Forty years ago or thereabouts, I made about a dozen bottles of flavored bandy (schnapps); one each year usually. And stashed them away. I've moved a few times since then so the 38 yr old bottle in the picture has hidden under the current counter top for about 25 years. The other bottles of brandy have been consumed over the years except for one that remains; made of cherries and dated 1981.
In 1985 this dirty old bottle in the picture, was filled with fresh whole apricots, sugar and gin. The cap was sealed with duct tape and wire. Recently the liquid was poured off and filtered, into a smaller bottle. But the fruit declines to exit the bottle easily. There is still a lot of good spirit and flavor trapped within that fruit pulp. My first solution to this dilemma was to fill the bottle with fresh raw corn spirit and shake it up; then allow things to settle for 24 hours. When this was poured off and filtered into yet another bottle - it created a very presentable “brandy” (if you will). Right now the old fruit is surrounded by homemade wine.
Another observation with this picture is that parts were made with 2 different digital cameras. The 20 yr old Fuji (silver) takes darker pictures indoors and has less sophisticated features than the 10 year old Nikon (black). They are both supposedly “point and shoot cameras”. Luckily, in this case the Nikon gauged the indoor light more accurately than the Fuji camera. But that does not always happen. The newer Nikon is by far a more sophisticated and feature laden device, and sports 6 times the pixel density. However it comes with a thick and complicated instruction manual. The Nikon demands much more knowledgeable input and selection from its user; than a simple point & shoot & forget about it, type camera. It can easily create fuzzy and out of focus pictures - if using the wrong settings.
If a user has a young and flexible brain then the best results can probably be achieved with the more sophisticated device. Old farts with hard headed brains should probably stick with familiar or simpler devices; to reduce headaches and cussing, if nothing else.
Yet another observation (not shown) is with the idiot proof type cameras built into smart phones and i-Pad type devices. It may be just my opinion but these items are compromises. Cell phones are “Jacks of all Trades” - and good at none. They've got itty-bitty buttons, view screens, keypads and sound speakers. In-and-of-themselves, smartphones are impressive devices. They embrace a wide range of technology, but are particularly adept at nothing. Compared to an old fashioned telephone – cell phones are expensive and aren't even that adept at communication. Ever loose a signal? I do, all the time.
But getting back to the point, the cameras built into these devices are not professional quality tools. There are only minimal camera settings, if any at all. But one of my main resentments is that (with an android phone) I am obliged to join in with and participate with everything GOOGLE; before I can even begin to transfer pictures to a practical platform where I can edit those pictures to my liking.
the bottles do have a story. 
