You might have noticed a tax strip stuck to the bottle of hard alcohol. Tax strips are the bit of paper that is affixed over the cap/cork to indicate that the tax had been paid and the bottle has not been tampered with.

The use of tax strips over the cap began after the Bottled in Bond Act in 1897. It was a green decorative strip that showed the public that the whiskey within the bottle was 100% proof, bottled by one distiller in one distilling season, and was at least 4 years old.

Red strips denote federal tax, blue strips are for export, and green strips denote bottled in bond. There is sometimes a state tax paper stamp on the shoulder of the bottle. State tax stamps changed every four years when new state treasurers were appointed.

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