Is 44 year-old whisky drinkable?

Taking a moment's reflection, Powell mused: | | Going through her husband’s affects my neighbor | found a bottle of whisky. As she doesn’t drink, she | gave the bottle to me. I noticed that the tax stamp | was dated 1966 and the whisky label states that it | is six years old. If the bottle is still hermetically | sealed is it still safe to drink? Is this something | that I should save for a special occasion or should | I discard it? The bottle label reads: Seagram’s | V.O. Canadian Whisky. Thank you.

If the seal is still good, then the whisky should be fine ... provided it was kept out of the sun, and not exposed to excessive changes in temperature. Now, whether the whisky is any good or not will be a matter of personal taste. ;-)

"mhicaoidh" wrote

No, the whisky will not be good, because 6yr Seagram's VO is not good, period, no matter how long it has had a chance to spoil.

To the OP: (a) it should not be a health concern, and (b) whisky does not age once bottled. At best, this is a preserved 6yr whisky. At best. My suggestion is that you try to attain a 40 year old can of ginger ale or Coke.

John

The whisky will be fine. As blends go, Seagram's is pretty good. I would try and sell it.

Is Seagrams VO the same as Seagram's 7 or something different?

Have to say I've not been a Seagrams fan since I was about 18, or at least Seagram's 7, if it differs from VO. Makes me cringe & reminds of my adolescent drinking. In fact, over the years I've concluded there are

Seven & Seven (mainly guys) Sex on the Beach (mainly girls) Rum & Coke (both) Screwdriver (both) Gin & tonic (both)

For the record, I'm a 43 y.o. man, so other age groups likely have different perspectives on this.

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Is Seagrams VO the same as Seagram's 7 or something different?

Have to say I've not been a Seagrams fan since I was about 18, or at least Seagram's 7, if it differs from VO. Makes me cringe & reminds of my adolescent drinking. In fact, over the years I've concluded there are

Seven & Seven (mainly guys) Sex on the Beach (mainly girls) Rum & Coke (both) Screwdriver (both) Gin & tonic (both)

For the record, I'm a 43 y.o. man, so other age groups likely have different perspectives on this.

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"J Derby" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

Maybe you shouldn't open it, but try and find a whisky collector. A 6 yo Seagram's is "nothing" but a 44 year old, full whisky bottle (with the label hopefully intact) might be "something".

Frans

Some years ago my mother gave me a bottle of whisky to flambé the Christmas pudding (my parents were TT). The bottle was clearly old and apparently my mother had used it for many years, putting a bit in the pudding when she made it. I asked where the bottle was from and my father explained that the bottle was one of three given to my grandfather by a cosmetics rep. (my grandfather was the pharmacist at a chemist in Bond Street, London - he was also the optician for Holloway prison, and more importantly he was also TT).

Two of the bottles were identical being labelled

Registered "Scottish Club Whisky" Finest Highland Malt Smith Hoey Extra London

My mother kept the open bottle but I managed to drink it over a number of visits (there was only the smallest drop on the pudding!). There was a very small amount of dark sediment, but the whisky was still excellent, and appeared to still have a significant alcohol content. So why the long story? Well I have the second bottle unopened, and also the third bottle which is James Buchanan & Co Black and White and the label on the back is dated Jan 1928 - so I can certainly say that whisky which has been in the bottle for many years may well be as good as when it went in.

I would keep it for a special occasion, but have a good malt handy - that way if it is good you've got a conversation piece but also a fallback. I promised myself I would open the bottle for the birth of my first boy, but in the end I 'bottled' out and had the 25 year Springbank instead (I've not finished it yet and Toby's 5 now).

Enjoy, and think hard on what the special occasion will be!

Bob

PS - anyone know anything about the Smith & Hoey - I asked at Milroy's but they hadn't heard of it.

BFB ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) wrote: : Have to say I've not been a Seagrams fan since I was about 18, or at : least Seagram's 7, if it differs from VO. Makes me cringe & reminds of : my adolescent drinking. In fact, over the years I've concluded there are : 5 major cocktails on which people cut their teeth, one of which uses : Seagrams, although I know there are others. Not surprisingly, most have : one thing in common - sweetness, except for the last:

: Seven & Seven (mainly guys) : Sex on the Beach (mainly girls) : Rum & Coke (both) : Screwdriver (both) : Gin & tonic (both)

Pretty close to my experience. My first alcoholic beverage was beer, but over at a school party one night at a girl's apartment she offered me my first mixed drink, a "rye & ginger" (actually Canadian Club and Canada Dry). I liked it. After that when I felt like having a drink on my own I would go to the liquor store and buy a 12 ounce Seagram's VO. Not sure why I went with that except I thought Seagram's was a classy name and VO seemed something of a classy brand. I remember when I was buying it the price was under $5.00. I stayed with it for a while until I overindulged once and the results were not pretty. Haven't had it since.

-- Greg Beaulieu snipped-for-privacy@chebucto.ns.ca Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

Afraid I don't know. Thing is, I'm from the UK so Seagram's VO is a bit of a novelty and was first drunk by me on the back off a lot of Scotch and Bourbon experience. Jim Murray gives it some crazy score in his book.

Cheers,

C.

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004, cheeny weeny vociferated:

Yeah, put it on eBay -- *somebody* will pay you at least twice what it's worth. :-)

Dr H