Photo: Skinner Auctioneers & Appraisers
MARLBORO, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A bottle of bourbon that pre-dates the Civil War is up for sale at a local auction house on Tuesday. The bottle of Old Ingledew is believed to have belonged to J.P Morgan, the legendary Gilded Age financier, and given as a gift to members of the powerful Washington, D.C elite.
"He was larger than life, it would be like somebody up here getting a gift from Jack Kennedy," said Joseph Hyman, the Spirits Specialist for Skinner Auctioneers & Appraisers.
Hyman put a hypodermic needle through the cork to scoop up a sample, and sent it off to a lab at the University of Glasgow. The lab found that the bottle was most likely made between 1763 and 1803 — at least 50 years older than the original estimate, and the oldest known bottle of whiskey anywhere on the market.
Hyman tasted a drop of the whiskey as he was taking the sample, but said he couldn't tell much about it.
"Two drops, it's hard to say.. I could taste it was corn whiskey," he said.
Starting bids on the bottle will start at $20,000-$40,000 in Skinner's online auction this week.
WBZ's Matt Shearer (@MattWBZ) reports:
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