Expert: Paul Wagner - 1/9/2010

Question
Greetings!  We recently inherited a number of bottles from a home bar.  Among them is a bottle of Dowling Deluxe, 16 years, 100 proof.  Distilled in "spring 1953" and bottled "fall 1969".  Not familiar with this brand and can't seem to find the history.  It does say it is "a special bottling from the remainder of our private stock of very rare old Kentucky Bourbon bottled from the original barrels".  Never opened.  Any info?

Answer
Hi Deborah

Distilled spirits like this are so high in alcohol that they don't change much over time.  SO the good news is that yours is pretty safe to drink.  The bad news is that it hasn't appreciated in value the way some fine wines do--this one is probably worth about what a current bottling of similar bourbon would sell for---maybe about $35.  

Here's a link to tasting note on Dowling Bourbon:

http://www.bourbonenthusiast.com/forum/DBvd.php?id=310&task=displaybottling

And here's a bit more background information: "This is probably  a product of the D.L. Moore Distillery, RD#23, in Mercer County. The Dowling family owned that distillery from 1889 until Prohibition and operated it as Dowling Brothers. After Prohibition it apparently changed hands several times between the Schenley company and an individual named Bob Gould. I can't tell from my source (Sam Cecil's book) who owned it in 1959 or 1980, but apparently it operated as the Dowling Distillery until it closed and, again, I'm not sure when that was. It seems likely that this was some of the last whiskey from that distillery. The Dowling family was involved in other distilleries, but not that late. This distillery, however, seems to have owned the Dowling name and used it well into your period. This seems like the best candidate for your whiskey."

Hope that helps

Paul Wagner