Expert: Paul Wagner - 1/10/2009

Question
I have two old unopened bottles of Marie Brizard Blackberry brandy and Cream de menthe. How do I locate the year and the value. They are cork bottles, I an guessing from 1930's or 40's. Can you help??? Thanks, Tony

Answer
HI Tony

Distilled spirits like this really only develop and improve with age in the barrel, not the bottle.  They are so high in alcohol that once they are bottled they don't change much, for better or worse, the way wines do. That means they don't change much in value, either.

With that in mind, your bottle is probably worth more or less what a current bottling of the same product is: about $35-50.  Some of the older bottles have a collectible character--but these are usually scotch or bourbon bottles. Still, you might check with the folks at antiquebottles.com.  They have a ton of information about older bottles there, and are usually happy to answer questions about value, as well.

Sorry that I don't have more exciting news.

Paul Wagner