Expert: Paul Wagner - 7/8/2011

Question
my boyfriend and i have a bottle of chivas brothers royal salute limited edition that was given to us by a friend 12 years ago. We are curious as to the possible age and value of this item. It is a dark blue bottle with gold labels and comes with a blue and gold bag. The bottle has never been opened and we were curious sbout this since a bottle of hennessee we were given was worth 2800 dollars right now. there are some numbers and letters stamped on the bottom back of the bottle. Lm70613 and prd20869. Any info u might b able to give us would be much appreciated.

Answer
Hi Michelle

Distilled spirits like don't change with age in the bottle much for better or for worse, because the alcohol levels are so high.  Once it comes out of the barrels, it's pretty bomb-proof.

So yours is perfectly fine to drink, but it won't have appreciated in value the way some fine wines do.

It's worth just about what a current bottline is worth:  something between $150 and 200 a bottle or so.

Hope that helps

Paul Wagner