When Nick Drummond and Patrick Bakker started renovations on their 105-year old Ames, N.Y., home, they had heard that a prior homeowner, named Adolph Humphner and known as the “Mystery Man of the Mohawk Valley,” had been a bootlegger during Prohibition. Most of the time, old wall and floor cavities are filled with corn cobs and rodent skeletons, but the New York Post reports that when Drummond and Bakker started removing rotted exterior trim, a package made of straw, paper, and string fell out. Inside the package were six bottles of 1923 Old Smuggler Scotch whisky (hence, the Scottish rather than American ‘whiskey’ spelling). More bound packages of whisky bottles were discovered underneath the hatch in the wood floor of the home’s mudroom. So far, the homeowners have discovered 66 bottles, about 15 of them still full of very aged spirits. They are continuing to document discoveries during the renovation on Instagram.
Renovators Discover 66 Bottles of Whisky Hidden in Upstate NY Home
The 105-year-old American Foursquare fixer-upper in the small hamlet near Albany was formerly owned by Adolph Humphner, the so-called “Mystery Man of the Mohawk Valley” who many believed was a bootlegger during Prohibition.
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