Pre Prohibition Old Taylor Whiskey Bottle

[ngcbach]

Hello,

My grandfather has a bottle of un-opened whiskey and wanted me to find out how much it might be worth, not to drink obviously but for any whiskey enthusiast that might like a vintage bottle. The label is not in great condition but from what I can read it is one pint with the number 2982897-23 and saying it was bottled in Spring 19_3 Made Fall 1916. I'm not even sure where to start with this question so even if you have no idea if it's worth anything could you please tell me someone who might? I will try to post pictures but if that does not work please e-mail me and I can send them that way....


Kind regards,
Nicole Bach

[bourbonv]

A bottle of this whiskey would sell for about $100.00 at the Oscar Getz auction during the bourbon festival. If the labels were in better shape It might bring as much as $200.00 on a good day. On ebay, I suspect it would go for about the same.

There seems to be a lot of Old Taylor 17yo prohibition era bottles out there. The couple I have opened were way over aged and tasted like licking a barrel stave. The quality of the product was declining toward the end of prohibition.

[Dump Bucket]

yup.... I have seen these sell for $20 up to $100 on the best day.... all depends who is out there and how unique they think it is at the moment...

with the label in this condition, the bourbon is probably in the same... Meaning, the collectors do not want it and the drinkers will be afraid to drink it...

[shoshani]

with the label in this condition, the bourbon is probably in the same... Meaning, the collectors do not want it and the drinkers will be afraid to drink it...

After my rather unpleasant experience with a mid-60s Stitzel-Weller Old Fitz decanter and more recently with a cut glass decanter of I. W. Harper from probably the 1950s, I'm far more interested in the CORK than any label. These two had labels in excellent condition, but the corks had gotten musty and the rather foul taste of that tainted the whiskey.

My best luck with older bottles (Old Taylor BiB bottled in 1979-1980, Old Grand-Dad BiB from the 1970s) has been with screw-caps, Screw caps have no cork to taint, and the bottles I've had had absolutely no loss at all on the inside.

[jinenjo]

.. Meaning, the collectors do not want it and the drinkers will be afraid to drink it...

Speak for yourself! I'd sure as hell give it a go around.

As for what it's worth, Mr. Veach is probably accurate. I might not shell out 100 clams, but I'd pay a decent amount for it (if I had the means).

Nicole, you may want to remove your email from the post as it is a sure way to attract spam and other unwanted solicitations. Good luck!

[Dump Bucket]

I'm far more interested in the CORK than any label.

That is what I mean... if the label is that bad.. think at how the cork will be...

[Bas]

Shame about the label.

This one on sale for several months now, regarding the price , i wonder why?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Very-Rare-19th-C-Ol ... .m20.l1116

The one below is more similar to your bottle.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1935-Old-Overholt-5 ... dZViewItem

I just purchased an old bottle of Old Quaker from the '70 's . I'm not sure wether to drink it or not. I hope to find another one so i can drink the one and save the other because i'm to curiuos what it would taste like.

[Voltron]

It is an amazing coincidence to me, but my grandfather had a bottle of Old Taylor that was Made in Fall 1916 and Bottled in Spring 1933, the last year of Prohibition in the US. My grandfather kept this bottle in the original box for 60+ years for some reason, and now I do the same. Here are a few iMac photos but you can see the stamp is the same and I gotta believe that your bottle must have been bottled in Spring 1933 if this one was. It even looks like it has about the same amount of evaporation.

[jinenjo]

As for what it's worth, Mr. Veach is probably accurate. I might not shell out 100 clams, but I'd pay a decent amount for it (if I had the means).

Not sure what I was thinking when I wrote that. I've had my share of over-aged bourbons, and this surely is one of them. I doubt I'd shell out even $40 for something that wasn't meant to meant to sit 17 years in wood.

[Bas]

Beautiful bottle, Voltron. Very very nice collectible.

[Voltron]

Beautiful bottle, Voltron. Very very nice collectible.

Thanks Bas. I am quite curious about drinking it one day. 2016 will be 100 years from distilling, but 2033 is 100 years from bottling and my 70th birthday year. Should I risk a long life or go for it earlier? It is cool to me because it was my grandfather's, and I also have a lot of miniatures from the 20s and 30s as well. I might have to check out your site for minis.

Cheers

[bourbonv]

Drink it on a special occasion. My experience with the Old Taylor of that vinatge is that it will either be very good or taste like you are licking a barrel stave. Either way, it makes for a fun and interesting experience.

[Voltron]

Drink it on a special occasion. My experience with the Old Taylor of that vinatge is that it will either be very good or taste like you are licking a barrel stave. Either way, it makes for a fun and interesting experience.

Mmm, staves. Yeah, I have had some old whiskey before but not this old. It will be fun and interesting indeed.

@Bas:

I went to your site and it is great. Nice collections and beautiful clear pictures. I should hit you up for some cleaning advice (after searching here of course) because I have a lot of great minis but they have dust and probably mildew on them. The tax stamps in particular need work although most labels are pretty clean. Anyway, nice work on your website.

[cowdery]

Just for the sake of clarity, we would call this Prohibition-era medicinal whiskey, not pre-Prohibition. We would only call it pre-Pro if it was bottled and sold before Prohibition. All of the whiskey sold by prescription during Prohibition was distilled before Prohibition, but we don't call that pre-Pro in normal usage.

[Bas]

I went to your site and it is great. Nice collections and beautiful clear pictures. I should hit you up for some cleaning advice (after searching here of course) because I have a lot of great minis but they have dust and probably mildew on them. The tax stamps in particular need work although most labels are pretty clean. Anyway, nice work on your website.

Thanks.
None of the mini's were cleaned by me. I buy them 'as is'. I tried cleaning a backlabel of a 'Dant' once and it became worse then it was before. So i do not do that. If it is stained- it's stained. I think it gives the bottle also that certain 'feel' to it. Hope you know what i mean, do not know how to describe it exactly . There is a site on the web with cleaning advice for those labels. Will see if i can find it again.
Some say that whiskey was meant for drinking and that even those old bottles should be opened. i think unless you have another one , you should keep it as a part and example of your Bourbon History. If it is drank , it's lost forever.