Basket of Cheer, 1974.

[Upper Tupper]

What does one do with unopened bottles of liquor from circa 1974?

Back then, I won a Basket of Cheer that contained a grouping of hard whiskey. Recently, I dumped the contents of any bottle that had been opened but never finished.

I still have a number of unopened bottles that I really don't ever see being used, but I hate to toss them before ascertaining their "value".

So from the late 70's, I have individual bottles of BOLS Peppermint Schnapps, BOLS Crème De Menthe, Ron Rico Puerto Rican Rum, and scotch by Dewar's White Label, Ballantine's, and J&B. I also have an unopened bottle of Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey from a later period.

So, dump or save?

 

[Moderator1]

Send me the Schnapps. I don't care what you do with the rest of it.

 

[Mayfly]

Talk about vintage drinks. Careful if you drop it, they may eat through your floor.

 

[ondeadline]

Peppermint Schnapps is the terrific to football games: You don't have to mix it with anything, just slug it down and you forget how boring football can get.

 

[slappy4428]

As long as you don't see things floating in it, it should be fine.
A bottle of Cabernet that my BIL gave me at Easter, on the other hand....

 

[HeinekenMan]

1974? I think it's safe to assume that the cocaine is no longer safe to ingest. Also, I wouldn't listen to that disco 8-track.

Actually, I was interested enough to do a little searching. What I discovered is that the aging process is only that which takes place in the whiskey barrel or other such container. Once it's bottled, no further aging takes place. Thus, a bottle aged for a year in 2006 will have the same potency as a bottle aged for a year in 1973.

As for the rest of it, it's my understanding that as long as the seal is tight, it should be fine to drink. So I'd enjoy it.

 

[Buck]

They're all just as good as when you got them, which for the Royal Crown is very good. I can't speak too highly of the rest.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Hey, that's when I was born!

Wonder if there's any collectable value to them?

 

[Sxysprtswrtr]

Hey, that's when I was born!

I was about to say, that liquor is older than me.

I recently helped my grandparents clean out their "liquor cabinet" - in quotes because as Southern Baptists, drinking is not encouraged yet they swear they got all the alcohol from parties and such - and I discovered bottles from the 1960s. Most of them had a foul stench when we poured it down the drain. I'm not so sure I'd drink something from '74 based on my experience. That's just me.