Happiness Is Drinking Pre-Prohibition Whiskey
Not all of these are pre-Prohibition whiskeys, but they are all certifiably out of my price range. (Photo courtesy Sotheby’s)
It reads like the stuff of fantasy — day drinking with a few friends … only the drinking in question is 80-110 year old American whiskey (plus a gin!), and the place just happens to be Sotheby’s on the Upper East Side, one of the world’s most famous auction houses. But that’s where I found myself on a recent Friday afternoon shortly after Memorial Day, with a handful of fellow boozy scribes and our hosts for the festivities, Sotheby’s spirits specialsts Zev Glesta and Forrest Price. It was an unforgettable afternoon that made me realize anew that my job may not be very lucrative, but the perks are ridiculous.
We were in fact there for work, to do our journalistic due diligence and collect information about Sotheby’s upcoming Vintage Whiskey auction, featuring some of the most ridiculously cool whiskeys America has produced, from one of the earliest surviving bottled cocktails (a Sazerac dating to circa 1902!) to the now-legendary Red Hook Rye from the early 2000s, which as I write this has a bid of $20,000. I recommend reading about the auction, whether or not you can afford anything that’s going under the hammer (although some bottles can be had for a few hundred bucks) — why not check out my article about it for Food & Wine! Link is -> HERE <-.
We didn’t get to taste the really good stuff, but what we had — bottles that weren’t included in the auction for whatever reason but were deemed worthy of opening and tasting by Glesta and Price — was pretty choice. SInce I didn’t get to write about the tasting for Food & Wine, here’s what I tried:
CHANDLER GIN — A Philadelphia-based gin from circa 1915 that wasn’t in the auction for obvious reasons — it’s a whiskey auction. And the bottle and label were a mess. But the gin was in very good shape a century-plus down the line. Time and oxidation had softened it quite a bit, but it was still lovely and gentle, with a light sweetness.
BLACK GOLD BOTTLED-IN-BOND WHISKEY — The oldest one we tried, distilled in 1914 and bottled in 1934. Lemme tell ya, there are not many 20-year-old whiskeys of this vintage, although there is a 24-year-old George Stagg going for bonkers money in the auction. According to Zev, it was quite musty when he opened it the previous week, but it had dissipated by the time we drank it, with refined notes of cola, anise and cedar. Friggin’ delicious.
DOWLING DE LUXE BOTTLED-IN-BOND BOURBON — Distilled 1935, bottled 1943. This was my favorite of the bunch, almost cola-dark in color, with a sweetness and light funk that reminded me of a rum as much as a whiskey. There are two bottles in the auction, and if they weren’t currently going for more than $2,000 each, I’d consider bidding on them myself.
OLD GRAND-DAD BOTTLED-IN-BOND BOURBON (1946) — Distilled 1946, bottled 1950. If I could go back in time to any era, it would probably be this one, when America was at the center of the world and New York was at the center of America. The lack of sushi restaurants would be a little annoying, but I’d live. Probably. Anyway, this one has survived the ages well, bright and easy to drink and recognizably OGD — described by one of us as a “patio pounder.”
OLD GRAND-DAD BOTTLED-IN-BOND BOURBON (1917) — Distilled 1917, bottled 1933, just after Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated and just before Repeal at the end of the year. Whiskey could be bottled (and occasionally distilled) for medicinal purposes, and many doctors and patients took advantage of this loophole. Toothache? Get a prescription for a pint of whiskey. Neuralgia? Pint of whiskey. Depression? Pint of whiskey. The coolest thing about this one, for me, was the NRA sticker on the back of the bottle. Not the National Rifle Association, but the National Recovery Administration, which was created by FDR in the wake of the Great Depression. According to my parents, pretty much every storefront had an NRA poster in its window, emblazoned with the phrase “We Do Our Part.” This bottle had the lowest fill level of the ones we tried, but it was a goodie, with notes of malt, milk chocolate (think a Whopper — the candy, not the burger), and cherries. It was a little tannic but I wouldn’t, and didn’t, turn it down.
OLD TAYLOR BOTTLED-IN-BOND BOURBON (LATE 1940s) — A four-year-old, exact dates unknown. We were all pretty dazzled by the nose, which was floral and fruity and for me, at least, a little grassy. Like being out in an orchard on a spring day. But it didn’t translate to the palate, which fell a little flat (one of us detected notes of linseed oil!). Hey, you can’t win ‘em all.
OLD TAYLOR BOTTLED-IN-BOND BOURBON (1917) — Distilled 1917, bottled 1932. Not quite 16 years old, but the label on the bottle says, “Over 16 summers old,” which I find pretty funny. Apparently more than one brand would advertise the age of its whiskey by summers rather than years. According to Zev, it had declined quite a bit in the week since it had been opened, but we thought it was still quite good, even if it was more subdued than it had been.
DOWLING BROS. BOTTLED-IN-BOND WHISKEY — kDistilled 1916, bottled 1929. Distilled by A. Ph. Stitzel, of Stitzel-Weller fame, which is pretty cool. Note that this is just a “whiskey,” not a bourbon or a rye. Honestly, I don’t remember much about this one. Seven whiskeys in, and believe me, I was not letting a drop of this stuff go to waste, so I was not only drinking rare whiskey, not only day drinking rare whiskey, but getting drunk on rare whiskey. For free, yet! So I apologize for not being able to say a lot about it.