How long

[independant]

I think we all may do this. You have a special bottle and you have that last few pours and you just can bring yourself to finish it off. What are some bottle that you have held back and how long have you set on them?

[spun_cookie]

VVOF 12 yr... I sip that puppy at a snails pace. THe next would be my 02 and 03 Staggs... the 02 is down to the very end too... I know the Willett 27 yr unfilteredbarrel proof I have (#16 of 24 bottles) will be on my shelf for years...

There are a few a slow pour so folks have a chance to taste them.

[MarkEdwards]

I think we all may do this. You have a special bottle and you have that last few pours and you just can bring yourself to finish it off. What are some bottle that you have held back and how long have you set on them?

Not quite what you are asking, but I have yet to open the '08 GTS because it didn't have a buddy as backup. Today I found a source of GTS, so I have a spare. I will be trying one this week...

[MarkEdwards]

I think we all may do this. You have a special bottle and you have that last few pours and you just can bring yourself to finish it off. What are some bottle that you have held back and how long have you set on them?

Now, more along the lines of what you are asking, I have a bottle of Lot B that I am taking my time on. Three months so far, and counting.

[BBQ+Bourbon]

I have a very good lot B that's down to 1/2 full, and I've stopped drinking it. After they get to the halfway point, I have trouble drinking any further.

[loose proton]

...After they get to the halfway point, I have trouble drinking any further.

That's when you get a second bottle, and can then enjoy quaffing the last treasured drop of the open bottle.

[silverfish]

Heh, I've used the "halfway rule" myself. After a
while you (or at least I) say "Y'know, half a bottle
is still quite a bit. Maybe I'll go down to a third."
Of course, after that, a quarter bottle seems like
a good stopping point. That's when I usually draw
the line (for real!)

[TNbourbon]

For the record, I've certainly taken my time -- sometimes 2-3 years!-- finishing some bottles, but generally either because: 1) I had 40-50 bottles open at the time ( I don't even HAVE 40-50 bottles today), and drank something different every night; or 2) I just didn't care for it, and needed to find a vatting, mixer, or other in order to get it gone.
I've also opened some very fine (and valuable) bottles -- e.g., VOF BIBs from the '40s-'60, Wellers from the same era, '50-'60s OGD BIB, et al -- that were essentially irreplaceable. Counter-intuitively, I never husbanded those bottles in order to 'make them last' because, to me, part of their appeal was as time machines, and pouring some VOF every night for a week or two, and into some Coke(http://www.straightbourbon.com/forum...postcount=489), etc., could carry me vicariously back in time to my father's and grandfathers' days, when the whiskey I was drinking was an everyday standard. A very good way to find just how permanently something attracts is to experience it with regularity, and discover whether its value broadens or diminishes.
Anyway, my advice is to empty those bottles. In the case of currently available bourbons, buy when the current bottle drops below half, as LP notes. If older, harder-to-replace bottlings, enjoying consecutive pours will tell you more about your likes and dislikes than occasional, stingy sips that neither satisfy nor accumulate.

So, Em, a challenge: unless you hope to share that VVOF with someone specific AND have a time/place in mind (and in sight -- don't imagine it won't change at least some as it ages, now that it's open), live with that bottle for as many evenings as it takes to find the bottom, and enrich yourself with some timeless decadence.

[Rughi]

There's no real need to blow through favorite bottles just to keep ahead of deleterious oxidation. When a bottle that I want to reference in the future starts getting low, I decant to 4oz. bottles and top up completely. This essentially stops the clock on the whiskey, just like it was in an unopened bottle.

Four ounce decants are also a great way to make a gift of a whiskey sampler, which I like to do.

Roger

[spun_cookie]

So, Em, a challenge: unless you hope to share that VVOF with someone specific AND have a time/place in mind (and in sight -- don't imagine it won't change at least some as it ages, now that it's open), live with that bottle for as many evenings as it takes to find the bottom, and enrich yourself with some timeless decadence.

yeah... i know... I am working more frinds from scotch to bourbon... so it willbe gone by mid 2010... no matter what...