Expert: Paul Wagner - 7/1/2009

Question
I have sealed bottles of Seagrams 5& Seagrams & that are approximately 50 years old and want to know if they are consumable even though some of the alcohol has evaporated.  I also want to know how to date the bottles?  Do the numbers on the "tax label" help in dating them?  Also, is there a market for these bottles?

Answer
Hi Sheri

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.

Paul Wagner