I came across a bottle of Very Very Old Fitzgerald Bonded 12 year old. It has been sitting in a closet at my parents house for 30 or 40 years. It is in a leather presentation box, silk lined with two shot glasses. The seal label says distilled in spring 1951 and bottled fall 1963. The label carries the signature of one Julian P. Van Winkle, Senior Proprietor. Haven’t opened it yet...I guess after 55 years there is no rush. What should I expect?

Sell it online and buy some Bulleit.

Sell it, drink it with friends, you can’t go wrong.

I would have to drink it!!!

Sell it.

Sell it, some fools would pounce on that.

By a years supply of miller lite with the proceeds

I'd like to have sip of that but since i can't, drink it!

If this is comparable to prices on Pappy Van Winkle, with yours' pedigree I would expect $3-5k value to some fool.

What a cool find

Sell it. It's good bourbon I am sure, but for what you could sell it for you, can buy a lot of good bourbon and still have cash left over.

Very Very Old Fitzgerald

Heck of a find!
I'm with the others though, I'd sell. Worth a small fortune to the right buyer if seal is unbroken. Get yourself a custom rifle and a case of decent booze.

This thread makes me want to drink.

Excellent Idea!

I'll trade you the very warm case of PBR I found in the closet

I think I will buy wifey a half gallon of Jack for Christmas.

Take a picture of it and show us for gods sake. Hurry.
I don’t think I could open and drink a $5000 bottle of whiskey.

Woof! What a find!!! Nearly akin to winning the LOTTO..




For sure.........

Save It! I’ll be up there working on the ranch this summer! I’ll supply the ribeyes!

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Can’t get the photo posting thing...will try later this am

I’d sell that schit in a heartbeat if some fool was willing to throw down $5k for it. Hell, anything over $1k and it’d be out the door!

Pray the cork is still in good condition.

To be clear, it's 55 year old 12 year old Bourbon. It's not 77 year old Bourbon.

Let someone pay you way too much for it.

Yep, this ^^^^^

Hopefully, the case was laying down, not standing up !

Yep, laying down and seal is intact, but there has been some evaporation and the whiskey is down to mid shoulder or a little lower. I did go to the link above and a nice guy form the Los Angeles Whiskey Society contacted me; I sent pictures and he is going to give an offer to buy. I think I will likely keep and drink but we will see what he offers.

I'd sell it, buy a good bottle of single malt, and pocket the rest...

It'd be nice if they attempted to list a price. Where you guys coming up with 5K?

I'd keep it and drink it.

My question though is would bourbon that has been sitting in the bottle for this long be any good?

The bottle is probably worth in the $2,000-$2,500 range. What may make it crazy valuable is the presentation box. Very cool find. I'd get it to one of the high-end bourbon auctions.

Problem with those auctions is that they take a pretty good chunk of the winning bid for their cut. Hell, put it up in te classififieds here and see what somebody offers you. Nothing says you have to sell it if you don't get what you want. Seem to be quite a few aficionados on the fire. You might be surprised what someone is willing to pay .

Be careful about selling it as it is illegal for a private individual to sell liquor. You may not want to annouce it, people do it all the time on line, just an FYI

I believe Kentucky just passed a law to allow the sale of antique liquor by individuals.. Not sure of details.

No doubt you will get a pretty penny for it.

You do not want the case to be on its side. Its the opposite of what you want for wine storage. Whiskey degrades cork, so hopefully it was stored up right

If it is unopened don't pop the cork if you want to sell it. Whether its good or bad is on the buyer not you, they will buy it knowing they are taking that chance.

Is it 80 or 100 proof?

I'll swap ya a BSA Red Dot scope, right friggin' NOW! Please PM me for details.

FC

Ha ha yes 100 proof, bottled in bond. I put a photo in the image gallery but can't figure out how to get it up here to the thread.

+1

Put it in the 24HCF free classifieds. The cheapskates / bourbon snobs will be swarming like buzzards. PM box will probably blow a fuse.

That's one hell of a Christmas present. Almost like going up in the attic to look for some something and finding grandpa's new old stock Winchester 52 in the original case behind some old boxes. Never happened to me but you hear similar stories of finds like that on occasion. Congratulations...

THAT - is one helluva prize.. Presented like that, in its original case etc., might fetch something north of $7,000. Woof!

OUTstanding find!

7 large??!! I want to believe but dang....Stll waiting to hear from the LA Whiskey Society. And to think, the night before I started this thread I almost opened it for a sip, but then got distracted and didn't. Can't imagine that ANY booze would be worth that much. I've had some fairly expensive wine over the years and some $700 dollar port a few years back when someone else was buying. It was good no doubt but not THAT good.

Might wanna contact Sotheby's.. Seriously..

Some folk have money to burn. Some want to act like they do.

Either way, you're in a no lose situation!

If it is anything like Pappy I would sell it inna heartbeat.

For very spendy bourbon ...Pappy has been extremly disappointing.

I keep trying it to see if I am missing anything. Very smooth but poor taste .

I like Old Granddad 100 P. bottled in bond . Kinda harsh and ice don't hurt it.

Interesting. It was distilled the year I was born. But I’ve never spent over $60 for a bottle of booze, so I’ll have to pass.

Submitted photos to a couple of whiskey brokers...first offer back is $1400.

looks like $5K retail.

Lowball offer.

Yep, I think so

Intereresting how they do the transaction. They send me a prepaid insured UPS box and a certified check for half the amount. When they receive it they wire transfer the other half.

Tonight will be a bourbon night!

They're hoping to catch a fish... I assume you told 'em to GFY...

Seriously - call Sotheby's....

Anyone that drinks a $5K bottle of booze is a retard.

The end.

Said the pauper to the king

Go slow, I am sure you can get $5,000. I have been on the bourbon trail a long time, long be for it was a fad back when Pappy was $50 per bottle. There are many shisters just like with antique anything. Don't accept that bull [bleep] offer where they send you half and then half later, they will claim the cork is bad or the bottle cracked. The bottle alone with out the booze in it is worth a few bucks (someone will refill it and sell as unopened).

There are many bourbon blogs on the web. Any one of them will lead you to a good buyer. You can even try Reddit if desperate.

It’s Saturday, about time for some!