In September 2023, Whisky Auctioneer, a Scottish auction house for fine spirits, posted a story that stated it would soon be selling the “world’s oldest Scotch whisky,” believed to be nearly 200 years old, “sipped by a young Queen Victoria,” even. Oldest whiskey in the world? Of course that piqued our interest.
The discovery tale goes thusly: A trustee of Blair Castle in Perthshire, Scotland, apparently moved some Christmas decor in 2022 and found about 40 bottles of whisky lurking behind, conveniently marked with a little placard that read they were distilled in 1833, bottled in 1841, and then rebottled in 1932. Starting Nov. 24 through Dec. 4, 24 bottles will be going under the hammer at Whisky Auctioneer, with some believing each bottle could sell for more than 10,000 pounds. (At time of publishing, the No. 1 bottle’s current bid was 13,500 pounds.)
Wild right? Slight problem, though: It’s nigh impossible to accurately date the liquid within these bottles.
A little more backstory before we move into the science and facts. Initially, Whisky Auctioneer’s authentication expert, Joe Wilson, had a few quotes in the first story, wherein he said definitive things like “Offering the world’s oldest Scotch whisky at auction is truly a lifetime occurrence,” and “Distilled in the 1830s, the whisky was made during a fascinating period.” The article, as written on Sept. 25, also mentioned that carbon dating of the liquid “supports its early 19th century origin,” with a “high probability.”
But the thing about radiocarbon dating
