Drink or Not?

[DEH1212]

Just curious when you get a rare release do you hold it and store it for a special occasion,  just store it to look at or actually open and enjoy? I find I'm one of the only people who will open a rare bottle and enjoy it versus stare at it and tell people I've got one but I've never tasted.

[PaulO]

I only have one rare bottle that I've never tasted.  I have in the collection an Old Charter Classic 12.  I was so proud of myself to find a genuine "dusty".  I don't suppose it's likely I'll come across another.

The other bottles in the bunker are there because I tried it and liked it.

Anything that's new to me, usually I can't wait to open it.  

[Bourserker]

I do some of both.  I have opened several unicorns and drank them.  I also have some that I have squirreled away just because it gives me comfort knowing they are there for a special occasion.

[Saul_cooperstein]

Depends on if I already have something similar open. I have around 50 open so if I get something that is already well represented in my opens I’ll hold off. 

[Bnrhodes3]

I usually open them as I get them!

 

The only one I'm holding now is my RR2002 that Eddie Russell signed a few weeks ago!

[DCFan]

I got an EC23 in a lottery that's still sitting down in the bunker unopened.  I'm not saving it for anything in particular but I'll open it someday when the mood strikes.

[Jazz June]

I like to have a few special bottles to open for special occasions, but fully intend to open everything one day. I try to keep the number of open bottles to a reasonable number (probably around 20-25 now), although temptation gets the better of me often enough that the number has been slowly rising. Another issue is that "special" bottles tend to be higher in proof, so pours tend to be smaller and therefore I'm not getting through them at the same rate as the more regular drinkers.

 

We reached a point with red wine maybe 5 years ago where we had too many bottles we were saving for some "special occasion" backed up and just started opening them for ordinary nights. Whiskey won't go bad in the bottle though so not as much reason to do that. Without a nice display bar like some of you have, mine just sit in my basement and only I know they are there so no reason to keep them for appearance's sake. I will admit I like to go look at them all every now and then, which is when the above-mentioned tempting happens.

[Flyfish]

These days a "rare bottle" is something I've never had before. (Which makes it rare.) Fortunately, there are often new iterations of something that I have had before--the OO BIB, for example, or single barrels that can be expected to vary somewhat within the established parameters and the barrel proofers that vary with every release. There are often posts on this site by people who proclaim that they bought something new, to them, and "can't wait to try it."  I, for one, can't wait long enough even to say "I can't wait." I just open it and get on with the process.

[CardsandBourbon]

The "rarest" thing I have is some EC 18 which I did hold on to for a few months as I was saving it for when I retired at the end of April.  Anything else I have is bought to drink so if it's not open it's either a multiple or I just haven't gotten around to opening it yet.

 

By the way, welcome fellow Kentuckian @DEH1212.

[Harry in WashDC]

7 hours ago, Jazz June said:

     * * * * *

Without a nice display bar like some of you have, mine just sit in my basement and only I know they are there so no reason to keep them for appearance's sake. I will admit I like to go look at them all every now and then, which is when the above-mentioned tempting happens.

LOL.  Is there anybody who posts regularly on SB who DOESN'T like to go look at the bunkered bottles m once in awhile?  My biggest temptation, which I've resisted so far, is keeping a Glencairn in the basement in the bunker.

 

I have a VERY few that I am sort of keeping for a special occasion - out of sight, out of mind sort of.  But not really.  Like several others here have posted,  the "special occasion" most likely to occur is: I don't feel like drinking anything already opened and do have space for another bottle in the cabinet (or on the dining room floor behind the door) and THEREFORE decide "Now is the time.".  OR, some bodies come over and bourbon tasting just spontaneously happens.

[Kane]

I've kept many rare bottles for special occasions, sometimes with clear targets (graduation, job offer, gatherings...). I ended up having precisely none of them on any sort of special occasion. In the wisdom of this personal experience I've changed my stance, I don't delay what I want, I drink the good stuff first.

[graftonbc1]

I like to have my “specials” open and ready to go for special occasions. Before I will serve and share, I like to have tasted things.  I have paid a lot for some of my bottles, and by gum, I’m going to drink them. 

[Postal Grunt]

On 8/25/2018 at 8:07 PM, graftonbc1 said:

I like to have my “specials” open and ready to go for special occasions. Before I will serve and share, I like to have tasted things.  I have paid a lot for some of my bottles, and by gum, I’m going to drink them. 

There's no sense in leaving good bottles around to be swept up into tornadoes, right?

[graftonbc1]

2 hours ago, Postal Grunt said:

There's no sense in leaving good bottles around to be swept up into tornadoes, right?

This is very true. Tornado don’t care about no bourbon. 

[Jazz June]

7 hours ago, Postal Grunt said:

There's no sense in leaving good bottles around to be swept up into tornadoes, right?

But apparently, this makes them more valuable, if not better.

[Old Hippie]

I've got a couple of Birthday Bourbons that I have yet to open but will at some point. I do have about 8 bottles of one-off Single Malts that I treat as investments (I have since given them to my sons to hang on to) and they have gone up considerably in price. They are anywhere from 6 to 10 times the purchase price and I anticipate they will go up further as they will never be duplicated. 

Hopefully they can help pay for a grand kid's education

[Cranecreek]

Open them ! The only intact bottles on my shelves are duplicates.

[dad-proof]

For a good while, my purchases significantly outpaced consumption. And so I slowed my purchases down significantly. But then I had another kid, so my consumption fell off as well. For me, whisk(e)y and young kids aren't always a fun mix when needing to get up in the middle of the night and early in the morning, so I usually have a single drink late afternoon/early evening 1-3 times a week, max. All that to say is that I don't purposely have a closet full of unopened bottles, but I have a closet full of unopened bottles. On the other hand, I also have a cabinet full of opened bottles. I don't like to have too many open at once, as I like to get familiar with the whisk(e)ys across several tastings so that I can tease out the subtleties as well as know when my palate is off. So I keep my opens around 20 or so, and open one for every one that I finish. 

[bayouredd]

Drink... Drink...Drink... Drink... Drink...

I'm definitely in it for the taste. I have only grabbed a couple true LE's & they are long gone. I am in process of finding out what I will repurchase and what will never be bought again. Until the stashing gets serious, the opening will continue...

[BigSkyDrams]

Sounds like I’m in the minority here. I only keep 3-5 open at a time, and those are typically bottles I know I can go out and immediately replace. I’m still relatively new to this hobby (5 years or so?), but I intend for it to be a very long term thing. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with that “do you drink above your pay grade” thread awhile back; my budget for whiskey is rather slim, so I drink in-line with my pay grade, but I collect above it. That means everything that I can’t just go out and replace right now is staying closed, and I will keep adding to that higher-end collection as I drink the plethora of good stuff that’s <$60 and generally available.  I will open and drink it all someday, but my plan is in a decade or so, when I’m in my 40s, my collection will be deep enough that my ordinary sippers will all be bottles that, as of right now, I would consider splurge buys or special occasion pours.

 

That said, i have tasted (at bars or through previous purchases) almost everything in my collection right now. I will also open something particularly good for a special occasion or celebration, and if I do find replacements, I will open something I was saving. For example, I’ve kept at least 3 Blanton’s at all times for the past two years or so, but it’s becoming harder for me to reliably find. So, when I find a new one, I can open one, but otherwise I’ll leave them sitting. In this manner, I’ve replaced 3 regular Blanton’s I’d had bunkered with 3 store pick versions that are phenomenal. 

[spyders03]

I find it hard to open new bottles these days, not so much because I'm scared to, I just have almost 150 open bottles right now, so it's hard to justify opening something else.  I still do it when I get something I really want to try, but usually new bottles (that aren't replacements for empties) go into the bunker until I can get a few bottles empty to make room in the cabinet to even put another open bottle.  So to answer your question, I don't mind opening them, as long as I can have room to put it in the open cabinet.

[PhantomLamb]

2 hours ago, BigSkyDrams said:

Sounds like I’m in the minority here. I only keep 3-5 open at a time, and those are typically bottles I know I can go out and immediately replace. I’m still relatively new to this hobby (5 years or so?), but I intend for it to be a very long term thing. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with that “do you drink above your pay grade” thread awhile back; my budget for whiskey is rather slim, so I drink in-line with my pay grade, but I collect above it. That means everything that I can’t just go out and replace right now is staying closed, and I will keep adding to that higher-end collection as I drink the plethora of good stuff that’s <$60 and generally available.  I will open and drink it all someday, but my plan is in a decade or so, when I’m in my 40s, my collection will be deep enough that my ordinary sippers will all be bottles that, as of right now, I would consider splurge buys or special occasion pours.

 

That said, i have tasted (at bars or through previous purchases) almost everything in my collection right now. I will also open something particularly good for a special occasion or celebration, and if I do find replacements, I will open something I was saving. For example, I’ve kept at least 3 Blanton’s at all times for the past two years or so, but it’s becoming harder for me to reliably find. So, when I find a new one, I can open one, but otherwise I’ll leave them sitting. In this manner, I’ve replaced 3 regular Blanton’s I’d had bunkered with 3 store pick versions that are phenomenal. 

I'm sort of with you.  I'm fortunate, though, because I get to travel to Kentucky quite a bit and restock most anything I like if it gets low.  There is something nice about having sealed bottles though...

[Tony Santana]

I used to say I intend to drink everything I buy - sooner or later. And perhaps that's still true, but it's getting to be "later" for some of these bottles.  I've still never sold a bottle for profit and have no plans to do so, but it's getting harder to open that EHT Tornado the longer it sits there.  That said, I probably have at least a hundred open bottles, many of them ones that would be considered unicorns by some, so I don't feel like I'm just just drinking the bottom shelf and hoarding the good stuff. As for special occasions - hey, I hit 60 this year.  Every day is a special occasion.  

[graftonbc1]

60 this year is a wonderful thing

[Kane]

I am more worried about not being able to try all the good stuff I've amassed over the years before I die a miserable death somewhere. A stashed and unopened bottle is as good as a bottle I never purchased. I see no point in delaying the pleasure anymore.