# 25 year old liquor bottles--should I dump it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412 "2011-10-03T05:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/1 "2011-10-03T05:44:56Z")
I found two liquor bottles at my house that I figure are at least 25 years old. One is an unopened bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream and the other is a half-consumed bottle of Early Times Bourbon. Have they gone bad by now? I appreciate Doper imput on this important question. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/2 "2011-10-03T06:09:46Z")
The bourbon is good. The Bailey’s, I don’t know but I’d guess not. Did you try them? ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/3 "2011-10-03T06:12:08Z")
I can tell you the Bailey’s won’t be good. We opened an old bottle of Bailey’s at my parents’ house once and it had solidified into a disgusting gelatinous mess. Yuck. On the other hand, I remember drinking in college a bottle of Old Cobweb whiskey a friend had found, I think, in his grandfather’s attic. God knows how old it was, but it was still perfectly drinkable. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/4 "2011-10-03T06:17:05Z")
Keep the whiskey, toss the Baileys. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/5 "2011-10-03T07:02:45Z")
Keep the whiskey. Open the Baileys for fun and pour it out. ---
**Author:** ![Schrodinger\_s\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Schrodinger\_s\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schrodinger_s_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/6 "2011-10-03T10:55:23Z")
Keep the whiskey- my brother and I cleared out our parents’ liquor cabinet of everything they bought on their honeymoon and it was all still good. The Bailey’s is a loss. ---
**Author:** ![clarkstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/7 "2011-10-04T18:15:07Z")
sell them on craigslist! ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/8 "2011-10-04T18:48:07Z")
Bailey’s has a shelf life of roughly two years, unopened, so it’s a loss. Toss it. Bourbon has an unopened shelf life of roughly (let me do the math here… carry the one… divide by zero…) forever. But that’s only if it’s unopened. If it’s opened you will have oxidation affecting the flavor and evaporation affecting the proof, both dependent on the seal and how much is left in the bottle. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/9 "2011-10-04T19:00:33Z")
Heh that reminds me - my dad has stored away a whole shelf of whiskey bottles some dating back 50 years or so - must be dozens and dozens of 'em, some allegedly very good quality when he got them - he keeps getting them as gifts (he was a reasonably prominent scientist who hosted many scientific events, and thus collected lots of gifts of this sort), and he doesn’t drink the stuff, and he never re-gifts anything he gets as gifts. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/10 "2011-10-04T19:40:35Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh that reminds me - my dad has stored away a whole shelf of whiskey bottles some dating back 50 years or so - must be dozens and dozens of 'em, some allegedly very good quality when he got them - he keeps getting them as gifts (he was a reasonably prominent scientist who hosted many scientific events, and thus collected lots of gifts of this sort), and he doesn’t drink the stuff, and he never re-gifts anything he gets as gifts. If you put them in a crate and mail them to me, I’d be happy evaluate them for you. I’ll even wash the empty bottles thoroughly before shipping them back to you. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/11 "2011-10-04T19:55:03Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If you put them in a crate and mail them to me, I’d be happy evaluate them for you. I’ll even wash the empty bottles thoroughly before shipping them back to you. Lots of folks have dibs on those bottles and their contents. 😃 Not me, though, as I don’t drink the stuff either. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/12 "2011-10-04T21:08:31Z")
Give the Bailey’s to somebody you don’t like, anonymously. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/13 "2011-10-04T21:13:38Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh that reminds me - my dad has stored away a whole shelf of whiskey bottles some dating back 50 years or so - must be dozens and dozens of 'em, some allegedly very good quality when he got them - he keeps getting them as gifts (he was a reasonably prominent scientist who hosted many scientific events, and thus collected lots of gifts of this sort), and he doesn’t drink the stuff, and he never re-gifts anything he gets as gifts. You need to renumber the ages. 10yo whiskey becomes 60yo, etc. I have a friend who assigns himself the task of relabeling all liquor in his cabinet on New Year’s. He adds 1 to each bottle. 12 yo scotch becomes 13, etc. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/14 "2011-10-04T21:59:29Z")
If only it worked that way… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/15 "2011-10-04T22:31:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > You need to renumber the ages. 10yo whiskey becomes 60yo, etc. > > I have a friend who assigns himself the task of relabeling all liquor in his cabinet on New Year’s. He adds 1 to each bottle. 12 yo scotch becomes 13, etc. I hope your friend realizes that whiskey and scotch do not work that way. The age is how long they spent in the barrels. Once they’re bottled, they stop aging. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/16 "2011-10-04T22:40:55Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I hope your friend realizes that whiskey and scotch do not work that way. The age is how long they spent in the barrels. Once they’re bottled, they stop aging. But they don’t stop getting old. 🙂 Maybe he needs to put them back in some barrels for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/17 "2011-10-05T05:54:18Z")
I don’t understand. How do you keep whiskey for more than a year? ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/18 "2011-10-05T14:07:31Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > I don’t understand. How do you keep whiskey for more than a year? Indeed… does not compute. Heck, even Baileys lasting long enough to worry about shelf life seems odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/19 "2011-10-05T15:13:03Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I hope your friend realizes that whiskey and scotch do not work that way. The age is how long they spent in the barrels. Once they’re bottled, they stop aging. Well, it stops maturing perhaps. Age would indicate the level of maturity in wine and spirits. Sadly, this not always the case in regards to some other things; such as people. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412/20 "2011-10-05T15:14:20Z")
I gave my grandfather a bottle of Crown for Christmas about ten years ago. He died about three years ago. AFAIK, that bottle is still in the cabinet in the kitchen (my mom lives in the house). I am going up there to visit on Friday. I’m thinking that Crown should be just fine. I plan to dig into it the minute I walk in the door because the best way to handle visits with my mom is to stay hammered as much as possible. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-year-old-liquor-bottles-should-i-dump-it/598412.md?page=2)