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Alcohol experts drink 150-year-old bottle of booze found in old mining town: ‘You have to try it’
ny post ^ | Feb. 3, 2026, 2:58 p.m. ET | Andrea Margolis, FOX NEWS

Posted on 02/03/2026 6:25:47 PM PST by BenLurkin

The team carefully examined the liquid’s appearance and color before opening it up.

Finding that the cork had a slight vinegary smell, they began extracting the liquid to determine the type of alcohol.

“We weren’t sure if it was clear spirit, if it was aged spirit, if it was beer, if it was wine, if it was champagne,” Winter said.

To minimize disturbance, the group used a Coravin device, which allows liquid to be extracted without fully removing the cork.

When the bottle was opened, the team took careful note of its smell.

Tara Lindley, director of sensory and product development at High West, said the first scent she detected was an “oxidized fruit note.”

“It’s fruity. There’s a little bit of leather. There’s quite a bit of age on it,”

Based on the smell, appearance, and condition of the liquid, the team concluded it was more likely a beer than a wine or distilled spirit.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: andreamargolis; booze; coravindevice; dietandcuisine; godsgravesglyphs; history; hooch; newyorkpost; oenology; pruno; taralindley; wildwest; zymurgy
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To: LukeL

So I’ve heard. However I cracked a 47 year old bottle of the Jack Daniel’s and it was about the smoothest hooch I’ve ever had


21 posted on 02/03/2026 8:41:10 PM PST by j.havenfarm (25 years on Free Republic, 12/10/25! More than 12,750 replies and still not shutting up!)
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To: j.havenfarm
However I cracked a 47 year old bottle of the Jack Daniel’s and it was about the smoothest hooch I’ve ever had

Smooth, being a relative term.

Give a teaspoon to a toddler then note their reaction to that 'smooth' distilled spirit. ;^)

22 posted on 02/03/2026 9:04:44 PM PST by Ol' Dan Tucker (For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard., -- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4)
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To: jimtorr
Depends on the town. If it was a gold/silver mining town, at or near peak production, the saloons would have imported the best booze in the world.

One thing is guaranteed is that these saloons would have had the best food in town.

Back in the day, many saloons offered a full spread of the finest all-you-can-eat "free lunch" for the cost of a $0.15 drink.

There's a YouTube channel called "Tasting History." In one episode, he talks about the dining fare in Old West Saloons, specifically in mining towns.

If you have 20 minutes to spare, it's entertaining. BTW, the pork and beans recipe he shares in that episode is really good.

23 posted on 02/03/2026 9:40:13 PM PST by Ol' Dan Tucker (For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard., -- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4)
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To: Ol' Dan Tucker

Yeah, I saw that episode. Max Miller is great. I mostly watch him for the history, but as you say, he has some pretty great recipes. I can’t watch his latest, though, Kangaroo meat during WW2 in Auzzie Land.

Metatron, who is a trained linguist, and Sicilian, says that he really does his research on the Roman Empire and pronounces the Latin correctly.


24 posted on 02/03/2026 10:26:09 PM PST by jimtorr
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To: BenLurkin

.


25 posted on 02/03/2026 11:49:45 PM PST by redinIllinois (Pro-life, accountant, gun-totin' Grandma - multi issue voter )
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To: DesertRhino
[...] and often mixed with ingredients like tobacco, red pepper, and molasses to improve flavor or color.

More likely: To mask the awful taste of rotgut.

Regards,

26 posted on 02/04/2026 12:03:18 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: mikey_hates_everything
Substances and chemicals 150 years ago that no one imagined could be poisons, contaminates or carcinogens, much less radioactive?

Unless you are deliberately trying to concentrate (natural) radionuclides, there's little chance of your inadvertently doing so.

And radioactivity wasn't discovered until 1895.

Regards,

27 posted on 02/04/2026 12:06:09 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: DesertRhino

” often watered down”

Probably massively. If you read the accounts of the quantities they consumed, either they had a real resistance to alcohol poisoning, or the booze was severely watered down.


28 posted on 02/04/2026 12:18:17 AM PST by rxh4n1
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To: MAGA2017

I know right? And if they are still alive ,are they blind yet? I can’t even drink beer that even has a hint of being skunked, and we’ve had bottles of wine Go bad in the past or at least start to, and the vinegar smell is enough to make you hurl.


29 posted on 02/04/2026 12:40:04 AM PST by suasponte137
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To: alexander_busek

Sure, stuff like Radithor came later but you didn’t need to discover radiation to think that someone might add uranium or radium, which still existed in some form, to a drink because they thought it improved its flavor. Maybe it leached out of the bottle glass, put there to add color. They used whatever they found to make stuff and had no idea about the toxicity—going back to the Romans who put lead acetate into wine and food to sweeten them.


30 posted on 02/04/2026 12:51:51 AM PST by mikey_hates_everything
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To: BenLurkin

Humanity.

Can I eat it?

Can I drink it?

Can I pet it?

Can I F.................................................

Can I Kill it?

HFY stories on youtube.


31 posted on 02/04/2026 1:21:38 AM PST by BFW
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To: BenLurkin
Finding that the cork had a slight vinegary smell,

Perhaps the source of the recent attack on Ilhan Omar, the satanic muzzoid?

32 posted on 02/04/2026 1:53:00 AM PST by newfreep ("There is no race problem...just a problem race")
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To: mikey_hates_everything
Your concerns are (in part) valid - but the risks are minimal to negligible.

[...] or radium, which still existed in some form [...]

In nature, radium is found in uranium ores in quantities as small as a seventh of a gram per ton of uraninite [...]

-Wikipedia

It is extremely difficult to extract Radium from any naturally occurring ores. Naturally occurring Radium, itself, presents a miniscule risk to human health.

(The radioactive gas Radon, however, which is a decay product of Radium and which can accumulate, over time, in closed rooms surrounded by Uranium-bearing rocks and soil, is another matter - though the rocks have to be sufficiently cracked and porose to allow the gas to escape.)

It's a complex topic - but one shouldn't overdramatize the risk posed by naturally-occurring radionuclides in normal settings.

Of course, man-made sources (mine tailings, sulfate scale from oil wells, improperly disposed-of technical products, etc.) are another matter - but 150 years ago, hardly any such problems would have been present.

Frankly, I'd be more concerned about mundane (chemical) poisoning effects!

Regards,

33 posted on 02/04/2026 2:09:28 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: BenLurkin

‘Mad brewer’ to open 1875 bottle of beer after it was found in a garage

https://www.standard.co.uk/going-out/foodanddrink/arctic-ale-innis-and-gunn-beer-b1256246.html


34 posted on 02/04/2026 2:11:59 AM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: rickomatic

“Hey Fred. Piss in this bottle and stick it under the floor boards.. “

Sunshine cocktail!


35 posted on 02/04/2026 2:14:49 AM PST by KingLudd
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To: Ol' Dan Tucker

Give it a few more snd see a different result!


36 posted on 02/04/2026 4:00:30 AM PST by CodeToad
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To: meatloaf

When we moved, I left a note for the new owner with a few things about the house, shutoff valve locations etc. One of the points read “I buried $20,000 in the backyard. I forgot where.”


37 posted on 02/04/2026 4:27:02 AM PST by cyclotic (Don’t be part of the problem. Be the entire problem)
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To: BenLurkin

It was Otis Campbell approved.


38 posted on 02/04/2026 4:47:34 AM PST by Vaduz (NEVER TRUST A DEMOCRAT)
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To: BenLurkin
About 15 years ago, the brother of a friend of ours passed. He was single and pretty wealthy, and left everything to his brother, our friend. He held a small wake for him at his brother's house, which we attended with about 10 others.

Our friend offers up a toast for his brother and says we will be celebrating his life with some bottles from his brother's impressive wine collection. I don't remember the name, only that it was a red bordeaux with a 1950's vintage, and it tasted pretty decent. He poured 2 bottles into the glasses, we toasted, and he then told us that that those particular bottles were worth $7K each, EACH! That worked out to $2800 of wine between the wife and I. Crazy!

39 posted on 02/04/2026 5:08:31 AM PST by SirFishalot
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To: MAGA2017

Except for a newly-insatiable craving to eat human brains, they’re just fine.


40 posted on 02/04/2026 5:13:09 AM PST by TheThirdRuffian (Orange is the new brown)
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