Double Courage London - Unknown Whisky/Bottle

[Gurkentroll]

Hello everyone,

I just came across this site while researching a bottle of whisky I inherited from my Grandfather. It is a very unusual looking bottle, it has a wooden stand and a removable wooden top that hides the opening (it is closed with a rubber cork).

The most remarkable thing about this bottle is a little tap (working!) at the front, so you can fill your glass without opening the bottle itself.

The label is red and reads "Double Courage London - 1787 Old Whisky" with a rooster in the middle. The label is not glued on, more like "burned in", not sure how this technique is called.

Sadly the bottle is not sealed anymore (I don't think it ever was from the looks of it), in fact it is only filled to about 50%. The entire bottle holds about 1.3 Liters - it has a little measurement scale at the back. It is still filled with the original whisky though.

While researching I found out that "Courage London" is actually a brewery but there is no information whatsoever that they ever made/sold whisky. I can also not find out anything about this bottle.

Does anybody have any information about this bottle? When was it sold? What kind of whisky is within? Does it have a special value? Anything would help really.

Thanks in advance for your answers!

[Gurkentroll]

Here some pictures

[Gurkentroll]

Nobody has any opinion on this?

[blenderm]

OK as no-ones answered you I'll put my 10 cents worth in.
It must have been produced after the early 1930's as stopper corks were not used prior to that. The label states "Whisky" so it's not Scotch or Irish as it was law to state what the contents were. The markings on the back of the bottle were used in the US and S America where the custom was to leave a bottle on the table and charge you for how much the bottle had gone down. Up until the 1970's nearly everyone in the Scotch Whisky industry used a thin paper label glued to the back of the bottle so I would suggest it's later than that.
The general design of the label is correct with Courage breweries as is the logo but the name Courage as such only began in 1970 and lasted until the mid 80's [takeovers etc]. It may be that this was a publicity item but if it is whisky in the bottle it must be a mix of Scotch, Irish, Canadian etc.

[Gurkentroll]

Thank you for your answer!

Thats a good bit of information. I already got in touch with Courage (now Wells & Youngs) and apparently they don't have any clue that they ever made/sold whisky.

Since I was researching this bottle because I intended to sell it, can you tell me anything about what a bottle like this might be worth? I know its not a good thing that the bottle isn't sealed/full anymore, but an unusal bottle like this from a company that doesn't remember selling it has to be worth something :D

[blenderm]

I asked around yesterday and, depending on where it was bought [possibly where your grandfather lived], the concencus was that it wasn't produced in the UK and was most likely a "souvenir" from some holiday resort, produced locally and filled with local spirit. The clincher for them was the brass tap which would never have been used with whisky as it taints and discolours it.
Sorry can't be of more help.

[Gurkentroll]

My grandfather lived in Germany, but he was visiting Ireland about once per year and i was actually thinking he might have brought it back from there.

But the question remains, what does Courage have to do with it - after all the bottle wears their logo - and why would somebody write "Old Whisky" on a bottle that isnt made for Whisky? If the label was removable I'd say okay somebody just put this label on the wrong bottle - but its definately not removable.

[blenderm]

I think that Germany has more to do with it than Ireland as it has feel for there with the wooden parts and the whisky could be German whisky. It may have been sold near some of the US and UK bases there in the 60's and 70's, possibly even later. As to the Courage name that could be just a way of legitimizing the pack especially as Courage has no record of it.
There was a question asked about a bottle about a year or two ago that was covered in Aztec markings with a wooden stopper from Mexico that purported to be Scotch but was a souvenir as well.