Whisky windfall: Man finds rare 100-year-old bottles hidden in the attic

NY Daily News ^ | July 6, 2012 | Meghan Neal

[yorkie]

When a Missouri man decided to install central air-conditioning and central heat in the attic of his historic house, he found much more than he bargained for.

Bryan Fite, of St. Joseph, Mo., discovered 13 bottles of century-old whisky under the floorboards in the attic of his 1850s house.

He didn't recognize his good fortune right away, thinking the bottles were tubes or oddly shaped installation pipes. But Fite soon discovered he was sitting on a goldmine of antique whisky - the bottles are likely worth several hundred dollars each, and possibly more.

[SunkenCiv]

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Thanks yorkie. I wasn't going to ping this, but A) I forgot to put the message in here at all, and B) I carelessly let slip my opportunity to do yesterday's Digest, uh, yesterday. This is just an abjectly apologetic message to all that I will get around to it today. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[sneakers]

I live in a house built in 1804. I know there’s an old privy hole somewhere in our yard - probably under the apple tree. Might be some nice old bottles and other stuff down in there somewhere!

[Bigg Red]

Distilled spirits have an unlimited shelf life.

&&&
How about if they have been opened once or twice and then capped? Still good? If not, I am in trouble.

[EggsAckley]

LOL! I think maybe a little longer than that, but not by much. My dear old Dad invented Thunderbird, and then moved on to Night Train. Also came up with Ripple a few years later.

And no, I won’t tell you his name, but I will say that he was the original winemaker for what was to become the biggest winery in the world. Worked for them for sixty years, until his death.

[BradyLS]

If it’s all the same brand and age, the owner could use one bottle for research puproses to establish the likely quality of the others!

[BradyLS]

There are a couple of bottles buried under the floor of Ft Yuma that were put there, along with other stuff when the fort was abandoned. The Nat’l Park Service refuses to let a dig take place for it.

My bet is that cache has been looted by its protectors by now!

[MHGinTN]

I don't drink bourbon, but with something this old, I'd volunteer to help taste test it! I used to make a pretty good Mint Julip years ago.

[Betis70]

I found a projectile point from ~9,000 BC (Folsom). :P I was working as an archaeologist at the time, but it was just sitting on the ground.

[mylife]

There ya go.

[TXnMA]

"Might be some nice old bottles and other stuff down in there somewhere!"

One of my colleagues (now deceased) used to claim the privy for his "square" when we were on a historic-site dig. He said that was where "all the good stuff" was.

Funny thing: he always wound up smelling like "the other stuff"...

We always put him downwind at lunch time... '-)

[sneakers]

LOL! “The other stuff” is long gone by now! A man came into my office, several years ago, with a photo of a jug he found in an old privy hole. Blue-grey with three X’s on it. He said it was extremely collectible and worth a great deal of money. Of course, I expect I’d only find bottles, maybe coins, buttons and whatever the kids would throw down in there! There were other privies on the property, but most too recent (the last privy was torn down and hole filled in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s). No way I’d touch that. The one that’s probably under the old apple tree would be the original from 1804.

I’m too old to be digging anyway, but if that tree ever comes down (and it’s due to be chopped down), I’ll find a young’un who likes treasure hunting to help dig it up! Maybe I can contact “American Diggers”!

[TheOldLady]

Yeah. I realize that the horse has left the barn, but white wines do not age so well as red.

Hubby found an old bottle of white wine a few weeks ago among the “empty” moving boxes in our cellar. It was actually not quite bad, but it was close.

[dsc]

“I found a projectile point from ~9,000 BC (Folsom).”

How did you date it?

[Betis70]

Projectile points are like fashion, except they rarely come back into fashion. This is one of the better known paleo-indian points, with very secure dating using C-14.

No other projectile point on the planet looks like a Folsom point. There are some that have similar characteristics, but none that would be mistaken for it, even at a glance.

Compare:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_point

With an earlier Paleo point:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_point

[colorado tanker]

This guy is from St. Joseph, Missouri, in the Northwest part of the state on the Missouri River. Although St. Joes was technically not in Little Dixie, the region to the North of the River was generally settled by people from the Upper South. There were whiskey distilleries in the area. One, McCormick’s, still survives in nearby Weston.

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ct.

[Founding Father]

I believe Thunderbird and Night Train are only aged a couple of hours.

"Aged in transit" is the scientific term you're looking for.