Description
This is a fascinating bottle. The contents of which are some of the near 250,000 gallons of whisky, discovered along with stores of Cognac, Rum and Gin by Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps in a wine cellar in North Africa during the early stages of World War 2. After sharing the spoils among his men, the remaining casks were shipped to the Italian village of Nettuno, Italy in the holds of Axis ships.The town was then captured by Allied forces in 1944, the alcohol along with it, and US forces ordered it to be bottled at the local Delva Distillery, to be distributed among the troops. The bottles were tested by a long-forgotten Allied Military Government unit called the R.A.A.C. who labelled ' Del va Liquors' as within purity standards. After the war, the bottles were transferred to Linz National Customs Forces in Austria until the 1970s. In early 1976, the 'Afrika Corps "Lost Liquor"' bottles were released, predominantly for sale in US Army Class VI stores. Many original labels were damaged and replaced with reproductions stating 'this is a true and faithful reproduction of the original label-combination on this bottle'. The bottles were still filled at Delva, and the liquid is still that discovered by the Nazi Afrika Corps forces in the 1940's.