Expert: Paul Wagner - 2/24/2010

Question
I recently got a hold of an old bottle of chivas, how do I tell its age?  Does the age stamped on the bottle include the 12 yrs af aging the bottle claims as well?  The markings on the bottle indicate 0864 does the mean Aug. 1964? What is an appropriate occasion to open a bottle over 50 years? Fianlly how much could I sell it for

Answer
HI Jimmy

Distilled spirits like this are not vintage dated, and they don't change much over time because the aldohol levels are so high.  The good news is that this is fine to drink.  The bad news is that it won't have appreciated in value the way some fine wines do.  

That's why these companies use a code instead of a basic dating system--they don't want consumers to be able to tell how old a bottle is...and I don't think it's safe to assume that you can read the 0864 as a bottling date of August 1964.  

Yours is worth about what a current bottling is worth.

Sorry that I can't give you more exciting news.