Expert: Paul Wagner - 7/11/2009

Question
Im not familar with liqour but i got a bottle of jack daniels old time sour mash whiskey that is stll sealed never been open in great condition. It has a brown seal going over the cap both ways. Then on the bottle itself i have a small green strip of paper that says 1966 1967. Plus pennsalvina liqour control board and some numbers in the middle. It says bottled at the distillery. On one side it says Awared The Highest gold medals at then 6 places are named. Then on the back theres a picture of him with a paragraph of this rare liqour. Then Tennesse Whiskey 90 proof. I did some research and found this type No. 7 sour mash but two things were diffrent. My bottle has a green cap and a green covering and plus mines is 90 proof all the ones i saw were only 80 proof. on the 2nd side of the bottle its a horizontal picture of jack daniles distillery lynchmurg tenn. the distillery NO. 1 and the oldest registered disillery in the untied states. I have no idea how much it is worth or if it has value but any answer would be greatly appericated also its in great condition and the seal was never touched, and one more quick thing i also have an empty bottle of seven crown 7 seagrams blended whiskey 86 proof 4/5 quart it had the same seal but it was open and it has that blue strip to the year of that is 1968 1969 and thats empty though. Also the Jack Daniels is also 4/5 quart. Thankyou and please give an answer as i said it would be greatly appreciated

Answer
Hi Brian

In general, distilled sprits and liqueurs like this don't improve with age in the bottle the way some fine wines do.  The alcohol level is so high that they don't really change much at all.  The good news is that they are almost always perfectly good to drink, but the bad news is that they almost never appreciate in value. You can usually estimate that they would sell for about what a current bottling is worth.

I should point out that it is illegal for private individuals to sell alcoholic beverages in the USA.  You would have to work through a retailer or auction house, both of which would take a commission off anything sold.  

Some bottles may have more value for the packaging than the liquid inside.  You can always check with the folks at antiquebottles.com, as they are very helpful about this kind of thing.

Sorry that I can't give you more exciting news--I'd drink it!

Paul Wagner