If you got it, would you open it?

[Nebraska]

I've been following the thread on the Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection and throughout I have been wondering, if I did manage to get all three bottles, would I open any, all, part of it, hoard it, share it, use it for a specific occasion, sell it, sell part of it, trade it, or what?

Humm....I have an idea of what I might do...but to be honest, there might be more than one of the choices that I've have to think about.

What about you, what would you do?

Mark/Nebraska

[barturtle]

I think I'd put them away for long enough that the regular production versions came out and then bring them out and share and compare...and if no regular version arrived in the next 15 years or so, then it would be time to bring them to the Gazebo-that would blow some minds by then!

Of course since my collection/bunker/stash contains exactly zero of the BTEC, it's quite easy for me to not open them for an infinite amount of time, with no evaporation, bad corks, or out of pocket expenses.

[gr8erdane]

No opening for me as I view these as merely collectors items and really only have a minute curiosity about how they taste. Don't get me wrong, if offered a taste I wouldn't pass it up. But every bottle I've ever bought was either for consumption or trade and I have few that I hold back unopened. Those are the ones that are TRIED and TRUE great bourbons, not experiments.

[ProofPositive]

I think I'd put them away for long enough that the regular production versions came out and then bring them out and share and compare...and if no regular version arrived in the next 15 years or so, then it would be time to bring them to the Gazebo-that would blow some minds by then!

Of course since my collection/bunker/stash contains exactly zero of the BTEC, it's quite easy for me to not open them for an infinite amount of time, with no evaporation, bad corks, or out of pocket expenses.

I couldn't have said it better.....my thoughts exactly! And, when I did decide to open them, my first sip would be from the French Oak variation. Something about that one especially attracts my interest and tastebuds above the others.

[AVB]

I open almost everything, I didn't buy them to look at 'em.

[Edward_call_me_Ed]

I open almost everything, I didn't buy them to look at 'em.

I agree. However, I would look at them for a good long while before I opened them!

Ed

[pepcycle]

Just Kidding,

But, I do plan to drink them.

I think the empty bottles will make cool paperweights.

[jspero]

I think I would have to open them, even knowing they would go up in value immediately. I would have to know if they are any good. I would likely trade 50ml "samples" for other things I want. I would definitly keep the empty bottles and probably a sample of each.

Jay

[NorCalBoozer]

I would open it. I haven't heard a lot about the taste of the different ones so I would probably open all 3 and try each.

As far as planning on holding for future value.....most bourbon become valuable after some time, due to rarity, quality and memories.

So i'd be wary of this one, it's become valuable only based on it's rarity. If I wasn't planning on drinking it at some point I would sell it or trade it because I don't know that it could really increase that much in value. tough to know the future.

[jburlowski]

Just drink it with friends.

[cowdery]

I definitely would open them. I understand the collector who has to have at least one of everything and bottles in the "collection" will never be opened, but that's not me. I have a few things I'm not in any hurry to open...some Prohibition-era Old Taylor, a signed bottle of Booker's...things like that, but I've never purchased anything intending never to open it.

[SBOmarc]

Having just found and purchased a bottle of WT Tribute, I am asking myself and now this forum as to what type of occaision would befit it's opening. Some of my fellow bourbonians suggest that merely having the bottle is occaision enough.

That argument hasn't worked with my bottle of Fall '05 Stagg and so far and the Tribute is in the same category. I am not saying I have it just to look at it, but on the other hand I feel as though it does deserve special considerations.

[elkdoggydog]

To quote "Sideways," whenever you happen to open it, that will be a special occasion. Maybe open it when a friend who appreciates the good stuff is over, maybe open it by yourself just to enjoy it, then share it with that friend later.

[cowdery]

I agree with Sam. Having someone to share it with who will appreciate it as much as you do is a better "occasion" than an otherwise important event at which the other participants would rather have champagne.

[SBOmarc]

Thank You.

[gothbat]

I would put them on my shelf and admire them. They would definitely all be opened, it’s just a question of when. There is the possibility that they could sit for quite some time unopened but it’s more likely that I would open them within a month of buying them. The bottles that I keep sealed are the ones that I really like that I probably will never be able to buy again or be in the mood to shell out a ton of money for anytime soon. Not that I see it happening anytime soon but the thought of having sealed bottles sitting around when I die really bothers me… what a waste. Anyone attempting to buy the bottles from me with the intention of never opening them would likely receive an email with video footage of me opening and drinking straight from them shortly after they are opened.

[Brennan77]

I'll be opening mine as soon as I get it. And I'll share a pour with the rest of the guys that I work with. After that, it'll sit looking pretty for awhile, waiting for the right time.

[ProofPositive]

That argument hasn't worked with my bottle of Fall '05 Stagg and so far and the Tribute is in the same category. I am not saying I have it just to look at it, but on the other hand I feel as though it does deserve special considerations.

Same results here. I have 2 Tributes, 3 Staggs and several WT12s - but, yet to open any of them. It makes no sense to wait though.....don't really know why I do it. All of my best bottles are still 'virgins'. I'll tell you something though from personal experience - if we wait too long, our friends and family will be enjoying them after our funerals.

[NorCalBoozer]

Same results here. I have 2 Tributes, 3 Staggs and several WT12s - but, yet to open any of them. It makes no sense to wait though.....don't really know why I do it. All of my best bottles are still 'virgins'. I'll tell you something though from personal experience - if we wait too long, our friends and family will be enjoying them after our funerals.

I look at my bourbon collection as 2 categories.

I do have a group of things i would term as "hard to get" which would include stuff that you list. It's not stuff that I'm never going to drink, but it is stuff that is/was hard to get or rare(for me, could include KY only bottlings, etc).

Then I have all my opens and easily avaliable whiskey, which I would term my "pen". This would include the things I like to drink and can readily get and any open bottle including any open from the "hard to get" list.

Generally I have a few of the "hard to get boubons" open in my drinking "pen".

I am also a bit more conservative about when I open a "hard to get" because I know I might not see more in a long while, if ever. Since I add to my "hard to get" list a lot slower than my drinking pen, it makes sense to also open them at a slower rate.

For me, it's nice to have a "hard to get" opened along with many other bourbons/whiskeys. Does it stand up against current offerings?

I do enjoy verticals, but am not really that big on trying 5 different WT's at once by myself. I like to rather enjoy one bottle at a time. Verticles are more interesting when done in a group for me.

[pepcycle]

I find a certain pleasure in opening and drinking something I can't get more of.

(This wasn't always the case and I credit Tim S. with leading by example)

Just because I can. (and by inference, somone else can't???, Maybe!! ) Bittersweet as the moment may be.

That pleasure increases logarithmically with every person I share it with.

The most pleasurable is that last sip, cataloguing the moment in my memory and hoping that I can recall it.

On the other hand, there are bourbons whose contents are not nearly as important as the bottling or reason for bottling. I won't drink special Maker's Dips. Its all Makers on the inside. I won't drink my Booker's tribute bottle.

I am slowly, but inexorably, joining the "Drink it Man, Drink IT!!!" school.

[smokinjoe]

I'm definately in the open it and drink it category. Or, give it to someone who would like it. I only have 1 bottle that I won't open--at least until October 12, 2019--a Maker's Mark VIP that I had made up in honor of my daughter when she was born. She'll turn 21 on that day! God willing we'll share a sip then. Well a sip for her anyway. I'll have a little more, I'm sure.

JOE

[TNbourbon]

I find this thread a justification for opening as many bottles as possible. Like many of you, I have bottles that may be irreplaceable -- but that's exactly why, as Ed suggests, it behooves me to try them. I'll never get the chance again. However, since the whiskey isn't going to go 'bad', if I have 20-30 (or, closer to 50, at present, after Bardstown:bigeyes: ) other bottles open, I'm going to taste a lot of other things while I'm also drinking that rare bottle. In other words, it's going to last a good while after opening, during which I'll still get to sit and stare at it if I choose. And, by all means, share it with someone who appreciates how special it is -- there just isn't a better way, or time, to drink it!

If that bottle's just to look at, I may as well just stick it on eBay now.

[Nebraska]

well I waited to weigh in on this. At the beginning of this thread I said I thought I may have an idea of what I would do.

I think I would let it sit for just a little while, and I do mean very little, Just to give it a look and to wait for en evening that seems right to pop the top. As Tim said I think I would try to make it last, I do that with most of my bottles because of trying different pours each night.

I definitely would someone else to try it that would appreciate it. And of course when finally empty the bottles would stay up in a prominent position for perusing.

That's what I thin I would do...now if I actually had some sitting in front of me....who knows!

Mark/Nebraska

[pepcycle]

If we're all being honest, then where are the tasting notes?

[elkdoggydog]

If we're all being honest, then where are the tasting notes?

Where's my whiskey?