Originally Posted by
Brostman
.... I am neither a bourbon drinker nor know much of anything about aged liquor.... and was hoping the connoisseurs here might be able to give me some insights on two bottles of bourbon which my wife has from her deceased father. The first is Very Very Old Fitzgerald, and the second is Old Weller. My father-in-law most likely received them as gifts sometime in 1980's. They both have screw tops (not corked), and what appears to be tax stamps.... which might date the bottles. It does not seem that the bottles have lost any volume to evaporation. Any thought on what I have here? I have a pic of the two bottles, but I am new here and have no idea how to include in this message.
Those older bourbons can be very valuable, especially bottles that were distilled at the infamous Stitzel-Weller distillery as these both were. Stitzel-Weller is one of the distilleries that produced Pappy Van Winkle, but it closed in 1992 and Pappy is now produced at Buffalo Trace. Some bourbon aficionados (or perhaps just those with more money than they know what to do with) view the Pappy produced by Stitzel-Weller as the "real" Pappy since the distillery was founded by one of the Van Winkles, and Pappy produced by any other distillery as inferior. As a result, Pappy fever extends to pretty much any Stitzel-Weller juice.
The Very Very Old Fitzgerald can easily be worth north of $2k, depending on the condition of the tax stamps, fill level, etc.
I've seen a bottle of Old Weller 107 from 1977 sell for $1,300 and that was almost two years ago.
If you send the Old Weller tax stamp code to Buffalo Trace (the current distillers of Weller) they can probably date it for you, at least within a range. I've seen them do this before for other bottles of Old Weller. Heaven Hill distilled the Very Very Old Fitz, and might be able to do the same for that bottle.
There are only a few legal ways to sell these. One option is through a broker (such as
https://www.sellcellar.com/) or to a place like
Justin's House of Bourbon in Lexington). They will value the bottles and provide offers to buy them, though keep in mind they need to make their cut too so you'll probably top out at 70 cents on the dollar or less.
Or, if the liquid inside isn't cloudy, you might decide to crack open and enjoy a piece of history.
Originally Posted by
BamaVol
This weekend my oldest son texted me a picture of a double shot of bourbon sitting on a bartop and told me that I need to get ahold of a bottle of Elmer T Lee. Unfortunately, the internet tells me I will need to drive 300 miles to do so.
Elmer is good... it's one of those bottles that should cost $39 at retail but because of its scarcity often goes for $100+. I certainly wouldn't drive 300 miles for it. If you have a regular liquor store you visit, talk to them. They'll probably see it a couple times a year, and there is usually a spring release. If you're a good customer, and it's an independent store (as opposed to a mega-chain) they might give you a call or put one aside for you when it comes in.