How many bottles do you keep around?

[jdcollens]

Hey, folks. A question for everyone, but I'm mainly interested in the response of the married guys/gals. How many bottles do you typically keep on hand? I'm about to head down the long road to ruin myself, so I'm curious as to what you all have convinced your significant others to let you keep around. At my current place I tend to keep a lower-end bottle (usually OWA or WT101), a mid-ranger (Rare Breed, OFBB, or Woodford) and a higher-end (right now it's EHT Tornado Survivor, but I've also kept Kentucky Spirit, "Michter's" 10 and others at various points). I like this approach because it allows me to have a great bourbon from time to time but I can usually keep around a mid-range bottle for regular pours and a lower-end for when I'm smoking some sticks (I prefer not to bother drinking a mid- or high-end bourbon when I can hardly taste anything other than the cigar). Just curious, since it seems some of you keep a fair amount of bottles around.

Also, I enjoy gin cocktails (martinis and Aviations) and some higher-end islay Scotches. So keep that in mind, since we have pretty limited cabinet space.

[callmeox]

...I'm curious as to what you all have convinced your significant others to let you keep around...

I edited the quote to pull out what I felt was the important part.

My wife doesn't need to "let" me keep bourbon around and I return the courtesy with her hobbies and interests.

It's how we roll, but YMMV.

[Restaurant man]

I try to keep it under 50 open. Married

[Bourbon Boiler]

Married: About 45, but I get a lot of grief for it. 25 is probably what would keep her quiet.

[BFerguson]

It use to be around 4-5 open. New bar area= less than 10 is the new goal. 8 currently open.

Bunkered, haven't approach the limit yet. Not sure what that may be exactly, but have't hit yet.

B

[White Dog]

Married, and my issue is what I stash away, not what I keep open.:grin:

I used to have over 70 bottles open, when I first became obsessed. Now I have about 15-20 open at any given time, many more stashed.

[Young Blacksmith]

I keep the cabinet stocked with Tequila, Rum, and Vodka for my wife and she turns a blind eye to my bourbon. easy peasy.

In that cabinet I have 15 or so bottles opened, with another 2+ dozen sitting around my desk shelves as sort of display with some opened for drinking. The bunker is below and comprises 5 cases.

[WAINWRIGHT]

I believe honesty and mutual respect is key,I being married feel I have to hide nothing from my wife and that helps lengthen the lease so to speak.That being said 29 open 123 in the hold.

[Tico]

Married, and my issue is what I stash away, not what I keep open.:grin:

+1 to that!

As long as the open bottles fit in the cabinet, my wife couldn't care less. Its the pile of boxes in the basement that gives her pause.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Tico

[BradleyC]

I keep entirely too many bottles around. I have a "bourbon buying problem." I have joined a group that meets on Wednesdays to help with this issue. Welcome to the club by the way. With very few exceptions, it only gets worse!

[redbear]

I'm married. I have a hobby budget that I use to fund my whiskey purchases. I have about 30 open, around 100 in the bunker.

My other hobby is screen printed rock posters. I've been selling some of those and putting more in my hoard as of late.

The wife doesn't drink straight spirits at all.

[petrel800]

Not married, but living with my fiancee. I don't have a limit, but I think that is because I have done a very good job of helping her enjoy the hobby and see the differences in the bottles. As others have said, I certainly also take time to enjoy and respect her hobbies. Hell, those stupid lady shows on TV are palatable when you've got a great selection of bourbon to drink while watching them.

For instance, you have a perfect bottle right now to to talk to her about. The EH Taylor Tornado bourbon has a story behind it, throw in the fact that it was exposed to the elements and that 65% of the juice was gone when they poured the barrels, and I bet she'll want a taste. I know my fiancee couldn't wait to get a bottle after we did the hard hat tour at Buffalo Trace.

Besides, cocktails are fashionable again, if you entertain, you got to have something nice for your guests to drink.

For the record, I have 10 open bottles (which is my limit) and 7 bottles bunkered in boxes in the back. I'm just as bad with wine, I've got at least 60-70 bottles in Vinotemp coolers. I remember when we first started dating and she said she didn't like wine, if I would have known better, I would have left it that way, probably would have been able to afford the ring quicker. Ha.

[Max Power]

I'm probably not the best example, but I probably have 100+ bottles open right now and over 400 bottles total in the bar area. 300+ of that is tequila, but it's still about space. My wife enjoys tequila as well, so it's something that we enjoy together. However, she will poke fun at me for having too much.

[mosugoji64]

As Scott said, it's about mutual respect: I encourage my wife to pursue her hobbies and she has developed an appreciation for mine. She doesn't drink, but recognizes my enthusiasm as I explain my interest in whatever bottle I brought home. There are about 45 bottles currently open and about the same amount waiting in the wings.

[Clavius]

I work in a liquor/wine store. At one point I had about 25-30 bottles of bourbon, nearly all of them open. That was about two years ago. By now, I've tried about every bourbon out there that I can find, from PVW's down to Heaven Hill White Label BIB. And honestly the only bourbons I have open right now are a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch and some Maker's Mark... cheap stuff. In the bunker I only have a bottle of ORVW 10/107 and a Vintage 17. I still love bourbon but I guess I've gotten over the whole PVW/BTAC craze. There is plenty of good stuff out there that is readily available. Maybe I'm in the minority here.

[SDpappy]

Married and my wife hasn't complained about the bourbon hobby. She doesn't appreciate it as much as wine but I have about 30-40 bottles next to the wine cabinet, which has about 400 bottles. Now convincing her to let me buy a huge wine cabinet was much more difficult but she agrees it looks good!

[Max Power]

I work in a liquor/wine store. At one point I had about 25-30 bottles of bourbon, nearly all of them open. That was about two years ago. By now, I've tried about every bourbon out there that I can find, from PVW's down to Heaven Hill White Label BIB. And honestly the only bourbons I have open right now are a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch and some Maker's Mark... cheap stuff. In the bunker I only have a bottle of ORVW 10/107 and a Vintage 17. I still love bourbon but I guess I've gotten over the whole PVW/BTAC craze. There is plenty of good stuff out there that is readily available. Maybe I'm in the minority here.

I agree with you. I like PVW quite a bit, but I'd be just as happy with a $27 bottle of Baker's. No searching and to me is nearly as good. I feel the same about tequila. I'd much rather find a $25-40 gem than taste something that's $200+ and is really good. I like to try them all, but at least the $25-40 bottle can be done over and over.

[Trey Manthey]

Engaged, but living together for 4 years. When we moved into our house, there was a large built in bar with LOTS of bottle storage. I went from having ~10 bottles whiskey (all open) and ~10 other bottles, to a full blown cocktail bar & whiskey collection in that time. Now it's about 100 bottles of spirits, with about half of that being whiskey. I have about 20 bottles of bourbon, rye, and scotch open at the moment.

We're moving to a new house without a bar next week, so I am going to have to get creative.

[Happyhour24x7]

I edited the quote to pull out what I felt was the important part.

My wife doesn't need to "let" me keep bourbon around and I return the courtesy with her hobbies and interests.

It's how we roll, but YMMV.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner!

this is the key here, folks...even though my GF (live-in, committed, justnotmarrieddon'tjudge) doesn't enjoy bourbon, she understands the concept here isn't intoxication(except as a byproduct) but experiencing and enjoying different tastes. She shakes her head sometimes, and enjoys telling people about the bunker to get a laugh, but has never tried to limit my hobby, anymore than I try to limit the number of purses she buys or soccer leagues she joins.

My open bottle count typically stands between 15-20, usually 4-7 "everyday" bottles and the rest the good stuff; plus a handfuls of gin and everything else. All that said, different strokes for different folks.

[Enoch]

I have a little over 100 bottles of bourbon/rye open with another 50 or so other liquors open. As for the bunker, I have around 600 bottles (90% dusties) but very few are current offerings. I only buy current stuff when it is on sale, un-replaceable (such as WTR101 of which I bought 18 bottles), or has a nice premium (such as a flask or glass) and I know I will drink it. As for dusties, my philosophy is that I better get them when I find them or they may not be there later or may not be found again. My wife is understanding but then I support her hobby so it works out.

[sutton]

For whisk(e)y:

18 bottles bourbon/rye, 5 opened.

14 bottles SMS, 5 opened.

Doesn't take up much room.

What does take up a bit of the basement is the ~750 bottle wine collection, about 200 bottles are homemade. Another 250+ bottles in barrel to be bottled sometime in the late fall. Did not need to convince my wife since most of this (other than the whisk(e)y) was pulled together prior to our marriage and having kids. Since then, the wine collecting has largely been replaced by winemaking...much cheaper.

[Flyfish]

If you are really fortunate, love of bourbon is just one more thing you can share. We currently have 17 bottles of bourbon (5 of which are handles) and 3 bottles of rye. We are running "low" because it is 4 months since we have been to Kentucky where the selection is far greater than the Liquor Control Gods allow in Ohio. In addition, there are 22 assorted bottles of Scotch, Irish, gin, vodka, tequila, rum, and liqueurs that are kept for guests but which we never touch.

[p_elliott]

[quote name=callmeox;295501

My wife doesn't need to "let" me keep bourbon around and I return the courtesy with her hobbies and interests.

It's how we roll' date=' but YMMV.

That just about sums it up for me and my wife as well. I have some where around 80 to 90 bottles of whiskey of one kind or another.

Edited July 17, 2012 by p_elliott

[jeanraulmitchell]

About 50 sealed bottles in boxes. About 25 opened but I'm big on giving opened bottles away to friends if they really like something more than I do.

Going on a three day work trip driving today. Hoping to add a few.

Not married but might as well be, why mess with a good thing?

[GaryT]

I think I'm around 45 bottles (with all but one or two opened - I find it harder to drink when I don't open them!). No bunker to speak of, but I created a "whiskey" budget to help keep myself in check. I think what worries my wife is that more bottles are coming in than going out (as I might go a few days without having a drink, and might only drink less than 2 ounces when I do). About 18 months ago, I probably had less than 5 bottles though

My goal is to have more structure and stop chasing "new stuff". Must of this past year has been buying things to see if I like them, so now I'd like to stick with a smaller number that represents the variety I like. I've got 5 or 6 bottles that were under $20, and I'll probably try to keep just 1 on hand for cocktails (which I don't make that often).

Or I may steal a page from Doug's playbook and bring some to the next GBS meeting with a "free to good home" note taped to them There probably are a few that I wouldn't finish in the next year or two, so I should try to find a home for them.