Home projects can be fun and rewarding endeavors! What might be even better is finishing a project and enjoying the night with a drink, looking back on your hard work. For one crew, that drink might come from the most unlikely place!

In Ames, New York, one couple had the find of their lifetime.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIjVoVNnhZL/

Nick Drummond and Patrick Bakker bought their 105-year-old home not long ago. Wanting something with charm, the two heard about the home’s local story previously belonging to a famous bootlegger. A house with character, indeed!

About a year after they bought it, it was time to start on renovations.

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When they started on their home, however, it was NOT what they were expecting. Documenting their home reno on the Instagram @bootleggarbungalow, they never really knew what to expect but wanted it to be filmed. When they tore the outside of the mudroom apart, however, they learned that the rumors of bootlegging were more than just stories!

Drummon was removing the skirting around their mudroom when they uncovered something amazing!

“I’m like, what is that? I’m very confused. I’m looking and there’s hay everywhere, there’s paper, and glass … I see another package and it’s this whiskey bottle.”

He was totally shocked:

“I’m like holy crap. This is like a whiskey stash. And this is like, all of a sudden, the whole story of the bootlegger.”

Their walls were made of booze!

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In what many would consider a dream come true, the homeowners had found a secret stash of whiskey hidden in the walls of their home. All the stories they heard of their home all came to their minds as they realized it was all true.

“I can’t believe the rumors are true! He was actually a bootlegger! I mean I thought it was a cute story, but the builder of our house was ACTUALLY a bootlegger!”

From the time they found the first bottles in October 2020 to the time they finished in November, they uncovered 88 bottles.

Individually wrapped in paper, then straw, then paper again, the bottles were well preserved. The labels showed them to be Gaelic Old Smuggler, a brand that was quite famous 100 years ago and is popular among collectors circles.

While tearing up more of the house, Drummond found bottles everywhere!

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There were hidden compartments under the floorboards, stuck in the walls, and pretty much everywhere in the home.

“Once inside the other compartment, you are crawling around on your back in dirt, in 12-18” of space. Lots of cobwebs. Looking up, instead of seeing floor joists, there are solid boards covering the underside of the joists, held in place with flat head screws. Bizarre. They would never have done that under an unfinished mudroom. And if for some reason they wanted to attach those boards 100 years ago, they would have used nails- not screws. Unless of course, they wanted to access it again in the future!”

Of the total haul, 13 bottles are still sealed!

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It looks like the two may have found a way to fund their future home projects! Obviously, trusting a bootlegger’s alcohol wares is sketchy to begin with, but if the bottles are real, it’s worth a ton of money. The last Old Smugglers bottle to sell went for $1,268!

Check out one of the Instagram videos of the discoveries below!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGISPGVgOAi/?utm_source=ig_embed

Source: CNN, Times Union