Any info on how to date a bottle of liquor ?

[Jevverrett]

I was helping to clean out a house the other day for a friend. In the basement we found a cache of old liquor, including a bottle of chivas regal 12 year old. I got that bottle for helping out. Anyway, it has no date on the tax stamp over the cap. Because of the stamp, it's at least from the early 80s. So, does anyone here have any ideas on how to find out when it was bottled?

 

[Richard Burley]

It should be stamped or etched on the lower part of the bottle in tiny numerals. This is often difficult to see, or impossible if the bottle got skipped. The last four digits are 24-hr time of whatever date the stamp is. It should begin with an L, then letters or numerals designating distillery of origin, then three numerals designating day of the year. Somewhere in there the year is coded by various means. On wine bottles, I have seen, for example, LC12314091533, which would be May 3, 2014, line 9, at 3:33 p.m. There is some variance with products or companies or origins. Can you find the number, and if so, what is it?

Addendum: Or not. On reflection, the bottle code thing of which I speak is fairly recent, so I guess that's out for an older bottle. Good luck. Spirits, by the way, don't "age" in a good way after bottling.

 

[Jevverrett]

Nothing that I could find on here.

 

[RDPipes]

The date of manufacture is in the inside at the bottom of the bottle.
Ya have to drink it down to see it because the liquid makes it invisible.

 

[DrumsAndBeer]

Dating a bottle of liquor is easy. Dating women, now that's a different story..

 

[Jevverrett]

You guy are killing me here lol. I'm gonna drink it anyway. It's only that I know chivas used to be a great scotch once upon a time. This one is a bit darker than it normally is. Well, only one way to find out haha. Thanks for the tips Ron and Richard.