Tullamore D.E.W. Flagon - open or not?

[kbtax]

sorry for late hour on St. Patrick's Day (it's 5:15pm here in Ohio-U.S.; imagine 5 hours later on your side of the pond). Having thoughts of opening a ceramic crock of Mountain D.E.W. (flagon?), brought back from Ireland 20-21 years ago, and taking to my local pub to share with some friends. Guess I'm looking for feedback on craziness of that impulse, or maybe a good reason to forget about it .?.?.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

Go ahead, whiskey should still be pretty much as drinkable as the day you bought it home, not a collectible as such, crack it open and enjoy, Happy St Patrick's day.

[TallyB]

Be nice to know how it went.

[kbtax]

- Chickened out on opening the Tullamore D.E.W. ceramic flagon St Patrick's night )-: not sure if didn't want to share it, or just wanted to procrastinate a little longer on when the time would be right!
- I did coerce the owner of a bar/pub to have a new bottle on hand (I'm his accountant/taxman, so no problem there lol), and contributed a bottle of Celtic Crossing from my own stock, so there was plenty of sipping and a few shot concoctions had by all - of course have to ration out the Celtic Crossing since the new version a few years ago does not taste as good (even though called Celtic 'Honey' now). .
- thanks for replies, now still have opening of the crock to look forward to. . a question for the group:
. . wondering if there is a way to tell how old the D.E.W. is that's in the crock.?.?. I believe the aging was at least 3 yrs before bottling, but didn't know if a record exists recording actual origination dates for specific products.?.?. Is there a place online to search such a thing, maybe using the serial number on the ceramic?

Éirinn go Brách everyone - peace.out

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

We should be able to age it to within a decade. But we would need to see a picture.

Good clear picture of the front where all the text is readable.

Also do you know how the fill level is. These have a habit of evaporating quicker than normal bottles.

i.e. when you shake it can you hear a lot or a little sloshing about in the flagon. This obviously is just a simple way to guesstimate.

Although it will be heavier that a normal full bottle if full you can also gauge it by weight. So if slightly lighter normal evaporation a good bit light serious evaporation.
A normal bottle of whiskey here weighs about 2.5lbs (where the bottle is circa 1lb 2oz and the whiskey 1lb 6oz)
A new flagon is usually around 3lbs but older ones could be heavier but not sure. So that will give you an indication of fill level too

For me once a bottle goes over 1/4 evaporation and the older the bottle the oxidization will be more pronounced i.e. it will affect the taste and quality of the bottle contents to a greater extent.