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Old Ingledew Whiskey: Currently Believed to be the Oldest Known Whiskey in Existence

January 2, 2022 By Dow Scoggins

Old Ingledew Whiskey: Currently Believed to be the Oldest Known Whiskey in ExistenceMarlborough, Massachusetts – Skinner  offered this historic bourbon whiskey at auction. 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.”

Carbon 14 dating conducted in 2021 in collaboration with the University of Georgia indicates, with the highest probability, that the whiskey was produced between 1762-1802. The raw data was subsequently evaluated by the University of Glasgow and determined to be Bourbon with a 53% probability of being produced between 1763-1803, which places it in the historical context of The Revolutionary War of the 1770s and the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s.

The Old Ingledew was bottled by Evans & Ragland, Grocers and Commission Merchants, LaGrange, Georgia. Archival information indicates that Evans & Ragland were active in business circa the 1860s-70s, and the bottle is consistent with glass manufacture circa 1840-70.

The bottle is reported to have been purchased by financier John Pierpont Morgan during one of his frequent visits to Georgia. It is believed that 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 1942-44.

Label on the back of the bottle
Back label reading: “This Bourbon was probably made prior to 1865 and was in the cellars of Mr. John Pierpont Morgan from whose estate it was acquired upon his death. As far as is known, there were no Bourbon distilleries in Georgia after the Civil War.”

Mr. Byrnes had been a US Congressman, US Senator, and Supreme Court Justice before WWII. When the US entered the war in 1942, Byrnes resigned from the court at the behest of his good friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to become Director of War Mobilization. Upon Roosevelt’s death in 1945, he was appointed Secretary of State by his other good friend, Harry S. Truman. After leaving the Cabinet in 1947, Byrnes moved back to South Carolina and ran for governor, as which he served from 1951-55. 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.

This bottle was sold at auction in the June 22-30 Rare Spirits online auction for $137,500.

About Skinner
Skinner attracts top consignments and commands record-breaking prices in the international auction marketplace. With renowned expertise and extraordinary service, Skinner is the place for buyers, sellers and the passionately curious. Skinner appraisers are familiar faces on PBS’s 18-time Emmy Award-nominated ANTIQUES ROADSHOW. Visit us in Boston, Marlborough, New York, Maine, or Miami, or online at https://www.skinnerinc.com

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