One For the Boozers (you know who you are)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m looking to buy a bottle of booze which, if set aside for 21 years, will be something special at that point (as opposed to just old).

Keep in mind that we’re talking aged in the bottle here, not in some oak barrel or something.

Wine is out as I know darn well it won’t be stored properly.

Something a little more feminine than Jack Daniels would be nice.

Thanks

2

I believe aging refers to inside the barrel. This sort of addresses the issue.

3

I think it’s pretty much just vintage ports and bordeauxes that age inside the bottle. If you can find a good vintage port (in the US, look for it to be labelled as “porto”, meaning it is actually from the specific demarcated region in northern Portugal), and establish that it is a year worth keeping for that brand (the label on a port, unlike a wine, refers to the distribution company, rather than the specific vinyard, but there is still variation among brands as far as relative quality for a specific year goes), it should appreciate nicely over time. I don’t know exactly what sort of timeframe we’re talking about here, but I think you’d have to get one at least a few years old to have it at its prime in 15 years.

Most ports are not vintage ports, and come already aged to the point that there’s no reason to age them further. Unless a real expert chimes in here, you should probably ask the liquor store people for further guidance. Any strong liquors (e.g. scotch, vodka, brandy, tequila) will contain enough alcohol to kill anything that tries to live in it, and will not age at all, while beers (and some wines, I think) will just get worse with age.

4

I thought you were talking about my mother’s ex-husbands family. The name is Boozer and as much as I hated it, I was outvoted and it is on my mother’s gravemarker.

5

Wine is going to be what you are looking for. Booze such as whiskey, vodka, tequila, etc does not age once it is bottled, nor does it go “old”. It will taste exactly the same in 50 years as it does today. We recently picked up some Ports of the year of our children’s births as gifts to them someday like their weddings or such.

6

Good Champagne gets better with age. The Allure of Aged Champagne

Johnny Walker has 30-50+ year old scotch (Blue Label I think) yet I believe that is aged in a cask before bottling.