(WJW) — A U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer and his dog stumbled across something unexpected on a New Jersey beach last month: nearly a dozen rare and mysterious bottles of whiskey.
Austin Contegiacomo told Fox News Digital he was walking on the beach near Margate Pier, about five miles south of Atlantic City, with his sheepadoodle, Koda, when they made the discovery.
“I was throwing the ball, and my dog tends to rub himself in stuff that smells weird,” Contegiacomo told Fox News Digital . “So there’s this brown bottle in the sand, and he starts rubbing on it.”
The 28-year-old said Koda found another bottle about five feet away — and then a third.
“They were pretty much at the surface,” he told the news outlet. “There were a ton of conches and shells and all types of other debris on the beach that day.”
Contegiacomo said he found 11 full bottles, all labeled “Lincoln Inn.”
In an effort to solve the mystery, Contegiacomo posted photos of the bottles to Reddit on Feb. 17.
“Lincoln Inn? Was walking my dog on the beach and these bottles were everywhere ended up bringing 11 home!” the post said. “Anyone happen to know anything about it or how so many ended up on the NJ shore?”
“Wow! Not your typical bourbon hunting! Good dog!” one commenter said.
After doing some research, Contegiacomo learned that Lincoln Inn was a whiskey brand bottled at a distillery in Quebec in the 1930s, around the Prohibition era, Fox News reported.
He told the news outlet that his work friends found a twelfth bottle on the beach the following day.
Rather than trying to sell them, Contegiacomo said he decided to gift the bottles to his friends and his dad.
“Even if it’s a great whiskey or something, I don’t think I’d appreciate the whiskey itself nearly as much as I appreciate the story and how it got here,” he told Fox News Digital.