How many open bottles do you have at this moment?

[bdrinker]

I have 5 open bottles myself, bourbon and scotch. I wonder if you find that some open bottles "go bad" or lose strength after a while?

[texaspete]

I probably have 10 bottles open right now. One is a bottle of Benchmark that I think has gotten better after being open a month.

[Enoch]

142 whiskies, mostly bourbon and rye. Around 200 if you count other spirits.

[KyleCBreese]

I wonder if you find that some open bottles "go bad" or lose strength after a while?

There has been talk about it on here, but I think most bottles will actually get better over time. I just recently finished a RRSmB10 and hated it at first, but towards the end, it became one of the better pours that I have had lately.

[garbanzobean]

At the moment, I have the following whiskies open:

High West A Midwinter Night's Dram

Four Roses private selection OESQ

Glenfarclas 105

Battlehill Bladnoch 22 yr

Talisker 10

A decanter with mixed bottle ends from bourbons that are solid but not amazing. Also known as coffee bourbon.

A decanter with a couple ounces of all my favorite bourbons, aka a solera bottle. Haven't tried that one just yet. Will probably finish filling it from that FR OESQ and will let that marry for 6 months or a year before trying it.

I also have about 1/3rd of a bottle of HHSS2 that I'm saving to let friends try, maybe pour some samples for SBers that I occasionally do bottle swaps with.

I also have a bunch of mixers open - mostly clear liquor and liqueurs, and my non whiskey drinking spirits: Smooth Ambler Revelation rum, Alchemist bottling of a 15 yr calvados, and Clear Creek 8 yr old apple brandy.

[Richnimrod]

I have many, many open bottles, mostly Bourbon; maybe not as many as Enoch; but close.

In answer to your wondering about bottles 'going bad'....

I've only had a couple out of hundreds that I've had open for many years (oldest: maybe 7-years) that deteriorated enough to notice a difference.... And those weren't truly bad; just a notch or two lower than original qualities.

On the other hand, many improve with the addition of a little air, and a little time in the less-than-full bottle. Not all, mind you, but a significant percentage.... maybe about 15-20-percent.

[Sean Bond]

I've got 5 currently:

Weller 12 1.5L

Forged Oak

Old Grand Dad 114

Kentucky Velvet (guy at my local shop recommended it to me; it's not bad for a $12 bottle)

Hibiki 12

I can't really justify too many bottles before my girlfriend threatens to murder me, so I'm trying to only buy a new bottle when I see something uncommon or have finished a bottle. I also don't really "save" my whiskies particularly well, so I haven't had any of them stick around long enough to have any significant effect on taste.

[Chris m]

I've got around 70 open bottles now. I usually don't have the willpower to leave a new bottle unopened.

You'll find a lot of strong feelings when it comes to oxidization. I don't worry about it unless there's less than a fourth left in the bottle, and even then I'm not all too concerned. I will say that peated whisky will lose a noticeable amount of peatiness over time (or at least my imagination tells me so).

[chooch714]

I usually have 8-12 bottles open at any given time. I do not hoard or bunker, I only buy what I drink. I have 9 open at this time;

W12

EC12

4RSB

WT101

OFSIG

Stagg jr

Walking Stick

BT

ER10

Edited April 2, 2015 by chooch714

[Cardo]

Three

ECBS

Weller 12

Bookers 2014-6 Needs water though

[MTNBourbon]

I have 16 open right now.

[DonutsNBourbon]

the bigger question, I think, is how do you choose what to drink each night based on the amount of bottles you have open? I only have about 25 bottles open (and maybe about 6 bottles unopened which I could open) and sometimes I just can't decide what I want to drink.

There has been talk about it on here, but I think most bottles will actually get better over time. I just recently finished a RRSmB10 and hated it at first, but towards the end, it became one of the better pours that I have had lately.

[Cardo]

OOPS!

My Mistake I looked and the bottle of ECBS, is really a Stagg JR

that Chris turned me on to a while back!:cool:

[Swoboda]

We have 12 open. Once had a bottle of rum go completely flat after many years. We have an opened bottle (half full) of 25 year old McCormick Gold Label Rare Bourbon (86 prf) that still has some zip (distilled and bottled in Weston, MO). We still take it for a spin on occasion. It was left over from our wedding reception.

[TunnelTiger]

I have anywheres from 20 - 25 open at one time and a few of them for over a year. I've never noticed one loosing any taste/flavor to me and that's all that matters.

[garbanzobean]

Oh, I forgot that I have a bottle of Bruichladdich 1973 open, but it is put up right now, and has private preserve protecting it. It'll be consumed over the next year or so. Which brings me to my points: for those with bottles they are worried about degrading, put some private preserve or other equivalent in there. My second point is that this can be important for older, more delicate spirits (maybe low abv or at risk of being overpowered by oak flavors), because they can go downhill quick. I don't worry about using it with high proof older whiskies, but if they are close to 40%, you should consider using it. Nothing more disappointing than opening up a special bottle and realizing its gone downhill.

[suntour]

Been in bottle-killing mode lately but I've probably still got 30 open. I've picked up a few more and am starting to not open them immediately, a bad habit.

[emr454]

My entire supply of bourbon is open; all of three bottles!

[Yeti]

70ish probably. I have a few open bottles of malt I keep out of random reach.

[Spade]

I will say that peated whisky will lose a noticeable amount of peatiness over time (or at least my imagination tells me so).

[kjbeggs]

Out of roughly 200 bottles, I've got somewhere of 75-80 that are open at the moment.

[johnnyflake45]

WOW! Some of you guys have an awful lot of bottles and awesome amount of them opened!

I have 11 bottles of whiskey open, but about 21 bottles total, with Gin, Vodka, Scotch, Tequila and Rum.

[dcbt]

24 at the moment, plus another 8-10 vats and decanters of various concoctions. This is probably a bit more open than usual but I finally promoted a few that had been sitting idly on the bench (Bookers 25th, HH8, EC23, etc).

I'm really pleased with my bunker consolidation, down to 38 bottles now. I've resisted the urge to add unnecessarily to it the past few months.

[kcgumbohead]

I currently have 8 open but am thinning the herd till I have no more than 4 open at a time. There will be enough variation of recipe/style to suit whatever mood I may be in. I haven't noticed any degradation in my open bottles regardless of level, in fact if there has been any change it has been for the better and they started off as good to excellent for the most part. Any I didn't care for didn't hang around, they were consumed/vatted or given away.

[TunnelTiger]

Any I didn't care for didn't hang around, they were consumed/vatted or given away.

My Mo as well. Now I wonder if I left some of these on the bar for awhile they would change. Nah, bar space is only limited to those I like from the first pour.