they continue using old tax stamps to show a seal even when they were no longer required by the government?

Yes, some distillers did. It varied by producer.

And are the stamps I describe even true tax stamps?

Yeah, in that they were still performing the function tax stamps always performed, albeit superflously.