Are Crystal Decanters Safe?
 

ive been recently researching decanters to store my more expensive whiskey in and have come upon some information concerning lead leeching out of the crystal into the liquor. A lot of the info talked about antique decanters as a problem but didnt mention much about newer versions. Is there still a concern involving lead leaching out or has standards changed the way they are made. Ive been looking for lead free crystal decanters but do not get many results. I would like to buy one but need to be sure its safe before i do. Any help will be appreciated

This comes from Whisky.com Expert Blenderm:

All older lead crystal decanters have a high lead content of up to 23% and any whisk[e]y's will start to extract the lead if it's left in the decanter for any length of time, I'm talking about weeks not years. All whisky sold in decanters for the past 30+ years are sold in a style of crystal that contains no lead and is safe for use.

In the 60's and 70's there were a number of deaths from lead poisoning in the US that were caused by lead glazed pottery being brought back from Mexico. THis caused checks to be made on all possible lead contaminants and crystal was near the top of the list.

If you want to use it for show when you have guests then fill the decanter before they arrive and empty it back into the bottle after they have left.

Thanks Jojo, I know of a company that thought they had returned to Scotland all the shipment of aged whisky in crystal decanters they'd sent to the USA in the early 70's, within 6 months of the shipment the FDA sampled a case and found that there was a massive contamination thus the return to Scotland. At the time they though that every decanter had been destoyed together with the whisky. It appeared that some cases escaped and when they were found on sale in a shop in LA in the late 90's they spent over $900 per decanter to buy them and ship them back to Scotland. I reckon that if there was nothing wrong with the whisky they let them be sold!