Insurance & Fire Protection for your Bourbon Collection?

[WhiskeyBlender]

Hi All, 

 

I hope this is an okay question to ask on here, but  I've been wondering what are the best ways to protect or secure a large whiskey collection in one's home from fire damage, or to prevent it from being such a fire hazard? For those of you that are home owners, do you install a sprinkler system in your collection room(s)? Do you get any special sort of insurance, besides just home insurance, in case of such damage? 

 

As my collection has grown over the years, I've been really curious how others deal with something that I'm sure all of us think about from time to time. Although we love our collections, we don't want to lose the roof over our heads! 

 

I welcome any thoughts on this.....

 

Cheers,

Nancy

 

[RWBadley]

Wow great topic...

 

I have insurance riders on my homeowners for certain things. The booze collection is not one of them. I'm uncertain how my agent would cope with the idea of insuring flammable liquid in the basement of my house.

 

One thing I have done;  the bulk of the higher proof and the unopened collection is in steel filing cabinet. Not sure if this helps really but I did this a few years ago to ease access rather than dig through a bunch of boxes scattered about. Found cheap at a thrift store, the cabinet is a great improvement.

 

I'd like to see what solution others have come up with for this dilemma

[Kepler]

4 minutes ago, RWBadley said:

One thing I have done;  the bulk of the higher proof and the unopened collection is in steel filing cabinet. Not sure if this helps really but I did this a few years ago to ease access rather than dig through a bunch of boxes scattered about. Found cheap at a thrift store, the cabinet is a great improvement.

 

Non-flamable cabinet seems like a good idea. Just make sure you don't have any accidents of something falling metal-on-metal and creating sparks

[FasterHorses]

Marek.. you’re up. 

[beasled]

Well in the UK at least any collection is covered by home insurance, just be sure to make sure you have updated your insurance provider with the amount of the collection! 

 

In terms of fire hazards and 'flammable liquids', chances are that the materials that make up a home these days (wood/furnishings etc) are far more flammable than bottled bourbon. Are your wooden stairs insured as a fire hazard? Probably not, but they're a more likely fuel than alcohol. And you'd probably need barrels and barrels of the stuff for it to be considered 'fuel'. 

In terms of protecting it, well I don't really own enough valuable to warrant sprinkler systems!

 

[parksmart]

I can speak to this from the perspective of being a wine collector for a few decades.  I have coverage for my wine collection as a separate rider.  I store the  majority of bottles that are of significant value in several lockers at a climate controlled facility that is hardened both security wise as well as for earthquakes (important here in the SF Bay Area).  
 

When I initially went to my friend who is also my insurance broker, I provided him a spreadsheet of the bottles (with current retail values) that I wanted to insure along with the address of my offsite provider.  After he sent that to a few carriers, he came back with proposals that were essentially a total value of insurance coverage.  The rationale is that rather than constantly updating the list of covered bottles with additions and subtractions, the value of the collection would remain relatively stable as I consume bottles or acquire new ones.
 

I actually have been meaning to add portions of the bourbon and whiskey collection to the covered list, and bump up the overall value that’s being insured.  

[Marekv8]

1 hour ago, FasterHorses said:

Marek.. you’re up. 

Working on it... I’ve got to take some photos first. But yes, full blown industrial sprinkler system et al. 

[WhiskeyBlender]

@parksmart, @Marekv8, @Kepler, @RWBadley, and @beasled, wow, thanks, you guys have given me some great information. I'm in the process of preparing to build a small cottage/shed in my back yard, which will become my home office and lab/main bottle storage area. @Marekv8, I'd like to PM you about the sprinkler system, and @parksmart, since you live here in the Bay Area and have some of the same unique earthquake concerns, I'd like to PM you as well. 

 

The whole fire hazard issue, insurance concerns, etc. has been on my mind for quite a while now, and l'm really grateful for everyone's feedback on this. 

 

Cheers,

Nancy

[parksmart]

@WhiskeyBlender, I’m meeting up with @fosmith this coming week for a socially distanced HH.  You’re welcome to join us, and we can chat about the trade off between building/storing your own, or offsiting, or a hybrid approach.  Cheers!

[smokinjoe]

Here’s a thread from 2007 that may have some useful info.

 

[Clay34]

I just put a cabinet in my bedroom, right next to the exit door with close to 50 bottles in it.  Thanks for reminding me that I should swap out the bourbon and store gasoline in the same spot and my personal risk would be about the same. 

 

Note to self.  Move the bourbon. 

[Kepler]

This is a great topic Nancy, thanks for raising the question. I'm also quite interested in hearing people's thoughts on how they deal with it.

[markandrex]

A standard metal cabinet may provide a modicum of security but  fire is a different  animal.  
Liquor that contains 40% ABV (80 US proof) will catch fire if heated to about 26 °C (79 °F) and if an ignition source is applied to it. This temperature is called its flash point. 

Sprinkler system may help in cooling the liquid, raising the flash point but grounded flammable cabinet would be necessary to actually add a layer of protection for the contents.  Once you evaluate  the cost (installation, maintenance and the added risk of accidental discharge).  A off-site storage with an insurance Rider would likely be the best cost effective option.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by markandrex
Unwanted pic

[PaulO]

I'm thinking the sorts of precautions home owners and businesses use, like working smoke detectors and accessible fire extinguishers.  

Liquor stores, bars, and some restaurants keep large amounts of spirits.  What do they do.  I bet there are some rules or building codes regarding this.

You could talk to the fire department.

[fishnbowljoe]

I, like others here, was told by my insurance agent that I didn’t need a special rider for my bourbon collection. She did however tell me that if anything happened, I’d need proper documentation of my collection. Since then, I‘ve tried to keep my spreadsheet somewhat up to date. After updating my spreadsheet, I then transfer a copy to a thumb drive that I then keep safe in a fireproof box. 
Biba! Joe

[PaulO]

Photos or video are also used to document collections for insurance.

[berto]

Timely thread.  A friend a little to the north and east of us lost everything a few days ago.  My 100 year old shack on top of the Hayward Fault and a mile away from a dry regional park leaves my collection in a precarious situation.   

[geclbxf]

On 8/21/2020 at 11:40 PM, fishnbowljoe said:

I, like others here, was told by my insurance agent that I didn’t need a special rider for my bourbon collection. She did however tell me that if anything happened, I’d need proper documentation of my collection. Since then, I‘ve tried to keep my spreadsheet somewhat up to date. After updating my spreadsheet, I then transfer a copy to a thumb drive that I then keep safe in a fireproof box. 
Biba! Joe

Just dealt with the same thing, as I changed insurance agents.   They suggested a video every quarter with time and date stamp for record keeping.

[sbsbsb]

So how are you all working with your various agents to establish reliable values here?  Meaning are you simply applying current MSRP as the value for PVW20's, even if they're pre-2012 Stitzel Weller?  Or tanked-era VW Rye?  How about dusty bottles like Very Old Fitz, etc?

[fishnbowljoe]

The value of bottles is subject to change. I’m not gonna worry unless something happens. If something happens, I’d do some research to determine current values.
 

Biba! Joe

[Flyfish]

Occam's Razor: The simplest solution is probably right; i.e., don't collect it, drink it.

If I were an insurance company, I would assume that this issue is rife with potential fraud and would charge accordingly. (Oh, sure your spread sheet and photos show that you had all this valuable bourbon once upon a time. How do we confirm what was in the bottles at the time they spontaneously combusted?)

[geclbxf]

My agent said replacement value.   I have a rider on my wine and sports collectibles, but they said not necessary on the bourbon.   Doesn't make sense to me either.   Also will depend on how much replacement value you have on your policy.

[Marekv8]

On 8/21/2020 at 6:07 PM, WhiskeyBlender said:

@parksmart, @Marekv8, @Kepler, @RWBadley, and @beasled, wow, thanks, you guys have given me some great information. I'm in the process of preparing to build a small cottage/shed in my back yard, which will become my home office and lab/main bottle storage area. @Marekv8, I'd like to PM you about the sprinkler system, and @parksmart, since you live here in the Bay Area and have some of the same unique earthquake concerns, I'd like to PM you as well. 

 

The whole fire hazard issue, insurance concerns, etc. has been on my mind for quite a while now, and l'm really grateful for everyone's feedback on this. 

 

Cheers,

Nancy

 

Sure thing Nancy-- anything you need. Down here flooding is more of a concern than fire.