How many years of bourbon?

[Attila]

I have 20 bottles of bourbon on hand, and over the last 6 months I have had an average consumption of two bottles of bourbon a month. That means I have a ten month supply of bourbon.

How many months / years supply of bourbon do you have?

If its over 5 years (at whatever rate you drink), how do you justify that to yourself (or to your checkbook)?

[OscarV]

I'm not up to counting and doing the math on how many years worth of bourbon I have but I'll try that last question, "how do you justify,...."

I have buddies that spend large sums of money on boats, snowmobiles, motorcycles, guns, bow&arrows, fishing rods, cars, trucks and other big boy toys that I wouldn't want if free.

But they justify it just like I justify my bourbon collection.

[SBOmarc]

I have no problem at all "justifying" what I spend on my passions. Be it Bourbon, Golf, Cooking, Music, or Books.

One of life's pure pleasures is to be able to pursue one's passions with or without comment from others.

At my current rate of acquisition versus consumption, I will never run out.

or, that's the plan.

[ThomasH]

I have 300+ bottles. I predict I will have enough until retirement: Oct. 31st, 2027 or maybe even longer!

Thomas

[camduncan]

I have about 37 unopened bottles on hand (and another 23 currently on the go.) Most of the unopened bottles are ones that I can't find in Australia, and have been picked up overseas or acquired through the enormous generosity of some of our members.

At my current consumption rate of 1 bottle every 6-8 weeks, I've got enough to last a while. But I won't open something like a Pappy 23 or Four Roses 120th just to drink after work. There's plenty of Jim Beam, Makers Mark and Heaven Hill products available at affordable (Australian) prices for that. The good bottles are for special occasions.

[Merlin_AZ]

It's easy to "justify" it if you can project the current cost, with the cost at the point you will open the bottle, if you can guarantee it will exist at that point in time.

I have more than I need/drink right now, but I'm hedging against the expected continued price increases.

I could have gotten a bottle of Van Winkle 15 for $44 in March and didn't. I'm regretting that now.

[Attila]

But they justify it just like I justify my bourbon collection.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it is unjustified. Its just that my bourbon collection is growing by a couple of months for every month that passes, and if that trend continues, (hopefully I will have lived long enough that) by the time I die, I will have many years of unopened bourbon in my bunker.

A lot of people are against horders or ebayers or (name your type of person with a different outlook on bourbon than yourself), I say live an let live.

[Dramiel McHinson]

I have 20 bottles of bourbon on hand, and over the last 6 months I have had an average consumption of two bottles of bourbon a month. That means I have a ten month supply of bourbon.

How many months / years supply of bourbon do you have?

If its over 5 years (at whatever rate you drink), how do you justify that to yourself (or to your checkbook)?

I'm struggling with this very subject. At my current average consumption rate I have 7.6 years of booze bunkered. I buy about 4-6 bottles a month and usually consume or give away far less. I share opened and unopened bottles with friends frequently so the consumption rate can vary greatly.

I can't justify it. There is no justification for it in my case. Let's just say it's an obsession that I truly enjoy. I have other hobbies but this one doesn't require me to sweat, get dirty, wear personal protective clothing or furiously clean something when finished.:drinking:

[ggilbertva]

I have over 300 bottles in my bunker and calculated somewhere around 12 years if I stopped buying today.

I don't need to justify. I love working with wood and therefore have equipment and such in my garage for working with my passion. Same with bourbon.....its a passion. I don't just like drinking bourbon, I like talking about bourbon, learning about bourbon, its history and everything in between.

[fishnbowljoe]

I have about 75 bottles, or at 2 per month, 3 years worth. Providing I don't buy any more in the mean time. Joe

[spun_cookie]

I am afraid not enough until death, so I will try to cover my concerns with a 2-3 "X" ensurance policy...

but when I calculated last time with an average consumption... about 12-15 yrs... I think I am up to 20-25 now.... don't tell the wife :8

[Virus_Of_Life]

It's hard to answer this briefly, so I won't even try. I believe most everybody should have a hobby and let's be honest, men probably have many more than women; quite frankly men probably need a hobby.

When I was a kid I collected sports cards, that was a lot of money down the drain once ebay exposed the [excessive] supply demand equation of sports card collecting - many once thought reasonably valuable become literally worthless. Now I have bourbon. I consider it investing in the future as well because quite frankly as much as I hope to retire wealthy I can't plan on it; therefore I put away as much of the great stuff now as I can reasonably afford to. Honestly who wouldn't like to be able to open a Pappy20 or better yet an Old RipVW 15 thirty+ years from now and tell a simbling/niece/nephew/whoever-special the story of Stitzel-Weller and how the Van Winkles made, bottled and chose the greatest bourbon ever?! Then there is Hirsch, the gold foil is an unfortunate example of that gone bad, but the blue wax is truly an exquisite example of what was made at Michters.

I am pretty indifferent to the ebay issue as long as it isn't exploited terribly, so seeing things sell for at least what I've paid gives me solace that this will never be money wasted. That said, the joy that comes from sharing bourbon with my best friend here in Oregon and my SB.com friends in Bardstown and Santa Rosa far outweighs any thought of ever selling off the prize possessions of my collection.

I don't even know how many I have in my collection, I've never figured my consumption rate because it varies greatly; however I assume I have enough to last a while - but not enough to rest my weary soul. Most of what I buy now is with very few excemptions things that are on some level collectible. I keep a few everyday pours, but I just don't go out and buy [regular] Blantons, RHF, Bookers, etc very often.

Take for example Doug's barreling of Rye which opened all of our eyes to the stock of old rye that would never be duplicated. The Vintage and BMH lines are from the same stock and the Vintage 21 is one of those great bottles that just will not be duplicated, ever. If it wasn't for this site and these people discovering and writing about these things we'd likely never have known, for that I am eternally grateful. :grin:

To add to all that I believe special occasions even small ones require something special, and I'd like to hope I have hundreds if not thousands of special occasions yet to come.

[jburlowski]

I "never have" / "don't want to" figured this out.

First of all, my "bunker" isn't nearly as organized (or "sized") as other's here. Just a closet full of cases of assorted bottles. No listing or spreadsheet exists. This actually makes it interesting when I search for something I know I have somewhere, and instead stumble across a long-forgotten ("long" these days may mean a couple of months) bottle. The pile gets bigger and I'll soon find another closet.

Now if I calculate all this out, any number of things might happen: a) panic ensues and I fear that I don't have enough; I start monitoring my consumption rate and discern that I'm consuming too much (and have to shift into rationale mode and start ranting about the impending apocalypse; c) start monitoring my consumption rate and discern that I'm consuming too little and descend into a downward spiral as I try to "catch up"; d) I'm obsessed with all sorts of mortality / immortality scenarios that drive my wife to distraction (or cause her to lean towards one of the mortality scenarios); etc, etc.

Instead, I blithely stumble along; buying more than I consume (but never more than I can really afford.) Hopefully it all works out, and the last empty bottle falls to the floor from my cold, dead fingers. Or, there is a hell of a party at my wake.

[fishnbowljoe]

John, I'm Irish. Whatever I have left when I'm called to that big distillery in the sky, I hope will go to a huge wake. "Cheers to Joe! He sure had good taste in bourbon, and he had a lot of it too.":woohoo: Joe

[jburlowski]

Joe,

I seem to remember an old saying along the lines of: "At your wake, everyone loves you and were your best friend."

Works for me...

[smokinjoe]

I "never have" / "don't want to" figured this out.

First of all, my "bunker" isn't nearly as organized (or "sized") as other's here. Just a closet full of cases of assorted bottles. No listing or spreadsheet exists. This actually makes it interesting when I search for something I know I have somewhere, and instead stumble across a long-forgotten ("long" these days may mean a couple of months) bottle. The pile gets bigger and I'll soon find another closet.

Now if I calculate all this out, any number of things might happen: a) panic ensues and I fear that I don't have enough; I start monitoring my consumption rate and discern that I'm consuming too much (and have to shift into rationale mode and start ranting about the impending apocalypse; c) start monitoring my consumption rate and discern that I'm consuming too little and descend into a downward spiral as I try to "catch up"; d) I'm obsessed with all sorts of mortality / immortality scenarios that drive my wife to distraction (or cause her to lean towards one of the mortality scenarios); etc, etc.

Instead, I blithely stumble along; buying more than I consume (but never more than I can really afford.) Hopefully it all works out, and the last empty bottle falls to the floor from my cold, dead fingers. Or, there is a hell of a party at my wake.

:toast:

[fishnbowljoe]

Cheers to you too John!:bowdown: Joe

[Dramiel McHinson]

I blithely stumble along; buying more than I consume (but never more than I can really afford.) Hopefully it all works out, and the last empty bottle falls to the floor from my cold, dead fingers. Or, there is a hell of a party at my wake.

Reading this reminded me of my grand aunt's husband. He was an old school bourbon hound. Just after WWII he bought a surplus single engine spotter plane. He would land in the pasture next to a county pub, go in and offer rides for a dollar or a shot of whisky. He would down his whisky, making little cash in those days, and take his happy client for a circle tour of the city. As the evening went on the tours got more entertaining as he would be up to a few dare devil stunts. He and the plane later became too old to fly but never too old to drink.

To make a long and glorious story short, he was found one day lying at the bottom of his flat bottom boat, carried away by angels. In the bottom of the boat was an empty bottle of bourbon and on his fishing line was a large perch swimming furiously in a circle.

I miss him to this day. While the current state of our highly regulated land might not please him, the state of bourbon surely would.

[smokinjoe]

Oh, I figure that based on normal consumption, my bottles should last me 10 years. But, if I were to use my consumption over the Holidays as a barometer, my bunker can only hope to make it to 2010...

[BourbonJoe]

he was found one day lying at the bottom of his flat bottom boat, carried away by angels. In the bottom of the boat was an empty bottle of bourbon and on his fishing line was a large perch swimming furiously in a circle.

I probably would have liked him. This world needs more guys like that.

Joe :usflag: