Can You Get Sick from Drinking Old Whiskey? If you found an old bottle of whiskey in the back of a liquor cabinet and want to give it a try, have no fear: In general, old liquor will not make you sick like other expired items. The only risk it poses is delivering a dull taste and underwhelming drinking experience.
The good news is that liquor such as gin, vodka, whiskey, tequila, and rum, are considered shelf-stable. That means that as long as you store the bottle properly and it remains unopened, you can consider it safe to drink indefinitely.
70-year-old whiskies are incredibly rare, but there's no doubt they are the ultimate gift to mark a special occasion.
The chances of whisky going bad are very slim. While the taste might change over time, whisky doesn't technically go off. After a point, you may decide that a bottle has been opened for too many years and it tastes too different from what it originally was and consequently get rid of the remaining contents.
The Macallan 81 Year Old
In early February 2022, The Macallan unveiled the oldest whisky ever released: The Macallan Reach. Distilled in 1940 during the Second World War, it spent 81 years building character in a single sherry seasoned cask before just 288 artisanal decanters were filled.
This 100-Year-Old Bottle of Whiskey Can Be Yours for Just $17,000.
The point is how unique it is. Tillott said single cask whisky is a very pure expression of their craft. “This 21 year old whisky we have bottled is the oldest ever to be produced by an Australian distillery and is a superb example of this era of Sullivans Cove production in its tropical-sweet earth-textural nature.
Whiskey that has been over aged can taste bitter or ashy because the wood flavor takes over the grains. Depending on the type of whiskey, where it was produced, and the quality of the wood barrels, anything from 5 to 20 years of aging will make the perfect spirit in your bar.
Some alcohol, like wine, gets better in the bottle over time, but this isn't true for all types of booze, including whiskey. Unopened whiskey can last indefinitely, but a bottle that has been opened will eventually expire due to oxidation.
Whisky that is aged for very long in a barrel (over 25 years) can start to lose the taste of the grain. However, in most cases, more years in the barrel means a more sophisticated taste with more notes to savour.
Probably not coincidentally, The Macallan Reach is one year older than a Glenlivet 80-year-old (also bottled in 1940) that was billed as the oldest single malt whiskey ever when it was announced last year.
Unlike wines, distilled spirits do not improve with age once they are in the bottle. As long as they are not opened, your whiskey, brandy, rum, and the like will not change and they will certainly not mature further while they wait on the shelf.
An unopened bottle of whiskey will last indefinitely if stored in proper condition. After opening a bottle of whiskey, you have as long as two years or as few as six months or less to drink it before it goes bad.
The best wines can be stored for more than 100 years, but most great wines will reach their peak before they turn 50 years old.
Short answer, no. Beer isn't like milk. With age, it doesn't actually expire or become unsafe to drink. Old beer's taste, however, will absolutely change.
For the last hundred years, Germany's Historical Museum of the Palatinate has housed the world's oldest unopened bottle of wine. But a century is nothing to the Speyer wine bottle, also known as the Römerwein aus Speyer. Its murky contents have sat undisturbed inside clear glass for 1,693 years.
With the general consensus being that the older the whisky, the better the taste, the differences between whisky that's been aged for 3 years versus one that's been aged for 15 years can sometimes be easy to distinguish.
To prevent oxidation, whiskey should be stored in a cool, dry place. The best way to keep whiskey from oxidizing is to keep the bottle sealed. You can also pour your half-empty bottles into a smaller decanter or bottle to decrease headspace in the bottle and prevent exposure to oxygen.
Unlike wine, whiskey does not continue to age in its bottle.
Bill Lark is known as 'The Godfather of Australian whisky'. Bill started to read books on how to make whisky, but legislation at the time only allowed use of large stills – way too big for a start-up.
We are Australia's oldest operating distillery
Close to 140 years later, Beenleigh Rum is still crafted at the same riverside location. Beenleigh proudly bears the title of Australia's oldest registered distillery, holding the country's 'Number 1' licence.
The Macallan 1926 60-Year-Old Fine and Rare
The Macallan distillery is the flagbearer when it comes to smashing records of the world's most expensive whiskies ever sold.
Generations 80-Year-Old Scotch, valued at $100,000 to $200,000 for upcoming auction.
The world's most expensive standard-size bottle — a Macallan 1926 60-Year-Old — sold for around $1.9 million in 2019.