Last year, Patricia Hill bought a historic mansion in Western Pennsylvania with the intent of turning it into a bed and breakfast. As luck would have it, renovations turned up a previously hidden stock pile of pre-Prohibition Old Farm Pure Rye that was produced and bottled by West Overton Distilling Company in the early 1900s. But now a whole lot of that whiskey is missing — $102,000 worth, actually — and Hill says 62-year-old caretaker John W. Saunders is to blame.
Of course, Saunders denies the charges. He claims the whiskey likely evaporated, and since it was so old, it “was probably no good” anyway. Not so, says the experts who appraised what’s left of the trove. Though the bottles are worth more to collectors than the booze inside, they say the whiskey is most likely drinkable.
But things aren’t looking good for Saunders’s evaporation theory. Officials found DNA matching his on the mouths of the empty bottles tested. That means, if he is found to have drunk the whiskey, he’s also guilty of not using a glass to properly enjoy the rare hooch.
Scottdale mansion’s caretaker accused of drinking $102K worth of historic whiskey [Tribune-Review via Gawker]
