1970 Yellowstone Bottled in Bond 6 Year Kentucky Straight Bourbon 100 Proof

Distilled in the spring of 1963 and bottled in the spring of 1970 — a Yellowstone Bottled in Bond Kentucky straight bourbon at 100 proof, carrying a 6 year age statement on roughly seven years of actual maturation.

The gap between those two figures is the interesting part. Bottled in Bond requires the season and year of both distillation and bottling to appear on the label, which means the dates can be checked against the stated age — and here they show the whiskey sat about a year longer than the label claims. Distillers rounded down rather than up, since an age statement is a floor rather than an average.

Bottled in Bond itself is the oldest consumer-protection standard in American spirits, set by the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897: one distillery, one distilling season, at least four years in a federally supervised warehouse, and bottled at exactly 100 proof. Nothing about the designation is decorative.

This bottle comes from a period of Kentucky distilling that no longer exists in the same form, and the Yellowstone brand has changed hands since. The bottle and packaging show age-related wear consistent with their vintage — please review all photographs carefully for the exact condition of the bottle, fill level, labels, closure and packaging.

Specs

• Brand: Yellowstone
• Type: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Designation: Bottled in Bond
• Age statement: 6 years
• Distilled: Spring 1963  |  Bottled: Spring 1970
• Actual time in barrel: Approximately 7 years
• Proof: 100 (50% ABV)
• Condition: Vintage — see photographs

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Why does the label say 6 years when the dates show about 7? An age statement names the minimum time in wood, not the exact figure, so a distiller can state less than the whiskey actually has but never more. The Bottled in Bond rules require both the distilling and bottling seasons on the label, which is what makes the difference visible here — on most bourbon there's no way to check.
• What does Bottled in Bond guarantee? Under the 1897 Act: 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. It was written to stop adulteration at a time when "whiskey" could legally be almost anything, and it remains the strictest standard on an American whiskey label.
• Is bourbon from 1970 still drinkable? Spirits stop maturing once they're in glass, so a sealed bottle with a sound closure and a strong fill should be close to how it was bottled. Storage 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.