Video: Prohibition-era whiskey bottles found washed up on beach
A New Jersey man walking his dog on the beach discovered 11 perfectly sealed bottles of whiskey, believed to be from the 1930s.
Austin Contegiacomo didn't expect to find a river of whiskey when he stumbled upon a pile of whiskey—specifically, Prohibition-era stash—while walking his four-legged friend last month.
Even for someone who doesn't drink alcohol, this was a unique find. And it made the story even more interesting.
“The story behind it adds an element of mystery and is really compelling,” Contegiacomo, 28, a Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer from Northfield, New Jersey, told Fox News Digital.
He had just finished a 24-hour shift and decided to take his furry shepherd, Koda, for a walk near Margate Pier, south of Atlantic City.
“I often take him to the beach to play,” Contegiacomo said.
“I was throwing a ball and my dog loves to rub against things with a strange smell. So there's a brown bottle in the sand and she starts rubbing against it.”
A New Jersey man has found about a dozen bottles of Prohibition-era whiskey that appear to be in perfect condition from the 1930s or 1940s. (Austin Contegiacomo)
Contegiacomo noted that his dog stopped playing and focused on the find in the sand.
“I thought, 'Oh, man, that looks like a bottle of piss,'” he said.
“So I yelled at him to move away, and then maybe five feet ahead there was another one. And as soon as he moved away, he ran up to the next one and started rubbing against her again.”
According to Contegiacomo, when Koda found the third bottle, he began to realize that they had stumbled upon something much more exciting than he had originally believed.
“They were almost on the surface,” he said. “There were a lot of shells and other debris on the beach that day.”
Austin Contegiacomo's dog Koda sniffs the sand on a beach near Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he and his pet found 11 mysterious bottles of whiskey. (Austin Contegiacomo)
He added: “I think it was due to dredging because they are repairing the beaches and they do it in the winter to prepare for the summer season. There were no storms but there was a huge amount of rubbish washed up.”
In the end, Contegiacomo and his dog found 11 completely full glass bottles of rare old whiskey, all of which had the name Lincoln Inn engraved on them.
Contegiacomo called a friend, who did some quick internet research. They discovered that Lincoln Inn had been produced at a Montreal distillery in the 1930s, and that the company had gone bankrupt in the 1970s.
“He said, 'Man, there's not a lot of information on this, but it looks like it's old,'” Contegiacomo said. “He said I should save it and learn more.”
Contegiacomo and a friend did some research on the whiskey bottles found on the beach. They learned that the distillery was in Montreal and dated back to the 1930s. (Austin Contegiacomo)
So Contegiacomo took off his jacket, collected all the bottles—each one placed next to the others—and hid them in his jacket.
Then he tied it up like a bag.
The Bottle Diggers Community
After bringing them home, Contegiacomo posted about his find on Reddit, where a community of bottle diggers and a group of whiskey lovers began discussing his discovery.
Group members indicated Contejiak
Sourse: www.foxnews.com
