My family and I were going through my grandmother’s apartment after her passing to get her estate in order. After all was said and done, I got a bunch of alcohol she had for guests mostly, including two types of whiskey (scotch and regular), some gin, and three flavors of vodka. I tried some of the Crown Royal and it didn’t taste too good. Also didn’t taste like the last glass of whiskey I had before. Of course I always hear about stuff aged 4 years or 12 years etc. so I wonder if it’s a “gone bad” thing or a me thing.
It may change taste profile depending on heat and sun/light exposure but it’s still alcohol unless the bottle is compromised and it evaporated.
Aging refers strictly to how long the alcohol was left in a barrel before being put into a glass bottle. A 10 year old bottle of scotch is still only a 10 year old even if it was bought in 1970.
This is also why a lot of beer and other alcohol is bottled in brown bottles. The brown glass blocks some amount of UV exposure which can affect the final product over time.
Green glass has no such benefit though. Just looks nice.
I’ll add in her something I learned recently - whisky can become “corked”, ie if the stopper is made of cork, it can go bad and ruin the drink’s flavour. I thought this was just a wine thing, but apparently it can happen with whisky too.
Alcohol can’t expire, expiration is a part of how it’s made. In most of these cases the expiration date is actually for the container.
If the container looks fine and nothing has gotten into it, it’s no more dangerous to you than alcohol normally is. Same goes for vinegar and many other similar things. For example honey can’t go bad in a sealed bottle, but the bottle can degrade and let things in.
This is not exactly true, alcohol can become vinegar if exposed to oxygen, and I doubt those bottles are properly hermetically sealed.
I was more referring to food safety, as neither vinegar nor acetobacter will make you sick. Unpleasant, sure, but safe to drink.
Whisky no, doesnt expire but its cork might have dried, fall apart, alcohol escaped, etc.
I mean…. Crown Royal never tastes too good so you’re probably fine.
no
I have drunk some decades old bottles of wine. I was worried each time that the bottle had become undrinkable, but not that it had become dangerous.
Shit man! Apperently when grandma hosted gin night, it was more than just cards! I wanna party with your grandma! She sounds fun!
Well, not so much now.
My grandparents partied a bit. My uncle was the only one willing to go through their bedroom after they died. Dude always came out looking like he had seen some shit.