Under the Wood Floor: A Bootlegger’s Old Whiskey Stash

Nick Drummond / @bootleggerbungalowNick Drummond / @bootleggerbungalowNick Drummond / @bootleggerbungalowA couple fixing up a 105-year-old house in Ames, N.Y., are toasting to a rare fund under its wood floors: dozens of whiskey bottles dating back to the 1920s, the New York Post reports.

The couple, Nick Drummond and Patrick Bakker, had their suspicions going into the renovations that a prior homeowner had been a bootlegger. The house was previously owned by Adolph Humphner, who was known as the “Mystery Man of the Mohawk Valley” during the Prohibition and often suspected of bootlegging. 

Drummond and Bakker made their first spirits discovery in the walls. They were removing a rotted exterior trim when a package made of straw, paper and string fell out––inside were six bottles of 1923 Old Smuggler whiskey.

They then turned to a hatch in the wood floor of the home’s mudroom. They opened the hatch, crawled inside, and, sure enough, discovered more bound packages of whiskey bottles. 

So far they’ve found 66 bottles, about 15 still full of whiskey. All of the bottles under the wood flooring were empty. The couple is planning to install a glass panel over the hatch to preserve a unique chapter of the historic home’s history.

They are continuing to document discoveries during the renovation on Instagram.