Documenting Your Stash

[JoeTerp]

I keep a google sheet for all whiskey / beer / wine (although admittedly the wine isn’t up to date).  The beer is really helpful as I know what’s in the fridge and what isn’t (and therefore what can get moved into the fridge next). 

[Clueby]

I did a spreadsheet for a while but got lazy and gave up on it.  It's fun to go back and look though.

[BigRich]

I did a spreadsheet for a while but got lazy and gave up on it.  It's fun to go back and look though.

Same here. I kind of enjoy stash diving and finding bottles that I forgot I bought.

[Kane]

I have a plaintext document (I hate spreadsheets with a passion) with some structure and a few scripts to compute simple statistics. But in addition to my inventory, I use it to track what I tasted for the first time when, and simple notes which lead to buy/don't buy a bottle decisions. It's always fun to go back to it and see the timeline of my entire drinking journey. It helps that I started the list on day 0, so it's comprehensive!

Edited October 28, 2018 by Kane

[Jazzhead]

I have less than 100 bottles, so I can still keep track of it in my head,  or just by opening the cupboard drawers and looking at it.   I keep (handwritten) statistics for my dice baseball team and ought to go the spreadsheet route for my jazz record collection.   

 

What is fun for me is the "current dozen" I keep in the record room -   a limited collection of the breadth of whiskey that is open to consume to fit the whim of the music.    Peated and unpeated single malts,  a Scottish blend,  an Irish, a Japanese,  a Canadian,  wheated and ryed bourbons, a rye, a finished bourbon or rye,  and two American crafts.     

[chasking]

Early on in my whiskey explorations I made a list of everything I had bought, and over time I've updated it.  After reading this thread, I'm considering playing around with the format a bit.  I just list the whiskey, where the juice in it was made, and if there are particular identifying notes (barrel or batch numbers, for instance, or other identifying traits) I note those.  It's more like a birder's life list than an inventory control document, although I do indicate on it which bottles I currently have, versus stuff that's drunk and gone.

Edited October 29, 2018 by chasking

[kcgumbohead]

Count me among the spreadsheet nation as well. No quite as elaborate as Garys but not that far off either. It has evolved over the years and I have tailored it to better suit what I want to get out of it, inventory, opened/closed/empty, brand, type, proof, age, location,price,repeat buy or not, tasting notes... I am very glad to have it and I find it fun to keep it current, granted I am in a bourbon zen mode for the most part so its not much of a chore to stay up to date. A very useful companion IMO to keep track of ones "journey".

[PhantomLamb]

Very cool!  That's a good idea to add when it was purchased to keep track of the "journey".  To me, it would definitely show how taste has changed over time.