by angelshare » Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:46 pm
Others here know much more than we do, but sometimes there are numbers on the bottom of the bottle (part of the actual glass) that clue you in - e.g., a "04" = 2004. We don't get the impression that you can find these on all bottles though. Otherwise, we assume things like minor label changes or bottling style unique to the specific brand itself are all you can use to place a bottle in a particular time period. For example, in 2015, somebody who finds a wax sealed bottle of ETL will be able to say it is 2005 or earlier.
We don't know enough about Basil Hayden to know if there are such clues about its age.
We bet Mike Veach and Chuck have some pearls of wisdom about this subject.
Dave & Tina