How many bottles do you keep around?

[LongBeachScott]

My wife doesn't restrict my purchasing, but my house does! I just don't have the room for a lot of open bottles. At any given time, I have about 10 or 12 bottles of bourbon opened. What it is varies quite a bit, but I will normally have one bottle for cocktail making and a couple bottles I consider good for introducing bourbon to people.

[Tucker]

I have about 15 open bottles and 75 bunkered in my home office. My wife is somewhat oblivious and has never expressed much of a negative opinion.

[BillP]

My wife is ok with my meager collection. I have only 6 open and 3 bunkered. It sounds like I have a lot of catching up to do.

[MyOldKyDram]

50+. The Mrs. doesn't mind as she's grown quite fond of the stuff herself.

[yountvillewjs]

The top of my wine fridge is my bar space -- which means it houses bourbon/rye, vodka (one btl only), gin, rum, absinthe & bitters. I probably have 5-7 open at anytime, which is a good number - helps me stay focused.

[barturtle]

I'm unmarried myself, and keep about 300 bottles around. Most of the married men whose houses I've been lucky enough to visit have at least that much, with several having many times more.

[cigarnv]

Usually have 12 - 15 favorites open and about twice that bunkered up....

[BourbonJoe]

I have over 700 bottles, about 60 of which are open. I think I need professional counseling. Just ask my wife.

Joe :usflag:

[GaryT]

50+. The Mrs. doesn't mind as she's grown quite fond of the stuff herself.

I wish my wife enjoyed it as much as I do. She's tried my Stagg and Handy, and liked both of them - but she is only in the mood for maybe 3/4 an ounce every . . . few months?

I guess the silver lining is that she won't drink up my good stuff more quickly than I would!

[Lazer]

Married: 1 bottle open. Yes, just one at a time. Right now its a bottle of JDSB then I'll follow it up with some GD12. I'm calling it summer in Tennessee. In addition to 1 open I have 24 waiting patiently. Mostly mid-level priced stuff with 2 PHC's and two FR1B Private Selections. We live in a small apartment with 3 kids so that's the main reason I don't have more. The other being the wife part.

[Roadsaw]

About 20 open right now and 50 in the bunker. Married with four kids ,as long as i have her BT in the cabinet she is happy.

[jcg9779]

Usually have 12 - 15 favorites open and about twice that bunkered up....

About like me...

[moose]

Not married yet, but have been together for nearly 5 years, and will be proposing by the end of the year. Between Bourbon and Scotch I've probably got 12 open bottles. I find that as long as there is Vodka, Rum and Wine around for when she wants a drink, then all is well. It also helps that my cabinet is at a height which only I can reach. The only rule SWMBO has laid down is that I'm not allowed to have anymore than what fits in the cabinet. At it's worst, that is 5 fat bottles and at its best it is close to 10 skinny bottles. It's like playing Tetris in there, trying to get new bottles to fit ha. When we get a house, a larger cabinet is in order, as well as a closet or 4 in the basement to stockpile various bourbons, scotches, and wines.

Edited July 18, 2012 by moose

[T Comp]

Usually have 12 - 15 favorites open and about twice that bunkered up....

Yep you wouldn't want to make anyone feel inadequate now, would you ??? :skep: :grin:

[Rutherford]

Bachelor...

Bourbon/rye only, about 30-40 open. Adding in rum, malt whiskey, brandy, gin, and assorted liquors/liqueurs, closer to 140. Many of those bottles are junk that may never get finished.

My bunker is about 10-15 bottles, although a few of these are obtainable replacements for bottles I liked that I just haven't opened yet.

[docbible]

I have 15 to 20 open and about 500 in the bunker. When I first got into bourbon I would buy three bottles at a time. Crack one open when I got home, one to open later, and one for the bunker to open way down the road. With so many bourbons on the market, I rarely got to the second bottle. The economy has put a damper on my plan for the last 3 years and I am getting to those second bottles, just not able to add to them much. tim

[fishnbowljoe]

If my spreadsheet is correct, I have a total of 157 bottles of whiskey at the moment. At one time I had a little over 200 total, with about 30 of those being open. At that time, I wasn't counting the 200 and 375 mls that I had. About a year or so ago I made a concerted effort to curtail my buying a little, and also try to bring my open bottles down to a more manageable level. I did succeed somewhat. I had whittled it down to somewhere around 135 total, but I've picked up a few things in the last month or so. What can I say? A generalized breakdown of what I have follows.

17 bottles open. Four Canadians, (for my son) two versions of Jack Daniels, (one for me, the other for some bowling biddies) one Mellow Corn, and the rest bourbons.

140 bottles in the bunker. Two Canadians, two ryes, a couple of oddballs and the rest are bourbons.

Of the 140 in the bunker, 28 are 200 or 375 mls, 32 are dusties or semi dusties, and somewhere around 65 are wheaters.

I readily admit that I do love my wheaters. Most are either Wellers and Van Winkles, but I also have a couple of dusties.

I plan to continue trying to downsize my collection by enjoying what I have, and buying less. The problem I've got is when I get a phone call from someone saying, "I found some XXXX at a decent price. I bought a couple for you in case you're interested." Who am I to argue? Cheers! Joe

Edited July 18, 2012 by fishnbowljoe

[Flyfish]

About a year or so ago I made a concerted effort to curtail my buying a little, and also try to bring my open bottles down to a more manageable level. I did succeed somewhat. I had whittled it down to somewhere around 135 total, but I've picked up a few things in the last month or so. What can I say? A generalized breakdown of what I have follows.--fishbowljoe

Very nice! Off hand, I'd say you have a better selection than any of the state liquor stores in Ohio.

[Phil T]

I always have 15-20 bottles open at any given time, both bourbons and ryes.

According to my recent "get off my ass and take some inventory ", I have over 200 bottles in the bunker. Probably 95% of them bourbons, the rest ryes, I have several bottlings that I have never tasted . Just waiting for that "special " occasion , or drinking with a fellow true enthusiast . I have always been a patient man.

[bllygthrd]

Married, 50 plus bourbons, wife has never complained.

[IowaJeff]

I usually have 8-15 bottles on hand. I try not to go much over or under that range. I just don't have room for many more, and any less is just crazy talk.

[soonami]

I have 10-12 bottles of bourbon and rye open between my and my girlfriend's house (I sleepover her place half the time). At my house I have an extra 20 or so not opened yet. Not really bunkered, but just queued waiting for something to kick. The only bottles that are "bunkered" are NAS OWA that are practically impossibly to find around here, so I bought extra when I saw then recently

[Kalessin]

Hm. Married 2.5 years, no kids.

We have a cabinet bar in the living room, which has five open bourbons, four open single malts, and an open rye, plus vodka, gin, rum, tequila liqueurs, mixers, etc. Also in the bar is the unopened next bottle of rye and an unopened WTKS. Downstairs, I have about ten bottles of whiskey waiting to come up, and a fair amount of wine and other random bottles.

M wife prefers mudslides, caipirinhas, and dark-and-stormies for her occasional cocktails, and is okay with me collecting bottles as long as they "don't become a problem". I suspect I have about two more boxes before the basement will need reorganizing.

[JB64]

As long as my wife doesn't see a huge hit on our bank account she doesn't really care how many bottles I have at any given time. She knows that I am going to buy my daily bourbons on a regular basis but once every few months I will pick up something special that may cost a little more. Those are the bottles that start to take up shelf space on the bar. Her main problem is that I have all of my good bourbons and scotches on display and her vodka and gin have been pushed to the storage cabinet.

[bllygthrd]

Married, 50 plus bourbons, wife has never complained.