GEORGIA — A 250-year-old bottle of bourbon from here in Georgia went up for auction earlier this month and smashed records.
The new owner, The Morgan Library & Museum in New York, paid $137,000 for the oldest known bottle of whiskey in existence.
The whiskey is from a distillery in LaGrange.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
University of Georgia scientists said it was likely bottled between 1763 to 1803.
Skinner’s Rare Spirits expert, Joseph Hyman, remarks “The Old Ingledew Whiskey, bottled by Evans & Ragland, Lagrange GA, c. 1860s, is thought to be the only surviving bottle of a trio from the cellar of J.P. Morgan gifted in the 1940s to Washington power elite.”
TRENDING STORIES:
- Seattle mom said she was humiliated over dirty diaper experience on flight
- Work underway to demolish damaged Georgia bridge; interstate still closed
- Drive-by shooting outside NW Atlanta liquor store leaves 1 dead, 2 injured
According to the auctioneer, the bottle is reported to have been purchased by financier John Pierpont Morgan during one of his frequent visits to Georgia. It is believed his son, Jack Morgan, later gifted this bottle to James Byrnes of South Carolina and two sister bottles to Franklin D. Roosevelt (a distant cousin to Morgan) and Harry S. Truman, circa 1942-1944.
Byrnes had been U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, and Supreme Court Justice before WWII. After leaving office, Byrnes gifted the bottle to close friend and neighbor Francis Drake. Drake and his descendants, being exclusively Scotch drinkers, safeguarded the bottle for three generations. READ MORE.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2021 Cox Media Group
