Whisky Forum - Cork floating in bottle for years....is it OK to drink?

London52

I inherited from someone a Caol Ila 1984 17 Year Old Signatory Vintage 70cl that was bottled in 2002. When I took it out of the dark closet to look at it, I saw the cork floating in it. I was able to get the cork out using some tools, but I see some tiny remnants of the cork still in there (looks so small it could be mistaken for minor sediment). I have no idea how long that big piece of cork has been floating around in there. The top was sealed with a wine stopper, so the person who had this before must have known the cork fell in and just decided to use a wine stopper. Do you think this bottle must be thrown out? Or is it still good to drink?

Hate to waste some good stuff.

[img]https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1hTvLGL5YBZhT9p2Y2s37fIMLr1bU5RPa[/img]
[img]https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1hTvLGL5YBZhT9p2Y2s37fIMLr1bU5RPa[/img]
[img]https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1hTvLGL5YBZhT9p2Y2s37fIMLr1bU5RPa[/img]

Timp · Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:23 am Post subject:

Hi London52

Only one way to find out : Very Happy

Who knows. Instinct would say its probably not survived that well, given the time its been open, wine stopper and the cork floating about. If the fill level is high might be better.

Let us know.

Cheers

TheMaster · Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:02 am Post subject:

Cork is just bark from the cork tree. However, reading into what you've said it's been open a while, with a bit of cork in it and a stopper - it'll have gone past it's best. Perfectly safe to drink but it won't be a patch on its original bottling quality. It'll have over oxidized and the cork will have been dissolved into the whisky (both ethanol and water are solvents).

Best case: it tastes "ok"
Worst case: it doesn't taste good

It's not going to kill you if that's what you're worried about Wink