Open Bottles

[fishnbowljoe]

I did a little searching and found a couple of old threads about open bottles. I'd like to approach open bottles from a different point of view. Through chats, forums, and in person with other members, it seems a few/lot of us have quite a few open bottles. IMHO, there are basically three reasons for a person to have so many open bottles.

#1. Something brand new. Buy it, open it, taste it, put it on the shelf. Maybe keep drinking it. Maybe not.

Reason #1, leads directly to what I think are the two main reasons that some of us have so many open bottles.

#2. A bottle just doesn't taste that good. A bottle is opened. It's not very good. It's put on the shelf with a lot of other bottles that taste better. Why finish something that isn't that good, when you have others that are better?

#3. A bottle tastes almost too good, or it's something fairly rare. You want to savor it. Keep it around a while. You just can't seem to bring yourself to finish it.

So, what bottles do you have open because they are:

A. Not that good. Too hard to finish.

B. Too good, or rare. Don't really want to finish them.

Let's hear it.

As for me. My current choices are:

A. Current Yellowstone, current Rebel Yell, Henry McKenna SB BIB

B. Most all my Weller's, Van Winkle's, and BTAC

Hope we can have a little fun with this. Cheers! Joe

[Rughi]

#4 Don't drink in great quantities, but still want variety.

I would guess I drink 6-10 bottles a year, and for several years probably opened more than 20 a year. There are a lot of flavors I want to try now, not wait a few years until other bottles are drained.

I guess I could become a heavier drinker, but I'd rather not.

Roger

[TomH]

Category A Open Bottles:

Several BTEC releases

Category B Open Bottles:

27 YO Willetts (SW)

ORVW 15/107

Another category of open bottles:

Open Bottles for visitors who want name brand drinks:

Makers Mark (I would also have this one handy for when NeoTexan stops by)

Woodford Reserve

Tom

[jburlowski]

A:

JPS 17

Willett Estate Reserve

B:

PVW 23 SB.com SB

[WsmataU]

A+B= Hirsch gold foil.....:bigeyes: Did I say that out loud.:slappin:

I keep it for "Special Occasions" when I want to impress friends. I keep my PVW and Wellers for private celebration.

[mrviognier]

There's nothing on my bar that I won't drink for qualitative limits. If it's that bad, I'd have used it in Bourbon/sodas, cooking or gotten rid of it long ago.

And I'd have to say that there are no bottles on my bar that are 'off limits' due to scarcity. Bourbon is for drinking...not looking at. If I'm in the mood for, say a ORVW or Willett or Hirsch, etc, I'll pour a dram. And, provided my guest is a Bourbon fan, I'm willing to share anything I have.

There will always be an irreplaceable (or hard to replace) bottle, but I'd rather have the memory of the taste...not a partial bottle that I can't or won't enjoy when the mood strikes. If you're that fond of looking at bottles, you can always fill them with colored water when you're finished.

[CorvallisCracker]

#4 Don't drink in great quantities, but still want variety.

Yep, most of my bottles fall into that category.

I would guess I drink 6-10 bottles a year, and for several years probably opened more than 20 a year. There are a lot of flavors I want to try now, not wait a few years until other bottles are drained.

I guess I could become a heavier drinker, but I'd rather not.

What he said, except my consumption rate is probably closer to 10-12 bottles per year.

But I do have some that fall into Joe's categories.

A. Buck, ORVW 10/107

The Buck was purchased to submit as a VBT (the sacrifices I make for this forum!). Whenever I get the urge for bourbon-and-Coke, this gets used. Should be gone by summer's end.

The ORVW is a cipher. I can only assume it's a bad batch/bottle. Too dry and woody. I occasionally vat it with VSOF, which works pretty well. I should try that with MM 46.

B. PVW 20, Saz 18 (2006), OC 10 (Belmont distilled), EWSB 1994, WTAS, BMH 18 rye, Weller 12.

The Weller 12 gets "special occasion" status because it's not available in Oregon; in fact, I'm pretty sure I bought the last five bottles sold in the state (see this post). I'm about one third of the way into bottle #4.

[TomH]

And I'd have to say that there are no bottles on my bar that are 'off limits' due to scarcity. Bourbon is for drinking...not looking at. If I'm in the mood for, say a ORVW or Willett or Hirsch, etc, I'll pour a dram. And, provided my guest is a Bourbon fan, I'm willing to share anything I have.

There will always be an irreplaceable (or hard to replace) bottle, but I'd rather have the memory of the taste...not a partial bottle that I can't or won't enjoy when the mood strikes. If you're that fond of looking at bottles, you can always fill them with colored water when you're finished.

I don't believe that any of us are saying that "Category B" means look don't touch (If it did, the bottle wouldn't been opened in the first place). At least for me, these bottles are reserved for when I want that special taste or poured when friends who appreciate good whisk(e)y visit.

Tom

[MarkEdwards]

The only bottle I really didn't care for is Old Rip Van Winkle 10. But I've got a plan for those kinds of bottles - I use them to spike my Evan Williams eggnog.

The ones I like to savor include Lot B and a couple of Irish and Scotch whiskies. Everything else I drink through random rotation - close my eyes and reach into the liquor cabinet and drink whatever literally comes to hand.

[CorvallisCracker]

Everything else I drink through random rotation - close my eyes and reach into the liquor cabinet and drink whatever literally comes to hand.

[Res/st-or]

Wow Joe.... You don't like the Henry McKenna SB BIB? I love that stuff... You sure you didn't get a bad batch....

A. Jury is still out for this one... I haven't purchased a hater yet.

B. All the PVW'S

[Joshua]

It's hard for me to classify my open bottles...

A) For sure my EC12 that is iffy... and some Old Fitz BIB (current) I don't enjoy. Although both have 1-2 pours left and I'm trying to kill them off.

Hmmm well my amazingly good Halloween edition of WTKS sits open because I only drink it with friends. It's the best turkey I've had, and I would rather others enjoy it with me. Same goes with a few really off the wall dusty bottles, they are good but I want to share so I rarely drink them alone.

The other 20-30 open bottles I have open because I just don't drink fast enough. I want different bottles different days, and sometimes I only want .5 ounce or so to have a little taste. I could drink faster, but I would rather just enjoy open bottles at a slow pace.

[Rutter]

A) Dickel CH (tastes cheap and nasty yet cost me around £35!), Georgia Moon (I bought this as a joke and regretted it the second i tasted it, will be brought out to ward people off my stash), JB Rye (very lacking in depth)

Everything else that isn't easily available so anything that isn't JBW, JBB, BT, MM!

[sailor22]

In my liquor cabinet that could be a kitten.

[foxflyer5]

my open bottles are mainly because i want to savor them for a while or share with a friend. if my running low on something hard to find and i really want my brother to taste it, ill drink something else in the meantime until we can finish the good bottle together. i also like variety sometimes so ill different bottles open that have different mashbills.

[ggilbertva]

#4 Don't drink in great quantities, but still want variety.

I would guess I drink 6-10 bottles a year, and for several years probably opened more than 20 a year. There are a lot of flavors I want to try now, not wait a few years until other bottles are drained.

I guess I could become a heavier drinker, but I'd rather not.

Roger

[dmarkle]

I got an open one that is having a hard time competing with the others in my stash: The Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel. Just not remarkable in any good way -- not even price. At least my current Old Fitz BIB was $15. A little rough around the edges, sure. But it's my favorite $15 bottle of pretty much anything...

[anyexcuse]

I did a little searching and found a couple of old threads about open bottles. I'd like to approach open bottles from a different point of view. Through chats, forums, and in person with other members, it seems a few/lot of us have quite a few open bottles. IMHO, there are basically three reasons for a person to have so many open bottles.

#1. Something brand new. Buy it, open it, taste it, put it on the shelf. Maybe keep drinking it. Maybe not.

Reason #1, leads directly to what I think are the two main reasons that some of us have so many open bottles.

#2. A bottle just doesn't taste that good. A bottle is opened. It's not very good. It's put on the shelf with a lot of other bottles that taste better. Why finish something that isn't that good, when you have others that are better?

#3. A bottle tastes almost too good, or it's something fairly rare. You want to savor it. Keep it around a while. You just can't seem to bring yourself to finish it.

So, what bottles do you have open because they are:

A. Not that good. Too hard to finish.

B. Too good, or rare. Don't really want to finish them.

Let's hear it.

As for me. My current choices are:

A. Current Yellowstone, current Rebel Yell, Henry McKenna SB BIB

B. Most all my Weller's, Van Winkle's, and BTAC

Hope we can have a little fun with this. Cheers! Joe

I like Old Heaven Hill (8 yr) for an inexpensive pour, but tried HH BIB and I just don't care to finish it. To my taste it is young and just not very good.

I have a bottle of 4RS single I really like and try to only have a pour on special occasions. A Makers kinda the same. I like rye sometimes and wheat sometimes, depending on my mood, I guess.

[theDon]

I keep 10 or so open. Half are fueled by 1.75's underneath the bar out of site that I fill the respective 750s. Those are my every days. The other 5 are rare or over $25 bottles from which I partake less often.

[barturtle]

Hold on a cotton-pickin' minute...you people OPEN your bottles?

[Trace Tippler]

A. Not that good. Too hard to finish.

JB's Red Stag. Yes, yes, I know. It was on sale, I'm new, there was a coupon, Mars was retrograde to Bourbonia, and stuff. And more stuff. But! Even though I place it in my "undrinkable" category of tasting notes, I look at it this way: whiskey (even this one) won't change in the bottle and if someone comes to my house who wants a bourbon and cherry-coke sort of drink, I'm ready! It will also make them feel right at home, having an open bottle, nearly full, just for them. So even though it's undrinkable to me it means that for someone else I'm ready to be a good host by having their preferred drink at hand. (This is called positive spin, btw.)

B. Too good, or rare. Don't really want to finish them.

WLW Special Reserve: I keep having to tell myself that (a) this stuff is regularly available at what seems a very, very reasonable price and that ( I can go get it. I don't know if it's the attractive bottle, the fact I really love this bourbon, or if it just somehow seems truly special but it just feels like it's too good and should be rare. And from everything I read on SB, I know I've got so much more to look forward to than even this wonderful pour. it all makes me grin like an idiot.

To paraphrase some famous person, bourbon tasting seems like golf -- you don't have to be good at all to really enjoy it.

Cordially,

Trace

[MarkEdwards]

Hold on a cotton-pickin' minute...you people OPEN your bottles?

Nope - I absorb the bourbon directly through the glass. That's how we do it in my dimension.

[StraightBoston]

I'm in the same "#4" boat as Roger and Greg but probably even worse -- I'll bet I have 40 open bottles and I finish off maybe 4-5 in a year. Even when I want to hold off, my curiosity for new tastes gets me (cf. Makers 46)

I also find it nearly impossible to finish off a favorite, especially if its a dusty classic. Invariably the last pour goes into a 50ml "for future reference".

[BBQ+Bourbon]

A. Not that good. Too hard to finish.

JB's Red Stag. Yes, yes, I know. It was on sale, I'm new, there was a coupon, Mars was retrograde to Bourbonia, and stuff. And more stuff. But! Even though I place it in my "undrinkable" category of tasting notes, I look at it this way: whiskey (even this one) won't change in the bottle and if someone comes to my house who wants a bourbon and cherry-coke sort of drink, I'm ready! It will also make them feel right at home, having an open bottle, nearly full, just for them. So even though it's undrinkable to me it means that for someone else I'm ready to be a good host by having their preferred drink at hand. (This is called positive spin, btw.)

B. Too good, or rare. Don't really want to finish them.

WLW Special Reserve: I keep having to tell myself that (a) this stuff is regularly available at what seems a very, very reasonable price and that ( I can go get it. I don't know if it's the attractive bottle, the fact I really love this bourbon, or if it just somehow seems truly special but it just feels like it's too good and should be rare. And from everything I read on SB, I know I've got so much more to look forward to than even this wonderful pour. it all makes me grin like an idiot.

To paraphrase some famous person, bourbon tasting seems like golf -- you don't have to be good at all to really enjoy it.

Cordially,

Trace

Be sure to grab a Weller 12 and a Lot B when you get the chance. The WSR is a great beginners bourbon. By the way, you aren't related to Dirk Diggler are you?

[BBQ+Bourbon]

To the question at hand:

None of these are bad, per se, but none light my fire; Platte Valley Corn Whiskey, Mellow Corn BIB, WTRB, JRPS, VWFRR, 1984 Old Forrester BIB, Johnny Walker Blue.

I just can't stand to watch these die: R/E Willet 6 year, Gold Vein Weller 107, 99,2000,2003 Weller 107, Weller Cent, ND OGD ca 1983, OFBIB, SW Weller 12, SW WSR.

My third category is; bottles I couldn't stand to empty, except that I have more. The GTS 2009 is at the top, WTKS, WLW, 2006 OFBB,