1971 Yellowstone Bottled in Bond 6 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon 100 Proof

Distilled in the autumn of 1964 and bottled in the spring of 1971 — a Yellowstone Bottled in Bond Kentucky straight bourbon at 100 proof, carrying a 6 year age statement.

Bottled in Bond is the oldest consumer-protection standard in American spirits, set by the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897: the product of one distillery and one distilling season, aged at least four years in a federally supervised warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. The designation also requires the season and year of both distillation and bottling on the label, which is why a bottle like this can be placed to within a few months more than half a century later.

Fall 1964 to spring 1971 is roughly six and a half years, consistent with the stated six. The whiskey comes from a period of Kentucky distilling that no longer exists in the same form, and the Yellowstone brand has changed hands since.

This is a vintage collectible rather than a current release. Fill level, label condition, closure and packaging all vary with age — please review all product images carefully for the exact condition of the bottle being offered.

Specs

• Brand: Yellowstone
• Type: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Designation: Bottled in Bond
• Age statement: 6 years
• Distilled: Fall 1964  |  Bottled: Spring 1971
• Proof: 100 (50% ABV)
• Condition: Vintage — see photographs

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Frequently Asked Questions

• What does Bottled in Bond actually guarantee? Under the 1897 Act: one distillery, one distilling season, at least four years in a federally supervised warehouse, and exactly 100 proof. It was written to stop adulteration at a time when "whiskey" could legally be nearly anything, and it remains the strictest standard that appears on an American whiskey label.
• How is the bottle dated so precisely? The Bottled in Bond rules require both the distilling and bottling seasons on the label. That's unusual — most bourbon carries no production date at all — and it's what lets a 1971 bottling be traced back to a fall 1964 distillation without any guesswork.
• Is bourbon this old still good? Spirits stop maturing the moment they're sealed in glass, so a bottle with a sound closure and a strong fill should be close to how it was bottled. Storage history and seal integrity matter far more than the number of years, which is why fill level and capsule condition are the things to study in the photographs.