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VIDEO: A 150-year-old bottle unearthed in a Utah ghost town was taste-tested by experts

A 150-year-old corked find in a Utah ghost town is sampled by experts, revealing surprising flavors from the past

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Taste of the past: 150-year-old bottle unearthed in Utah ghost town taste-tested by experts

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Updated: 8:26 PM CST Mar 3, 2026

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A still-full 150-year-old bottle unearthed in the Utah ghost town of Alta was taste-tested by archaeologists and a distillery in the area.The corked bottle, dated between 1870 and 1890, was found during a construction project that turned into a major excavation in Alta, a historic ghost town that was a mining town, Jeremy Roth reported for CNN’s “Take a Look At This.” The bottle was one of thousands of artifacts unearthed during the construction project, including a leather mining hat, bullets, shot glasses, a 16-pound dumbbell, and more, according to the Utah State Historic Preservation Office.Archaeologists and the distillery sampled the vintage spirit by using a needle to extract and analyze its age and composition. Extracting the liquid also gave them a taste of the past as they gave it a taste.”Dried fruit notes. There’s a little bit of vinegar to it, but surprisingly, I think it had held up after being in a bottle under the ground for a hundred and fifty years,” Isaac Winter, with High West Distillery, said.Experts suspect it is some sort of sherry or beer and are planning further tests.

A still-full 150-year-old bottle unearthed in the Utah ghost town of Alta was taste-tested by archaeologists and a distillery in the area.

The corked bottle, dated between 1870 and 1890, was found during a construction project that turned into a major excavation in Alta, a historic ghost town that was a mining town, Jeremy Roth reported for CNN’s “Take a Look At This.” The bottle was one of thousands of artifacts unearthed during the construction project, including a leather mining hat, bullets, shot glasses, a 16-pound dumbbell, and more, according to the Utah State Historic Preservation Office.

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Archaeologists and the distillery sampled the vintage spirit by using a needle to extract and analyze its age and composition. Extracting the liquid also gave them a taste of the past as they gave it a taste.

“Dried fruit notes. There’s a little bit of vinegar to it, but surprisingly, I think it had held up after being in a bottle under the ground for a hundred and fifty years,” Isaac Winter, with High West Distillery, said.

Experts suspect it is some sort of sherry or beer and are planning further tests.

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