Bottle of Cassidy’s Whiskey was found wrapped in newspaper in doctor’s bag A rare 142-year-old bottle of Irish whiskey put up for auction after being discovered wrapped in a 19th-century newspaper tucked away in the pocket of an old Gladstone doctor’s bag did not sell. The bottle of original Cassidy’s Whiskey from Monasterevin in Co Kildare had an estimate of €12,000-€14,000 but the highest bid received was €5,500 and the item was not sold. It was advertised complete with leather bag and its newspaper wrapping. “They’ve been together for over 120 years, it would be a shame for them to part company now,” the vendor whiskeybidders.com said. The original purpose of this particular bottle may have been medicinal – the “Supplement of the Tablet” newspaper in which it was found dated from 1899, a time when whiskey would still have held medicinal value. John Cassidy originally opened the Monasterevin Distillery in 1784, according to notes accompanying the auction, and 100 years later it was producing 250,000 gallons of the drink annually. It was often exported to London, transported to Dublin initially by canal and then shipped from Dublin Port. Cassidy’s Distillery and Brewery closed in 1934. “The Cassidy name is probably the start of a long history of distilling in Monasterevin. Another rare and special whiskey, Ballyhooly Blue Ribbon Twin Cask Single Malt also has links to the town,” the vendor said. Valuable Irish whiskeys are often sold at auction, attracting bidders for both its quality and romanticism. In 2020, a bottle of Midleton Very Rare Silent Distillery Chapter One sold at auction for €42,000, at that time reported to be the most expensive bottle.