Your empty bottles, what happens to them?

[SpiritofShetland]

Bottles go for recycling. Whats the use of empties anyway, they're just taking up space where new bottles can be placed.

[Lawrence]

I'm a bit of a sucker for a really nice wooden box so I have a number including the both the Bowmore's; Moon Light and Dragon in the cardboard box and ceramic bottle. I have sold a number of empty bottles on ebay for stupid money but there you go, an empty Black Bowmore is worth $100 these days. Some of the better wooden boxes go really well in my library.

For the every day bottles they are simply recycled.

[Deactivated Member]

Empties everywhere... Some are nice enough, or unusual enough, to save for display; most are just waiting for me to peel the labels off of them to put in a book. Anybody tried those label peelers Loch Fyne sells? Or know of a similar product available Stateside?

Once again I have not voted because my answer isn't there.

[WestVanDave]

We once had a Burns Dinner for 60 - and decorated the tables with empties (as candle-holders)...

I also donated a few to a restaurant to "dress-up" a display cabinet in their private dining room for a whisky tasting event.

Otherwise - I only hang on to the special rare ones and the fancy boxes.

Everything else goes into the recycling bins...

Cheers, Dave.

[Admiral]

My full bottles take up enough room around the house (for which I receive considerable flak from she-who-must-be. Where would I fit the empties as well?

[hpulley]

I said straight into the bin but here our recycling programme will recycle the bottle AND the packaging so I didn't click that one to say I'm environmentally unfriendly. We have six waste streams here (home compost, uncompostable food waste and napkins, recyclables, nonrecyclable plastics and such, hazardous waste, non-compostable yard waste). Confuses visitors to no end but does a good job diverting from the landfill site!

Harry

[Josh]

If I really like the whisky I keep the bottle - unless I already have an empty of the same in stock or I'm sure I can get another one fairly soon and easily.

Interestingly enough, in India there is a market for quite a few items - most popularly old newspapers and empty glass botles - that would otherwise be thrown out as trash in other parts of the world.

It gets picked from your door and the collector pays you by the kilo for old newspapers or by the count for bottle. The bottles most in demand are 650 ml beer bootles that get sold back to the original breweries.

Whisky bottles are more difficult to sell as most come with a goala cap on, precisely to prevent this sort of recycling. In case it's a normal bottle, and you live in the "right" neighbourhood, then an empty the Johnnie Walker Black Label is the one that fetches the maximum returns.....by a long, long way. The standard cliche here is that there's more "Black Label" drunk in India than that actually bottled in Scotland.

Then there are numerous "experts" who profess to have the "formula" for the best match of Black Label using Indian whiskies.

Luckily, at least so far, empties of malt whisky are still not a sought after item in this market.

[Lord_Pfaffin]

I have a window-sill in my den that holds eleven bottles across it, effectively blocking my cats from getting up on it. The eleven bottles act like a rear-view mirror, not that i'd foreget what i drank a month ago. Maybe by having the bottle stick around empty a while, evoking fond memories is usurping the last bit of value from the bottle. All of the bottles end up being recycled eventually.

[patrick dicaprio]

right into the recycling bin. but i will occasionally save a box like the Ugeadail box.

Pat

[Mr Fjeld]

My bottles go straight into the recycling container! Lots of empty bottles would perhaps have a negative effect on my inlaws. Apart from that I don't really care to save old bottles.

Skål!
Christian

[Iain]

Take eight empty whisky bottles, fill with water to the required levels, and voila - a whisky glockenspiel!

Best to drink a considerable quantity of the ninth bottle before playing - it doesn't improve your musical ability, but the noise sounds better.

Or, if they're really old, sell them to a wee chap in Italy with a plentiful supply of "vintage" labels...

[rthomson]

I had a brief period during which I saved some bottles. That didn't last long and they all go to the recycling bin now.

Ron

[Mr Fjeld]

Take eight empty whisky bottles, fill with water to the required levels, and voila - a whisky glockenspiel!

Best to drink a considerable quantity of the ninth bottle before playing - it doesn't improve your musical ability, but the noise sounds better.

Or, if they're really old, sell them to a wee chap in Italy with a plentiful supply of "vintage" labels...

....or one could use ones opened bottles and still have a whisky glockenspiel! The bad thing about that is that the more tones you have - as in opened bottles - the less time you have to play - because of oxidation!

Skål!
Christian

[Deactivated Member]

Not to mention they're always going out of tune!

[Mr Fjeld]

after having adjusted the content and tone of several bottles - do you think you would care very much

Skål!
Christian

[Bullie]

Looking around in my library... Hmmms.. Bottles everywhere together with other whisky memorabilia. I'm trying to develope a whisky heaven here.

[Ed]

I clicked straight into the bin, though perhaps I should have clicked recycle. But we have to separate trash here so there is no extraordinary merit to be claimed. I do reuse some bottles for various things. Collecting 100 yen coins, vatting, water bottles, flasks, (I buy I. W. Harper 200 ml mostly for the bottle) etc. There are some about that I simply didn't do anything at all with them and they are still here. They will get binned when I notice them...
Ed

[voigtman]

I keep Glenrothes "dumpy" bottles because they are just too nice looking to get rid of. In fact, they are my favorite bottle shape by far, with Balvenie second. With the little labels removed, they make good water bottles. I also keep a set of 8 empty Islay bottles, one for each of the 8 Islay malts. And a couple of memorable bottles: first George T. Stagg (the 2003 at 71.35% ABV), first VOA, first Ardbeggeddon and a 24 YO Port Ellen that was very fine. The rest go to recycling. Ed V.

[Deactivated Member]

I really like the Glenrothes bottle, too, but it seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it proposition!

Okay, we have Ed and Ed V...where are Eds II, III, and IV?

[Ed]

The worst thing is I am an Ed V. too. I have known so few Eds that it is a little disconcerting to see 'my' name used to refer to someone else. On StraightBourbon.com I used Edward as my user name for a while, but when people started calling me Edward in their posts I thought it was my mom yelling at me to clean my room or something. I could be Ed CV but that is a rather improbable number.
Ed