What do you all do with your empty bottles?

[Mano]

So, I have been accumulating empty bottles over the past few years, and with the pandemic the rate at which I am accumulating them has increased. My wife got on me, because I have a closet about full of emptys, so have started giving them away, but there are some like the Willet and Blanton bottles that just seem too pretty to discard, and a few of the old PVW and OFBB, etc. that I am  attached to as well. Do you all just toss them when they are empty, or are you pack rats like myself?

[Radioyada]

With a very few exceptions all my empties get placed in the file 13 department.   Most of my special empty bottles were recently used as table vases at a wedding shower, so that was pretty cool. 

[evasive]

I recycle nearly all of mine. I save a few for rebottling (e.g. homemade eggnog). And a very few might be kept for decoration. 
 

 

[fishnbowljoe]

I tossed most of mine for many years. I saved a few, then kinda grew tired of that and ended up tossing most of those out too. A few that were autographed, I saved. Most of those went to fellow members, and sadly a couple went to the big blue bin in the sky. About three years ago, my wife and I took a drive and along the way we stopped at an antique resale store. They had a homemade three bottle pendulum light. Hmmmm. On top of that, some of Clueby’s posts included pics with bottle candles in them. They looked cool. Now I save ‘em all, and as I stated in another thread, I’ve had help from a few other folks. I have a local candle shop that might help me from the wax aspect. I’d get the bottles cut and ready, and the shop would help with the wax. We’ll see.  I have 157 empties, and I’ll keep adding to the collection.

 

Biba! Joe

[fishnbowljoe]

Okay, here’s my empty “stash”. 

 

Biba! Joe

 

 

[evasive]

A friend of mine made a 6-bulb light fixture over his pool table with Edison bulbs and cut Maker’s bottles as shades. He used iron pipe for an industrial look. I don’t have a photo. 

[smokinjoe]

On 11/12/2020 at 11:22 PM, evasive said:

A friend of mine made a 6-bulb light fixture over his pool table with Edison bulbs and cut Maker’s bottles as shades. He used iron pipe for an industrial look. I don’t have a photo. 

Get a photo, Dammit!!  That sounds really cool!!  

[flahute]

I've been keeping my BTAC bottles over the years and when I accumulate enough of them I'm going to find someone that works with glass who can turn them into drinking glasses.

[ebo]

What do you all do with your empty bottles?

 

 

Throw them away.

[AlfaLarreo]

Throw most away, but I do keep the high end ones.  After I retire and move I plan to have a bourbon tasting room and hope to have a history display case.  I’m sure my wife will have something to say about this, but that’s the plan.

[BottledInBond]

I used to keep the LE empties, and then at some point I questioned if there was really anything I’d ever do with them. So, I cleaned house. I currently only have 2 empties, and one is a PHC #1 signed by Parker. That’s the only one I’ll keep around. 

[Harry in WashDC]

Had a WP signed by Dave Pickerell.  He used some "gold" pen.  I kept the empty bottle on the floor of the dining room under the butler's table with my opened bourbons and ryes.  Cat found it and licked off the "gold". Now, the only bottles I keep are a half-dozen 375s with screw tops for decanting liqueurs as well as spirits, two or so screw top 750s for vatting (and the current two are Weller bottles emptied during previous vattings), and an old OGD bonded with the orange screw cap.  That last one gets used a LOT.  When it is empty, I pour the contents of a new OGD BIB in it so I don't have to fight with the plastic cork in the new ones.  All glass bottles in our house get recycled.

[0895]

On 1/3/2021 at 5:42 PM, Harry in WashDC said:

Cat found it and licked off the "gold". 

 

 Of course.

[Phil T]

They all go into the recycling bin. Nothing is saved.

[BigRich]

1 hour ago, Phil T said:

They all go into the recycling bin. Nothing is saved.

Same here.  Although they don't pick up glass in recycling anymore in my county.  Something about it being cheaper to make new glass now than recycle old glass.  So every few weeks I load up our empties (whiskey, wine, Topo Chico, whatever) and haul them over to the recycling center myself.  I'm actually doing a run today. 

[Harry in WashDC]

8 hours ago, BigRich said:

Same here.  Although they don't pick up glass in recycling anymore in my county.  Something about it being cheaper to make new glass now than recycle old glass.  So every few weeks I load up our empties (whiskey, wine, Topo Chico, whatever) and haul them over to the recycling center myself.  I'm actually doing a run today. 

Good on you.  I do the same thing with soft plastic bags.  Local stores take bags but not OTHER soft plastics.  SO, once every couple of months when we plan a trip to a distant Wegmans that DOES take all soft plastics and not JUST bags, we load them and stuff them in the too-small recycle bin.

 

ASIDE - How come lots of crafts and NDPs use REALLY THICK/EMBOSSED glass bottles?  Why not save a few cents and use lighter/generic bottles?  Just a thought . . .

Edited January 5 by Harry in WashDC
stores not stotes or stoats

[Beebe]

My empties get trashed unless someones asked me to hold on to a bottle for them. 

[BigSkyDrams]

I keep all my Van Winkle, Blanton’s, and BTAC empties, just in case I need to refill with swill and make a quick buck on the graymarket...

 

JK. They mostly just get trashed (no glass recycling options reasonably convenient in my area), but I did save a couple Blanton’s where I removed the labels to use as vases. My wife won’t let me put them out, but I still have them.