Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Have an old/rare bottle you'd like some more info on?

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Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby mizzou83 » Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:59 pm

I've inherited my grandfather's liquor cabinet, and boy did he like bourbon!! My brothers and I are going to toast his memory, but I want to find out how we should conduct drinking these bottles (ie: which should we save for last?). I do love sipping bourbon, but know nothing of the old stuff. Here's what we have to open:
(Sorry, not for sale....gonna drink it!)
IW Harper - bottled in bond - bottled 1937
Stitzel-Weller Original 107 barrel proof / 7 yrs old (beige label with green writing. Has a drawing of a barrel on it)
Stitzel-Weller Original 107 barrel proof: pretty much same as above, but also has "PEOL" on label
Weller's Antique reserve - 110 barrel proof/ 10 yr old - bottle has gold threading on it
Very Old Fitzgerald - 100 proof

Any help appreciated! Thanks
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Re: Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby Bourbon Joe » Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:12 pm

Those are some very special bottles. Drink them in any order you choose. I wish I was there to help with the tasting. Post your findings.
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Re: Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby Dump Bucket » Sun Apr 12, 2009 3:46 pm

Post a picture of those so we can see what era they are.
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Re: Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby TNbourbon » Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:19 pm

And, kudos for your decision to open and drink these bottles, which I'm sure was your grandfather's purpose for originally buying them. You do justice both to your grandfather and yourselves.
Far too many first-posters on this and other bourbon fora only want to know how much something is worth (and are trolling, too, for someone to offer it to them). It is refreshing to know that some bourbon aficianados place the value on the experience and memories evoked, not the dollars which might be available.
You can get money anywhere. You just can't find these types of experiences without extreme good fortune, with which your grandfather blessed you.
Cheers to Grand-Dad! :cheers:
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Re: Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby mizzou83 » Sun Apr 12, 2009 11:04 pm

Thanks for the advice and cheers. Grandpa passed on a cpl of months ago at 105. He loved his whiskey sours. I am not able to upload the images. Comes back "file too big". Any suggestions? I'd like you to see them, as we've got the boxes, tissue papers, and velvet bags too. They're pretty cool.
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Re: Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby mizzou83 » Mon Apr 13, 2009 5:16 pm

OK, think I got them to acceptable format.
Picture1.jpg
IW Harper '37
Picture1.jpg (16.63 KiB) Viewed 6314 times
vofitz64.jpg
Very Old Fitz ''64
vofitz64.jpg (53.17 KiB) Viewed 6313 times
wellerantres110.jpg
Wellers Antique Reserve - 110 proof
wellerantres110.jpg (38.78 KiB) Viewed 6314 times
wellorig1.jpg
Weller's original
wellorig1.jpg (30.64 KiB) Viewed 6317 times
wellorigpeol.jpg
Wellers original "PEOL"
wellorigpeol.jpg (13.75 KiB) Viewed 6313 times
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Re: Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby Dump Bucket » Mon Apr 13, 2009 6:24 pm

My God are those beautiful bottles. I envy your tasters right now like crazy.

Enjoy them well and please post notes.
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Re: Ready to open old bottles. What to expect??

Unread postby gillmang » Mon Apr 13, 2009 7:22 pm

As was mentioned earlier in the thread, it might be interesting for you to compare the Wellers with their current iteration. Weller Antique 107 proof is still available, made now at a different distillery, and is nominally 7 years old. It appears from what you have that there were, at times anyway, two versions of Weller Antique: one probably 7 years old (we can't tell from the picture detail), and one 10 years old, the Reserve. In fact, some Weller 107 proof in recent years has been 9 years old or older, and it is hard to say if this is still the case. I would think not, because the company that now has the label, called Buffalo Trace, probably used up the stock of the company it bought the label from in the late 90's and is making its own which is 7 years old in fact. However that may be, an impartial tasting would be interesting. Often, but not always, an older bottling is preferred. 8 year old Old Fitzgerald was available in recent years but perhaps not lately, and may be hard to find outside Kentucky. The Weller Antique comparison shouldn't be too hard to do, though. There has been some evaporation and if it was me, I'd add a little water to the old whiskey to make the volume a fairer comparison to the new one (i.e., added to the glass), but that is optional. I've had the chance to taste bottlings similar to yours at gatherings of whiskey fans. They often are very good with a honeyed richness. Sometimes they acquire an off-taste, which is usually a metallic or "dirty" flavor, from being overly oxidized, it is really hit or miss, but when you hit a good one you should know it. This whiskey was made at D.S.P. 16 in Louisville, a legendary distillery in American bourbon history.

Regarding the Harper, a bourbon of that name is still produced, but again not at the original site, and it is very hard to find in the U.S. since it is an export item. I bought off the lower shelf of a small liquor store some years ago, in New York, I.W. Harper made when the original producing plant was still in existence. It may have sat there for 40 years since it was distilled in the late 1960's. It had a clean, good bourbon flavor, rich but light at the same time. It wasn't fruity as I recall but had a rounded caramel note with hints of barrel char. Harper was rounded more than spicy because the rye in it wasn't that prominent. Your's albeit some decades older might be similar but perhaps heavier.

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