"I had to hide it from my wife"

[EarthQuake]

I see comments like this a lot, and all I can say is I feel sorry for some of you poor saps.  My wife knows about every purchase I make (because I get excited and tell her) and even helps me enter lottos to hunt for LEs. She won an ETL and a WSR in the last couple weeks while I won jack squat. She even picked the ETL up for me on her way home from work. She was going to surprise me but was too excited so I got a text a few hours prior to her returning home. The other day I picked up 3 Stagg Jrs (one of my favorites) from a store, and the next day we found 6 more at another location, and she was surprised I didn't buy a couple more (I managed to restrain myself only because I've blown my budget with a lot of purchases this month). She's a good egg.

 

She isn't much into bourbon, would rather have a gin or rum base cocktail, which is fine with me, I love making cocktails but would rather drink whiskey.

 

It probably helps that we both have a monthly allowance to pursue our respective hobbies. The worst I get scolded for is taking up ever more of our kitchen cabinet space. To alleviate that we're planning on remodeling the basement and having a whole wall of shelving dedicated to what we affectionately refer to as the "whiskey library". The opposite wall will have more shelves, for actual books I guess.

 

I'm sure I'm not the only one, who else has a significant other that appreciates whiskey, encourages or perhaps even just tolerates their obsession?

Edited December 19, 2017 by EarthQuake

[Bourbon Fanatic]

I'll echo everything that you just said, but I'll replace "wife" with "fiancée".

 

My girl is the same - she's been entering in lotteries and has gone hunting with me multiple times. 

 

Every purchase I've made, I've told her about with excitement. And she's been almost as excited as me, because I've talked her ear off about a certain bourbon that I finally found in the wild, etc.

 

Her drink of choice is red wine, for sure! But she LOVES a good neat pour of BT. If I ever have a huge haul and feel she might be a little uneasy about it, I'll just pick up a bottle of BT to bunker for her (and me) or pick up a bottle or two of her favorite wine to open for her while I'm unloading the trunk 

 

I really have myself a keeper!

 

Cheers!

Edited December 19, 2017 by Bourbon Fanatic

[flahute]

Ha! Good stuff there.

I do obfuscate a bit with my purchases, but ultimately, my wife is extremely tolerant of my obsession. Like yours, she goes to raffles with me and enters lotteries for me. In fact, at my local that does a toy/food drive every year for entries into their lottery, my wife has won for me three years in a row. She hasn't won any of the big dogs, but I'm not complaining about a Birthday Bourbon, an Elliot's Select, and an EHTBP. Besides, I've won squat in that time!

Most importantly, she supports my many trips to Kentucky to pick barrels with my group and to attend the Bourbon Affair. She's a keeper!

[lcpfratn]

My wife is one of those that barely tolerates my obsession, so most of the time it's just easier to keep her in the dark about many of my purchases. This time of year, I have to be more open about it since I'm out "hunting" for the hard to find stuff, so I just have to put up with the rolling eyes and an occasional snarky comment. I envy you guys who have wives that encourage and share in your obsession. 

[mosugoji64]

I count myself among the lucky ones. Many of you have met Mrs. Mosugoji (Martha) at the April Bardstown festivities and know that she is quite the enabler. I probably have more bottles than I would otherwise due to her encouragement and she's always up for making a special trip to pick up something here or there. We just moved into a new house late last month and she's already encouraging me to turn our dining room into the bourbon bar! I think she's a keeper.

[Jfletchgu]

21 minutes ago, lcpfratn said:

My wife is one of those that barely tolerates my obsession, so most of the time it's just easier to keep her in the dark about many of my purchases. This time of year, I have to be more open about it since I'm out "hunting" for the hard to find stuff, so I just have to put up with the rolling eyes and an occasional snarky comment. I envy you guys who have wives that encourage and share in your obsession. 

This is me as well. To save many of the eye rolls and snarky comments I just replace empty bottles in my liquor cabinet with new ones. Shes no dummy and knows that if I continue to get drinks from bottles in the cabinet every night its clearly getting restocked with new bottles because it always looks just as full. It just saves me from having to hear the comments if I do my restocking when shes not looking. Love the woman, but she certainly doesn't understand the bourbon obsession.

Edited December 19, 2017 by Jfletchgu

[jshleffar]

I joke about hiding things form the GF, but she organizes the bunker for me regularly and skipped 2 consecutive lunches at work to drive to nearby stores to buy me 4 bottles of ETL. She also reserves the right to give me **** about the obsession. She also hates whiskey and tastes every new bottle I bring home.

Edited December 19, 2017 by jshleffar
added to post

[Richnimrod]

My Bride has little regard for my owning soooo much Bourbon, yet STILL acquiring more.    So, I do sometimes conceal new purchases when I can.

Some of her lack of appreciation comes from seeing others in the family suffer effects of alcoholism; and some of it is derived from a basically frugal nature that recoils at the cost of some of these bottles, not to mention the aggregate cost of the multitude in the bunker.  

I can't entirely blame her; but, I do wish she'd be a little more tolerant, or at least show some forbearance.    The comments don't help, and could be kept to herself, as I keep mine to myself about her indulgences.

All this said, she is still the best thing I've ever had the good fortune to happen upon; and I still occasionally wonder what she ever saw in me.

[EarthQuake]

7 hours ago, jshleffar said:

I joke about hiding things form the GF, but she organizes the bunker for me regularly and skipped 2 consecutive lunches at work to drive to nearby stores to buy me 4 bottles of ETL. She also reserves the right to give me **** about the obsession. She also hates whiskey and tastes every new bottle I bring home.

My wife tries a lot of bourbon too, she has a much more sensitive sense of taste and smell so often she can pick out stuff that I can't. She's finally gotten wise to trying Scotch though, it always overwhelms her palate and it's sort of a practical joke at this point to ask her to try it.

[GeeTen]

Been married to the same wife for over 43 years and have learned a few things along the way with buying whisk(e)y and firearms (in no particular order):

 

"It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission."

 

"The last two words in any confrontation are 'Yes, dear'."

 

"You really want to put your jewelry in the gunsafe (bunker)?  I can do it for you."

 

"You're worse than my first wife!" " I AM your first wife!" "Yeah, for now."  Then I get hit.   

 

Unfortunately, most don't work!   

 

[Dango]

7 minutes ago, GeeTen said:

Been married to the same wife for over 43 years and have learned a few things along the way with buying whisk(e)y and firearms (in no particular order):

 

"It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission."

 

"The last two words in any confrontation are 'Yes, dear'."

 

"You really want to put your jewelry in the gunsafe (bunker)?  I can do it for you."

 

"You're worse than my first wife!" " I AM your first wife!" "Yeah, for now."  Then I get hit.   

 

Unfortunately, most don't work!   

 

You seem to be a very wise man. I am taking notes. 

[BottledInBond]

I feel very fortunate to also have a very understanding wife. I don’t need to hide anything from her. All of our accounts are joint so she can see every transaction anyway. She isn’t a big whiskey consumer but will try a sip or two of anything new/notable. Her parents are well into the whiskey scene in Louisville so I guess it would be tough for her to give me a hard time when her mom buys as much whiskey as I do. I find that her attitude allows me to enjoy whiskey that much more because i don’t have to stress about hiding what I buy or anything. Very thankful for Mrs. BottledInBond, for many reasons 

[Enoch]

My wife gave me a small glass to keep in the car. Her advise (especially when I did a lot of dusty hunting): When I find multiple bottles of something that may be good, buy one, go out to the car and try it. If it is good, go in and buy the rest. She mainly decided this was better than hear me belly-ache after going back and finding it all gone.

[BigSkyDrams]

When I got up to around 15 bottles my wife started getting on me with a lot of  “isn’t that enough” rhetoric. But something happened along the line where she is now completely  fine with it, so long as I don’t start overflowing the collection past my allotted area. She doesn’t inquire about price, and I expect it’s an “ignorance is bliss” thing. But we have an understanding: there is a set minimum amount of my paycheck (work doesn’t do direct deposit) that will actually go into the account, and the little bit of cash that is not deposited, I may do with whatever I wish (okay that’s an exaggeration if taken literally). So as long as I’m not running up credit card bills buying whiskey, she has no qualms.

 

She will often sip whatever I’m drinking, and is starting to get a taste for it I think — though she still often makes a face and “ahhhhh”s (not in a positive way) because she’s not used to the proof on some of higher % bottles.

 

I actually credit my father-in-law for bringing her around, as he gets some flak from his wife for his expansive guitar collection (“do you really need so many?”). He was able to impart unto his daughter that every man needs a hobby (or several) and she shouldn’t interfere with that. And she has thankfully absorbed that wisdom!

[Tony Santana]

My wife is also very understanding. I can't count the number of times I mentioned a bottle I was interested in and she said "why don't you get it?"  She went with me on the bourbon trail this fall.  Doesn't drink much bourbon, but will sample my pours and  (very) occasionally asks for one herself. 

 

That said, she's started to look a little askance at my collection now that I'm over 300 bottles, has made the occasional comment about the cost of pricier bottles, and I'll admit I sometimes pay cash for a bottle and don't really make it known that another one has been acquired.  

[graftonbc1]

I am very lucky in that my wife is very supportive of my hobby, and actually encourages me when we come across something that I just have to have.

 

In fact, I have to be careful as if I tell her I tried something and liked it, she will get it if she comes across it. I fully expect a bottle of Widow Jane under the tree, even though I would never pay 70 bucks for it.

[lcpfratn]

My Bride has little regard for my owning soooo much Bourbon, yet STILL acquiring more.    So, I do sometimes conceal new purchases when I can.
Some of her lack of appreciation comes from seeing others in the family suffer effects of alcoholism; and some of it is derived from a basically frugal nature that recoils at the cost of some of these bottles, not to mention the aggregate cost of the multitude in the bunker.  
I can't entirely blame her; but, I do wish she'd be a little more tolerant, or at least show some forbearance.    The comments don't help, and could be kept to herself, as I keep mine to myself about her indulgences.
All this said, she is still the best thing I've ever had the good fortune to happen upon; and I still occasionally wonder what she ever saw in me.

Rich,
That is exactly the situation with my lovely bride. She had the same family experiences growing up and is very frugal by nature. And as frustrating as she can be sometimes, she’s still a keeper...except on those days when she’s really chewing my butt about my whiskey/whisky obsession. [emoji6]


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[berto]

My wife doesn't drink.  She doesn't care about what I purchase and is a good sport about side trips to liquor stores, waiting out an occasional lottery, going to stores and picking up bottles for me, and even hanging out at drinking club.  She's become friends with some of the guys and their ladies so it's been fun.  

[Spade]

I don't think hiding would really even be possible even if I thought I needed to. Too much effort and I'm sure she'd figure it out anyway.

[HoustonNit]

When I say this I'm mostly joking. That being said I don't broadcast every purchase I make or how much every bottle is. My wife does the same when purchasing shoes.

[Gorzo]

Need to start hiding  a little from myself. 

[Bourserker]

Great topic.  My wife is fairly supportive of my obsession.  Now she did get testy a few times back when I first started.  2012 was my worst year.  I was hunting all over the place when we traveled.  On one trip up to WI to visit the inlaws I took our family on a circuitous route so I could grab stuff I had called ahead about.  By the time we got up to Chicago (coming from VA) she had about had enough, and going through downtown on I-94 (we normally go around on I-294) ticked her off.  I remember getting chewed out heavily on the Binny's parking garage with my kids sitting in the car.  Most of the rest of the time she's been cool about it though.

 

I have found that one way to keep her happy is as long as she gets something when I buy pricey bottles it's all good.  One other thing that works in my favor is I'm the finance person of the household, and she's not good with math.  So she doesn't really know how much I've spent over the years...and honestly I know, but I cringe when I think about it...disclaimer: I do live within my means and only spend dispensable cash on booze.

 

One awesome thing I gleaned from this thread is that some of your wives are entering lotteries...why in the bleep didn't I think of this before...it's so simple it apparently went over my head.  Well anyway, she's getting entered into all the lotteries from now on.  Doesn't up my chances much, but 2 entries are better than one 

[GeeTen]

53 minutes ago, Bourserker said:

One awesome thing I gleaned from this thread is that some of your wives are entering lotteries...why in the bleep didn't I think of this before...it's so simple it apparently went over my head.  Well anyway, she's getting entered into all the lotteries from now on.  Doesn't up my chances much, but 2 entries are better than one 

Nerd Alert!!!  Unless, of course the number of entries is large - then, the "Law of Large Numbers" takes effect.  Think of the MegaMillions multi-state lottery - you have approximately the same chance of winning with 1 or 2 entries (or in the case of the lotteries, you have approximately the same chance of winning with 100 or 200 entries).  Slim to none.  Just sayin'. 

 

I think I need more coffee this morning.   

 

[JTaylor]

I get the rolled eyes and the questions... "Another one?!?!?" but I also get texts once in a while "Are you going to the liquor store today? Mind if I ride along?" so while I wouldn't say she's necessarily supportive, I wouldn't say she's too awful negative about it either... As in GeeTen's case, it is pretty much the same with firearms... she doesn't understand the obsession and doesn't necessarily agree with the amount I spend on my hobbies, but I think she's decided it isn't worth the fight and I've never worried about whether she'll "approve" or not. She has a horse, three large dogs, and about a dozen cats fer crissakes, which pretty much buys me free reign!  She does however check from time to time to ensure I'm not drinking as much as I'm buying... THEN there'd be a problem!  

[jshleffar]

The time I was worried was when I started expanding my rum collection alongside the whiskey, but I make her enough rum cocktails that she doesn't ask too many questions.