Does Whisky go out of date?

[Holymoly321]

MIL has given me a bottle of Chivas Regal whisky that she found in her loft - it must be at least 12 years old (and also, it says it's a 12 year old whisky on the label - so we're looking at around 24 years old bottle!) Obv it's unopened, but is it going to be safe to drink?

I will bravely test it for you.

ha ha sugarlake! If only I could get it to you and could trust you to send nearly a full bottle back ha ha!

If its unopened, a decent bottle will be fine. Best drink it quickly though, just in case. Or better still, make a Christmas cake!

can't waste good whisky in a cake! Am just worried that I'll give myself alcohol poisoning if it's not safe to drink!

Oh you can - if you can get the best part of a bottle into a cake, it is heaven!

It will be safe to drink. And it will either taste fabulous. or terrible. But I suspect the former.

I went to a whisky auction once and one of the buyers paid a fortune for an old bottle then opened it up and gave a few of us a nip. He said that was what it was for.

It was amazing and well past the sell by date.

Ooh Bling, lets hope it tasts fabulous!

If it's Chivas Regal then it will have tasted terrible the day it was bottled

Whisky doesn't change in the bottle like wine does so it will be perfectly drinkable (well, as drinkable as a blended whisky ever can be) and will probably taste pretty much the same as when it was bottled. It will still be classed as 12 years old because it doesn't continue to age.

Why don't you open it and have a little taste and then come right back and report to us?

Ah Blling, what a good idea! Will let you know!

ooh, bit harsh, but drinkable, eminently drinkable!

Whisky doesn't go off. It won't have magically increased in alcohol. Drink it!

whoo it's gone to my head a bit already I think! Not used to drinking anymore!

no it won't do so drink at your leisure

Think of Whiskey Galore!!

blended whisky doesn't really change in the bottle, so it'll be fine.

dh is quite into malt whisky - this reminds me of him buying a bottle at an auction which was 20 years old at bottling, and from what we could work out from the label probably bottled about 30 years before that. This was quite about 15 years ago, so the whisky was probably distilled before the 2nd world war. It was apparently very good (I'm not into whisky enough to have been allowed to try it!). Not too long after (when the special bottle had all gone!) we were at a whisky specialist pub and they had the same bottle dh had paid £20 for as part of a lot of 2 bottles at the auction. It was £15 a measure then - I hate to think what it would go for now in a specialist auction!

The "12 year old" refers to how long it spent maturing in a cask. btw. :)