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I drank an unopened bottle of 120 year old scotch I found buried in sand at the beach. Planned to donate it to a museum but the cork fell out on its own so I tr

by _yb2s 3y ago

I drank an unopened bottle of 120 year old scotch I found buried in sand at the beach. Planned to donate it to a museum but the cork fell out on its own so I tried it. Was pretty awful tasting TBH.

etrautmann 3y ago
How did you come across this? Were you digging with the intention of finding something?
- _yb2s 3y ago
  Just walking on a beach, and ran across it randomly.
TheRealPomax 3y ago
If the cork fell out on its own, what possessed you to even try it? That bottle had been interacting with the environment for years, if not decades.
- bunga-bunga 3y ago
  To be fair, all the interactions were sanitized with 40% alcohol.
- _yb2s 3y ago
  It fell out after several months of drying out, I think it was sealed until then. I made a mistake of storing it vertical when it sat horizontal for a century. It was drinkable, just not very good.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
Liquor doesn't really age in the bottle. Learned that the hard way from a 100 year old bottle of 5 year whiskey a buddy found at an estate sale.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Liquor doesn't really age in the bottle I know this is the industry answer, but I don't buy it. For one, anyone who has stored liquor or wine vertically knows that the cork is constantly drawing out moisture. So at the very least, an older liquor in a corked bottle will be dehydrated compared to a younger one.
  - TheCoelacanth 3y ago
    That's more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way. I've tasted whiskies bottled in the 1940s and 50s. I rather liked whatever they were doing in comparison with fresher bottles. Over shorter intervals, sealed bottles of Chartreuse increase in complexity with time in a manner I find difficult to describe as anything but aging.
      - kasey_junk 3y ago
        It’s just straight up wrong to suggest that liqueur doesn’t change in glass and I don’t think anyone in the industry would say otherwise. They are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging. And glass doesn’t impart anything. Whiskey breaks down over time even if store really well. Sometimes that results in a good outcome, sometimes not. It also could be you just like the recipes from back then. Chartreuse is famous for “aging” in glass. My hypothesis is it’s just such a wild flavor profile muting it (which is what most often happens as spirits breakdown) makes for a more complex taste.
        JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        > are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging This might be popularly misunderstood, then. A number of people I know believe that whisky doesn't change once it goes into a bottle. (This is how the term aging is used for wines, after all. One doesn't age a tannat to get more glass and cork flavor.)

by _yb2s 3y ago

I drank an unopened bottle of 120 year old scotch I found buried in sand at the beach. Planned to donate it to a museum but the cork fell out on its own so I tried it. Was pretty awful tasting TBH.

etrautmann 3y ago

How did you come across this? Were you digging with the intention of finding something?

_yb2s 3y ago
Just walking on a beach, and ran across it randomly.

TheRealPomax 3y ago

If the cork fell out on its own, what possessed you to even try it? That bottle had been interacting with the environment for years, if not decades.

bunga-bunga 3y ago
To be fair, all the interactions were sanitized with 40% alcohol.
_yb2s 3y ago
It fell out after several months of drying out, I think it was sealed until then. I made a mistake of storing it vertical when it sat horizontal for a century. It was drinkable, just not very good.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago

Liquor doesn't really age in the bottle. Learned that the hard way from a 100 year old bottle of 5 year whiskey a buddy found at an estate sale.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Liquor doesn't really age in the bottle I know this is the industry answer, but I don't buy it. For one, anyone who has stored liquor or wine vertically knows that the cork is constantly drawing out moisture. So at the very least, an older liquor in a corked bottle will be dehydrated compared to a younger one.
- TheCoelacanth 3y ago
  That's more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > more like (very slowly) spoiling. "Ageing" is usually used for when it changes the flavor in a desirable way. I've tasted whiskies bottled in the 1940s and 50s. I rather liked whatever they were doing in comparison with fresher bottles. Over shorter intervals, sealed bottles of Chartreuse increase in complexity with time in a manner I find difficult to describe as anything but aging.
    - kasey_junk 3y ago
      It’s just straight up wrong to suggest that liqueur doesn’t change in glass and I don’t think anyone in the industry would say otherwise. They are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging. And glass doesn’t impart anything. Whiskey breaks down over time even if store really well. Sometimes that results in a good outcome, sometimes not. It also could be you just like the recipes from back then. Chartreuse is famous for “aging” in glass. My hypothesis is it’s just such a wild flavor profile muting it (which is what most often happens as spirits breakdown) makes for a more complex taste.
      - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        > are really talking about imparting the aging vessel on the spirit when they say aging This might be popularly misunderstood, then. A number of people I know believe that whisky doesn't change once it goes into a bottle. (This is how the term aging is used for wines, after all. One doesn't age a tannat to get more glass and cork flavor.)