Unopened Bottles

[DanP]

So the Admiral had me "straightening up" my liquor shelves today.  I have a small-ish counter top that holds my most frequently used bottles, then a cabinet above and below that.  Irrelevant, but as I was going through all of the bottles I realized that I have a few that I have purchased but never opened.  My bourbon supply sits between 30-35 bottles, so it's not huge and I'm still a novice at the bourbon game.

 

Anyway, unopened bottles include an Eagle Rare, 1792 Small Batch, Booker's Small Batch, Henry McKenna Single Barrel 10 year, and Knob Creek 15 year.  There's no real reason I haven't opened them except that I have a tough enough time as it is choosing between what I have already opened.  Is this a shared experience with my fellow bourbon drinkers?  Do you have unopened bottles (that you've never tried) in your bar?  And for clarification, I'm not a "collector".  I like to drink bourbon, not just stare at the bottle.

 

On a similar note, I also found a couple of bottles that I wish I hadn't opened, like Chestnut Farms and Six & Twenty five grain.  Those are both a bit offensive to my taste buds to the extent that I have a mind to drive to those distilleries and give someone an atomic wedgie.  But yet I can't bring myself to throw them out.  Maybe I am a collector and just don't realize it.

[fishnbowljoe]

It’s all good Dan. Opened or unopened, they all count. As for bottles that ain’t so great, I’m sure most of have been there. I for sure know that I have. Hey, they can’t all be winners.   A few of my bottles found new homes with folks that liked them. Some made good fodder for blending. A couple were pawned off on unsuspecting  coworkers or relatives.   Worst case scenario, yes a few became drain cleaner.
 

As a side note here, I may try something completely different with my next crap bottle. Back when  Covid-19 first hit, I purchased some alcohol based hand sanitizer.  It was recalled. I was reimbursed, and told to dispose of it. Well, we had a pretty wet spring, and moss started growing between the blocks of our back patio. I disposed of said hand sanitizer between the blocks of my back patio. It worked pretty darned good.  Next! 

 

Biba! Joe

[PhantomLamb]

Yep, I have some bottles I haven’t got to or are saving for some unknown special occasion. Makes it fun to see what you have in the bunker.

[Sgtspitter101]

I bought a bottle of russells reserve 10 year last week that went straight in the closet stash of unopened bottles even though i have yet to try a wt product besides the 101. I have high expectations for the bottle since the wt101 is one of my favorites not even considering price. Bottles that you dont care for will go great in hot apple cider or your favorite cocktails that arent spirit forward.

[JCwhammie]

9 minutes ago, Sgtspitter101 said:

I bought a bottle of russells reserve 10 year last week that went straight in the closet stash of unopened bottles even though i have yet to try a wt product besides the 101. I have high expectations for the bottle since the wt101 is one of my favorites not even considering price. Bottles that you dont care for will go great in hot apple cider or your favorite cocktails that arent spirit forward.

I find WT101 and RR10 to be polar opposites in regards to available turkey products. WT101 is the brash one, RR10 is the refined low key one. 

[Sgtspitter101]

2 minutes ago, JCwhammie said:

I find WT101 and RR10 to be polar opposites in regards to available turkey products. WT101 is the brash one, RR10 is the refined low key one. 

I plan to open it soon at 26 dollars it will go in at least 1 old fashioned.

[fosmith]

10 hours ago, JCwhammie said:

I find WT101 and RR10 to be polar opposites in regards to available turkey products. WT101 is the brash one, RR10 is the refined low key one. 

I have a bottle of each opened and I much prefer the WT101.  Maybe it's the proof but the RR10 just doesn't have as much going on, IMO. 

[Bob_Loblaw]

49 minutes ago, fosmith said:

I have a bottle of each opened and I much prefer the WT101.  Maybe it's the proof but the RR10 just doesn't have as much going on, IMO. 

I agree with this.

 

On topic. Sadly everything is unopened at the moment.  . .

[Cornmuse]

18 hours ago, DanP said:

...There's no real reason I haven't opened them except that I have a tough enough time as it is choosing between what I have already opened.  Is this a shared experience with my fellow bourbon drinkers?  Do you have unopened bottles (that you've never tried) in your bar? 

Absolutely yes.  I have at least a dozen bottles unopened.  Most are brands I've had before.  I figure since this stuff doesn't expire, I will find it to be just as good (or better) when I come back to it after a hiatus. 

 

This isn't (for me) the same thing as the "bunkered" bottles - regular bottles in my rotation that I bought on sale in larger quantities.  I think I have 3 or 4 WT101 handles because I got them for an amazing $27 each, for example.  

 

The ones I have unopened that I haven't sampled are likely single barrels (I don't need 5 botttles of Booker's open) or maybe special things I'm saving for a day when I feel like a big treat (Glenfarclas 21, Magnus cigar blend).  I'm not a collector, I won't flip a bottle and I'll open anything I have on any given day if some one has a request or if I just get a wild hair up my a$$

 

As for the bottles you don't like - I've got a bunch of them, too.  I experiment with them.  I have a bottle of very, very tasty old fashioned that I made from the bottom half of a WT Forgiven, some Irish whiskey, some Bulleit bourbon all married and infused with apricots & figs.  Doesn't sound like much and it took a couple months of fiddling, but it didn't end up a drain pour and its a nice refreshing sip straight from the freezer after the workday ends.  I've also made milk-clarified punch and whiskey sours with the bottles I don't like so much - they can be used for something positive if you can get past the urge to pour them neat or on the rocks.  Who doesn't love a Boulevardier?

 

Cheers!

[BigSkyDrams]

My total bottles hovers between 20-25 at any given time, and most of those are unopened.  They include a couple GTS, WLW, lot B, Blanton's Gold, and other things that are hard for me to find and which (with the way things are going) I have no guarantee of getting again, or things I paid a lot for and would be unlikely to spend as much on again.  The plan is to open and drink them all eventually, but I would prefer that they be reserved for special occasions to share with important people in my life.  So, it will be a rare occasion for me to open things on that tier of my stash. 

 

The reason I elect to leave them unopened, instead of even cracking them to get a sample for myself, is that once a bottle is open on my shelf, I view it as sort of "fair game" from that point on.  I would have a hard time telling guests they CAN'T take a pour of something that's open, but strangely have no problem at drawing the line on unopened bottles.  However, its also more protection against myself, as after a few drinks I would have a hard time NOT pouring something really good that is sitting there open in front of me.  Then suddenly I'd be the guy who killed a whole bottle of GTS by myself without sharing with my friends and family who have seen it sitting unopened for years, or find myself quaffing several ounces of a $100+ bottle without really taking the time to appreciate it.  Might seem arbitrary, but it makes some strange sense to me.  

 

On the other hand, if its something relatively common that I have no concerns about getting again, its usually just waiting for its moment to enter the fray.  

[Kepler]

On 9/24/2020 at 8:33 AM, fosmith said:

I have a bottle of each opened and I much prefer the WT101.  Maybe it's the proof but the RR10 just doesn't have as much going on, IMO. 

I echo this.  I find that something about the Turkey profile just doesn't come alive until it gets around 100 proof. Not the case with other bourbons for me.