I find that, if I make sure the bottles are completely empty before they go on display, I never have to worry about degradation.

If I were drinking 11 or 12 open bottles, I'd be toast every night. Guess I need to up my game. The reason we store so many unopened is because its hard to find good booze.

Back in the early 2000s I stumbled upon a display of A H Hirsch. The local liquor store owner had the foresight to buy the worldly remains of that one run and had it bottled off. His last name was Hue. I had a friend who had bought a bottle of the "best" booze the store had. He was showing off for his buddies on the way to FL and speed week. They figured the bottle would last them all week. Wrong. They drank it the first night.

Then they called me after spending the better part of a day looking in Daytona for more. So I drove down the road and was kind of shocked to find the price had risen from $54.95 to $59.95. So I asked the guy how I could get the weekends price and he said "buy a case". So I did. I only kept 4 bottles, selling the other 8 to the friends, and gun show buddies too. There was only one run and a couple of bottle runs. You can still buy it but the price has risen a bit, now its around $3000 a bottle. Somebody's gonna store it. Me at $55 or them at a few grand, as it rises with each passing year. OK, I've finished a bottle, leaving me with only 3.

Similarly, I've got a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle. It was first bottled and sold back in 1997 to my gunshow partner. He doesn't drink Bourbon, a crime if there ever was one. So I bought it from him. Can't even find a current market price for that bottling or vintage. Closest I can find is about $1400.

I can go on with brands that once existed but can't be found these days. My employer was a hoarder, and a rich one at that. He had one bottle of pre-prohibition whiskey. Never opened, but it didn't have a modern cork stopper. It used a "gum" covering that I guess wasn't air tight. So over most of the last 100 years it has been evaporating, or the angels share has been increasing. Its probably been 10 years since I've seen it, retiring in 2010. I wish I'd stolen it or somehow talked them out of it. Not that it would be worth what it would have cost.

Back to the original question. The reason you store stuff is because you may only see it at a reasonable price once in a lifetime. It doesn't make much sense to store current production mass produced products. Sometimes you just pays your money and takes your chances. Or not, and you have a very mundane library of a couple of easily replaced bottles. And back to that. A collection of booze is properly called a "library". Or maybe you guys are right, if you can replace it at any local liquor store, its a collection. If you spend years scrounging rare stuff up, its a library.

Fine liquor is made to be enjoyed, slowly over time with your favorite mix. ( neat only for me ) We hoard some of the really nice ones we collet but they do get opened and enjoyed but in moderation.

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:
My brother and I plan to make one of these next time I see the wine barrels for sale at the local Walmart (they had them last year.)

Holy wick, that is cool!!

fwiw, I keep about a dozen open bottles going at any one time, for months+ at a time, with no issues.

No inert gas, no transferring to smaller containers, I just keep them in a dark and cool spot. Easy.

Everything from common $25 bottles to ultra rare Van Winkle Rye and the rest.

I don't get too fussy with it. Rarely use my Glencarin glass, preferring a Mason/jelly-jar instead.