What to do with empty bottles?

[soonami]

I recently polished off an OWA and ER10, which aren't particularly special bottles for display. Question is, does anyone have good uses for empty bottles. Most go into the recycling bin but if I finish something special, I'd like to do something cool with it

[MyOldKyDram]

Curious as well.

Only bottle I've saved is the Willet Pot Still. Middling bourbon but tis a sexy bottle. No idea what to do with it though, if anything.

[Trey Manthey]

Curious as well.

Only bottle I've saved is the Willet Pot Still. Middling bourbon but tis a sexy bottle. No idea what to do with it though, if anything.

[soad]

I recently polished off an OWA and ER10, which aren't particularly special bottles for display. Question is, does anyone have good uses for empty bottles. Most go into the recycling bin but if I finish something special, I'd like to do something cool with it

[Bourbon Boiler]

I keep a handful around to store some personal creations from aging experiments when they're ready to come out of the barrel. Outside of that, I've never found a good use.

[Wedge]

Fat-bottomed bottles (such as ORVW & Templeton) work great as lamp bases. I drill a small hole near the base to allow a small cord to pass through, find a decent little lampshade and... let there be light! Yes, drilling holes in glass can be a real PITA.

Unfortunately, some of the coolest bottles are tall and slender - not real practical as a lamp.

[BFerguson]

I'll always have one or two on hand for decanting or tasting purposes-for transporting the taste sample to the intended destination. Otherwise they hit the recycling bin.

And there is a saved one for keeping simple syrup in. Perviously it was a Baby Saz, I liked it for the look, but the misses didn't like the size, too tall. Now, ETL has the honors.

B

[Bourbon Boiler]

Fat-bottomed bottles (such as ORVW & Templeton) work great as lamp bases. I drill a small hole near the base to allow a small cord to pass through, find a decent little lampshade and... let there be light! Yes, drilling holes in glass can be a real PITA.

Unfortunately, some of the coolest bottles are tall and slender - not real practical as a lamp.

I would think a Willett bottle would work nicely for this type of project.

[Lazer]

you could refill it with apple juice and sell it on ebay for $40.

[DaveOfAtl]

Just today, I filled an empty bottle with fresh cayenne peppers from the garden and hot apple cider vinegar to make pepper sauce for collards and such.

[Wedge]

I would think a Willett bottle would work nicely for this type of project.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13859[/ATTACH]

Definately! A nice, little antiqueish shade on top of that would look great as a desk lamp or on an end table.

[Bmac]

I keep my empty bottles around for vatting experiments or to age cocktails in.

[HipFlask]

I save my cooler bottles to refill with homemade Egg Nog and Hot Buttered Rum to then give out as gifts at Christmas and New Years

[Clavius]

I've saved some of the more special empty bottles like PVW, WLW, etc. Not sure what I'm going to do with them eventually but I may do the lamp thing with the WLW bottle as I think it is the nicest.

[Max Power]

Make a booze shrine chandelier.

[Halifax]

I save OWA and ETL bottles. OWA works great for proofing down cask strength whiskey. I usually pour dusty handles into ETL bottles. The ETL bottles don't take up as much space on the whiskey shelf.

[unclebunk]

I've got dozens of empties tucked away and will eventually display them on shelves around the basement bar. As we all know, labels and bottle shapes change with regularity (OWA, ORVW, Weller 12, WT101, etc., not to mention real dusties) so it's nice to have the "older" bottles around to decorate the place.

[White Dog]

I slide my empties along the string of my diddley bow.

[soonami]

I save OWA and ETL bottles. OWA works great for proofing down cask strength whiskey. I usually pour dusty handles into ETL bottles. The ETL bottles don't take up as much space on the whiskey shelf.

These are both good suggestions. I've passed on some dusty handles because I didn't know if I wanted to commit that much space at the bar to them, but refilling a tall (ER10) or square (ETL) bottle would be a great space effective way to keep them at the bar

I've got dozens of empties tucked away and will eventually display them on shelves around the basement bar. As we all know, labels and bottle shapes change with regularity (OWA, ORVW, Weller 12, WT101, etc., not to mention real dusties) so it's nice to have the "older" bottles around to decorate the place.

Yeah I love the look of the older Weller bottles, but with a collection of empty beer bottles and homebrew bottles with labels I designed, I know that most eventually just get thrown out.

I keep my empty bottles around for vatting experiments or to age cocktails in.

Another great idea. It would be great to serve a mint julep from a 1.75 handle with a built in pourer!

[JPBoston]

Just today, I filled an empty bottle with fresh cayenne peppers from the garden and hot apple cider vinegar to make pepper sauce for collards and such.

Too funny... I just used a bottle of OGD BIB to house a homemade hot sauce myself, about 3 days ago. It was an emergency, as the wife began to make her awesome chili, and we realized we had not hot sauce to put in it.

How do you like the taste of the Cayenne peppers (in the sauce)? Does it resemble Frank's Red Hot in any way? The dried peppers we had on hand weren't cayenne, and I wasn't in love with the flavor, but it worked well enough in the chili.

[DaveOfAtl]

The fresh cayenne peppers work perfectly for this application, whether they be green or red. It's not like a regular "hot sauce," though. This is really just a spicy vinegar that southerners typically refer to as "pepper sauce" that we put on vegetables (collard greens, okra, black eyed peas, etc.). I am, however, very interested in attempting a homemade hot sauce, akin to a Franks. I haven't tried that yet, though. I used a E.H. Taylor tornado survivor bottle, by the way, which looks pretty awesome on my counter.

[Enoch]

Fat-bottomed bottles (such as ORVW & Templeton) work great as lamp bases. I drill a small hole near the base to allow a small cord to pass through, find a decent little lampshade and... let there be light! Yes, drilling holes in glass can be a real PITA.

Unfortunately, some of the coolest bottles are tall and slender - not real practical as a lamp.

I do something similar except I fill the bottle with x-mas lights, cut the plug off and run it out the drilled hole and put the plug back on. Nice accent lights. Got the idea from a local bartender who sells them.

[fishnbowljoe]

I pretty much do the same things as most of y'all do. I keep my empty ETL and Weller Centennial bottles for decanting handles, smaller vattings, etc... I wholeheartedly agree that they do take up less shelf space. (and they fit in shipping boxes better too :grin: ) I also keep a couple of empty Weller 12, OWA or Weller SR bottles in case I open a bottle and a cork breaks. I also keep at least one empty Weller SR handle on hand in case I want to do a vatting of two full 750's. Re: SB or Weller blend, or Joe's Reserve. Joe's Reserve is my 1:1 vatting of WTRB and WTRR 10/90.

Once in a while my wife will get flowers to put on the server in our dining room. She liked one of my bottles, and when it was empty, she used it as a flower vase. I believe it was either a FR Mariage or Angel's Envy bottle. I can't remember which one it was. I haven't seen it in a while, so it may have ended up in the recycle bin.

One novel idea that another member here (ACDetroit IIRC) once talked about, was having a glass cutter cut down empty BTAC bottles, and make them into rocks glasses.

[Young Blacksmith]

Windchime - knock the bottom off using the burning string/bucket of water method, put a wooden bead on a string, and hang it appropriately. Different sizes will make different tones.

I like to keep at most 1 empty around for decanting. Most of the empties I have go into a retaining wall (for outdoor display) mixed with concrete, mortar, and chicken wire.

We use empty beer bottles to make raised beds for the garden, and I have an outdoor oven project I'd like to do one day using the bottles and mortar for a base. Makes some really nice, unusual accents around the grassy spots.

[soonami]

... I also keep a couple of empty Weller 12, OWA or Weller SR bottles in case I open a bottle and a cork breaks...

That's actually a really good use I hadn't thought about

One novel idea that another member here (ACDetroit IIRC) once talked about, was having a glass cutter cut down empty BTAC bottles, and make them into rocks glasses.

I've tried doing this with beer bottles before, but it's a lot of work, requiring an expensive glass cutter and a grinding wheel for sanding down the edges.