A man playing with his dog on the beach in Margate last month stumbled across a collection of unopened whiskey bottles that appear to have been produced at a Canadian distillery during the Prohibition era in the United States.
The discovery was made near the Margate Pier by Austin Contegiacomo, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer whose sheepadoodle, Koda, took interest in a bottle protruding from the sand. Contegiacomo didn't immediately recognize the object. When he told Koda to leave it alone, the dog found several other sealed, flask-shaped bottles nearby that Contegiacomo quickly realized were some type of liquor.
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Contegiacomo found a total of 11 bottles, each etched with the name Lincoln Inn and an illustration of man on horseback. He posted photos of the bottles on the Whiskey and Bottle Digging subreddits, hoping hobbyists could help explain where they might have come from. Commenters dug into the background of Lincoln Inn and found that the discontinued brand was made at a distillery in Montreal. It was sold in bottles made by Dominion Glass, one of Canada's largest glass producers.
The sand-covered bottles were scattered amid shells and other debris on the beach, offering a possible clue about how they might have gotten there.
"They were dredging offshore when the bottles washed up, so I think that's the most likely scenario," Contegiacomo said Thursday in messages exchanged on Reddit.
The bottoms of the bottles are embossed with a diamond mark that Dominion Glass began using in 1928, eight years after alcohol was made illegal in the United States. At the time, authorities had started clamping down on bootleggers by requiring imported bottles to contain information indicating their countries of origin. Dominion Glass used a mark with the letter "D" inside a diamond, sometimes accompanied by other marks that signified when the bottles were made, according to historical research on the company's bottling standards. Lincoln Inn produced whiskey from the 1930s until the company went out of business in the 1970s.
Canadian whiskey expert Davin de Kergommeaux told Men's Journal the bottles found in Margate likely contain whiskey that was produced at Distillers Corporation Limited, a large company that also included Seagram Distillers.
The New Jersey coast was commonly used to smuggle bootleg liquor during Prohibition, and U.S. Coast Guard vessels were among the government's primary modes of enforcement. Margate is just south of Atlantic City, a well-known hub for smuggled liquor that was often destined for the Philadelphia area. Contegiacomo said he wonders whether the bottles he found could have been abandoned by smugglers.
"Maybe they were about to be caught by the Coast Guard," he said.
Unopened whiskey bottles can last indefinitely if stored in the right conditions, usually at temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees, according to various guides. Too much warmth and sunlight can cause whiskey to evaporate and become less potent, especially if bottles are not perfectly sealed.
Contegiacomo, who doesn't drink alcohol, said he gave away 10 of the bottles to his friends.
"I think right now, nobody is willing to open it," he said. "The history behind it, the mystique of how far it's traveled and the fact it is still full and intact makes it so much cooler. Once it's empty, it becomes just an old glass bottle."
Contegiacomo plans to keep his bottle displayed on a shelf in his kitchen. He said Koda loves playing on the beach and was given special treats as a reward for finding the whiskey bottles.