Help - Anyone know this one?

@RikS, @talexander is your man for this one. Nice Italian bottle dude!

@paddockjudge @talexander thank you.

@RikS Wow - very cool! An Italian import of Ballantine's 17 Year Old (which I love) - I'm guessing bottled in the 1980s. Are you opening, selling or keeping?

@talexander i think 80's or maybe even 70's but I haven't been able to find a reference yet. I just found it so I don't know what to do with it. I won't open it until I know what I have in my hands... If it's worth something I suppose I can either sit on it or sell it and buy something to drink?

@RikS I'm guessing '80s based on the typography of the label but I am certainly no expert. You could ask Jonny McCormick, he's a writer who specializes in whisky auctions and does an "Ask the Expert" column for Whisky Magazine (editorial@whiskymag.com), you could email him and send a pic. My guess is, based on the damage to the label etc, you wouldn't get huge bucks for it. I paid CAN$220 (not including buyer's premium) for a 20 year old Bell's bottled in the 1970s, which externally was in excellent condition (the cork was falling apart though, which I didn't know until I opened it. Tasty stuff though!)

@talexander Thank you so much for the feedback and expertise! Much appreciated. I just found this link on the web - to me it looks like the bottle I found, though I see there are some minor differences on the bottom end of the label?

thewhiskyexchange.com/p/39538/…

@RikS That looks close enough that 1970s could actually be accurate. And at that price, you'll make a tidy sum if you decide to sell it!

@talexander Yes, that would be bonkers! Not a bad find to stumble upon on a Sunday afternoon

@talexander @RikS But then you'll always wonder what it would taste like.

I would invest in a current 17 YO and do a side to side...

@RikS, I'm leaning towards 1980s. Take a look at the 1980s bottle in your link...the labels are the same.

@paddockjudge oh yes, I believe you're right. Seems that on the 80's bottle the license text is on one line like on mine. Did you find any information about how much it could fetch?

@Nozinan The side-by-side is exactly what I would do.

@talexander If you had a Black Bowmore, would you do a side by side with Bowmore Black Rock?

@Nozinan - I agree. Unless the bottle is worth a crazy amount then I'd sell sell sell to buy buy buy

@RikS - great find btw!

@RikS, as for the value it could fetch? I suspect it would fetch less than the Whisky Exchange price of £291.67 ex VAT.

My suggestion is that you keep it and drink it, possibly a h2h with a more recent Ballantine's 17 YO. Where else are you gonna get a bottle of that value for "free"? The empty bottle will be a great conversation piece.

@paddockjudge Hmmm...wish I'd thought of that...

@Nozinan, you didn't provide visual aids.

I love Ballantine's 17 and I bet this would be a very tasty example. It's from a time when whisky wasn't in fashion per se and so would probably have been bottled in much smaller runs than today.

@Nozinan,

@Nozinan, you didn't provide visual aids. ...we all want @RikS to get maximum enjoyment from this one

@jeanluc has stepped up....@Riks, the pressure is on!

@Nozinan Is there a reason not to?

@talexander Keeping the seal intact could pay for your child's education...

But seriously, the only thing they have in common is the word Black...