how long can you keep hard alcohol

[snowultra]

i got a bottle of southern comfort---15 years old
kahlua---15 years old
grand marnier--15 years old

are these too old---they are all opened sometime, most likely 15 years ago.

should i toss them, or is it ok to to drink?

[jimbo12345]

there are 2 frames of thought here. Now, many bottled high-alcoholic drinks, once filled, are filled with a gas to stop oxygen etc being in there, and then capped.

So, ones that are unopen should last a long time.

If they are open, this allows the alcohol to rot, or in some beliefs, ferment mre, meaning the alcoholic content will rise. Though, stored in sunlight, it will become a lot sweeter. Although very little, evaporation will take place on all opened bottles, making it more syrup-like

If they don't taste 100%, i suggest either using them in cocktails, or cooking with them.

Take a decent steak, soak in (from your list the best is) southern comfort for a few hours, and then cook. A fabulous steak. Be careful, high spirits ignite.

For your Kahula, put a little on vanilla ice-cream, or use in real coffee beofre you go to bed.

For you GM, well, it can be used to make a great chocolate orange moose. Also, flambe your pancakes with it. Use it 50/50 with water while making jelly. GM doesnt burn very easily, so i recommend putting some in a ladel (big metal kitchen spoon) and holding it over the gas of your hob until it lights, and then pour onto your pancakes. Pouring first will leave a soggy mess.

Hope this answers your problem.

[brotherdoobie]

I can usually keep it for about an hour...












Then I drink it all gone...


-bd

[Broken]

The kahlua and grand marnier are no longer drinkable. The southern comfort should be fine to drink.

The problem with the kahlua and marnier is the additives in them go bad. In kahlua I believe there is processed coffee beans that will rot. And in the Grand Marnier there is orange that will rot. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't chance it.

[brotherdoobie]

I wouldn't take any chances with the Southern Comfort, either.
It's crap...fresh from the store.


-bd

[jimbo12345]

The kahlua and grand marnier are no longer drinkable. The southern comfort should be fine to drink.

The problem with the kahlua and marnier is the additives in them go bad. In kahlua I believe there is processed coffee beans that will rot. And in the Grand Marnier there is orange that will rot. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't chance it.


The alcohol acts as a preservative. No oxygen can get to the coffee/orange either. No chance the coffee bean stuff/orange flavoring has rotted. It will seperate. Not trying to sound like i know it all. This is one subject i know a lot about.

Look at the wormy thing in decent bottles of tequila. The fluid will long since evaporate before the thing rots.

What is the worm thing?

[Gripper]

A: There is absolutely no significance to the worm in tequila bottles because tequila bottles do not have worms.

The drink that has worms in and is often confused with tequila is mezcal, a related but different beverage produced in Mexico. The grub in question is the agave worm (gusano rojo) and there are several theories about its presence in the bottle. One of these is that the worm guarantees the strength of the distilled spirit. Another is that the worm is supposed to endow special powers and is said to have hallucinogenic properties. The addition of the worm to bottles of mezcal dates from the early 1950's and while consumption of it has become somewhat of a young man's rite of passage, it is, in essence, a marketing ploy.

[jimbo12345]

A: There is absolutely no significance to the worm in tequila bottles because tequila bottles do not have worms.

The drink that has worms in and is often confused with tequila is mezcal, a related but different beverage produced in Mexico. The grub in question is the agave worm (gusano rojo) and there are several theories about its presence in the bottle. One of these is that the worm guarantees the strength of the distilled spirit. Another is that the worm is supposed to endow special powers and is said to have hallucinogenic properties. The addition of the worm to bottles of mezcal dates from the early 1950's and while consumption of it has become somewhat of a young man's rite of passage, it is, in essence, a marketing ploy.

interesting! The worm was for marketing to foreigners. Although, Mezcal is a tequila, technically. Found this:

Mezcal is a related drink and is the older form of the name for tequila as well. The name for the product made in Jalisco state was adopted in the late 19th century. Technically, all tequilas are mezcals, which were also known as mezcal wines and mezcal brandies before the name tequila became common.

There is no worm in Mexican-bottled tequila. Yes, some American-bottled brand(s) put one in their bottle to impress the gringos and boost sales, but it's only a marketing ploy and not a Mexican tradition. There is a worm - called a gusano, properly a butterfly caterpillar (Hipopta Agavis) - in some types of mezcal (but not all). You may also get a small bag of 'worm salt' - dried gusano, salt and chile powder tied to a mezcal bottle.

But it won't rot. :noes: