Do you keep finished bottles?

[jamiepotter]

Just wondering about this. I've just been drinking the OB 17 year Longmorn 50cl, and aside from being just about the most delightful whisky I've tasted, I really love the bottle. I'm wondering, as someone fairly new to this game, whether people tend to keep some of their finished bottles.

[Deactivated Member]

As a collector, no, I only keep my full ones.

Regards,
WH

[Lawrence]

If they are very nice or unusual, like Black Bowmore, I generally sell them on ebay.

[Di Blasi]

With the way some of us drink around here, saving bottles will take up a bit too much space after a few months, and we'd probably rather have them full rather than empty. I do save all of the labels though, laminating them and pinning them up in my whisky cellar! Reminder and souvenir enough for me.

[Richiyaado]

Sorry to veer off-topic, but am curious to know how you go about removing labels from your bottles, Di Blasi.

[Mr Ellen]

No, I can't see any reason whatsoever in keeping an empty bottle. And I can't see anyone willing to pay for an empty bottle either. When it's gone it's gone...

Cheers
__________________
Anders

[PuckJunkie]

I've only kept a bottle when I liked it so much I wanted to replace it but couldn't do it immediately... I'd leave it around as a hint to the wife.

Richiyaado, I can't speak for Di Blasi, but I used to use these for wine and beer:

http://www.iwawine.com/orstore/ShowItem ... =LR120-004

They work pretty well if you want to keep a tasting journal. Nowadays I keep my journals electronically and just shoot a picture of the bottle instead, though.

Puck

[karlejnar]

I only keep the very special and nice bottles like:
The Bruichladdich's (incl the nice tin tube)
One Bowmore 30yo Sea Dragon - plan to turn it into a lamp one day.
Edradour Straight from the Cask - a nice bottle and wooden box

I used to remove and scan the labels, but has given it up. Now I just take digital pictures of the bottles and labels. The bottles are then sent for recycling. The square cardboard boxes are scanned and given to the scouts for recycling.

I keep the round tubes, and reuse them for bottles that don't have a tube, or which have dull cardboard boxes (like G&M)
BTW the Chivas Cask Strength Ed. 50cl bottles fits nicely in the used 'Laddie' tubes for their 50cl special bottles.

[Muskrat Portage]

Jamiepotter: I've only kept one so far, a discontinued Edradour 10 yo (the older style tall bottle) which came with a nicely printed scroll in the tube. I've placed it off to the side so as not to confuse guests. After tasting the new 10 yo version, I wish I'd picked up another older one while I could've. Pete

[Deactivated Member]

Seems to me we discussed this once some time ago. And I'll bet we discuss it again some time from now. Well, hey, you can't get to 3,000 posts without repeating yourself. And it's probably necessary to repeat yourself to get to 3,000 posts.

I have an embarrassing number of empties around here. My intent has always been to peel the labels and put them in a book, but so far I have done exactly one (Talisker 25). I'm a total packrat, anyway, possibly because I don't have a wife. Or maybe it's the other way around.

Q: Do you file your nails?

A: No, I just cut them off and throw them away.

Who was it who said he was building a shed out of Bruichladdich tins? A worthy endeavor. It's the journey, not the destination.

[Jan]

No - I just throw them away - living in a two-room apartment does'nt really allow for extensive collections of empty bottles

After reading about some members misadventures with broken corks, I have started saving the corks in order to have replacements at hand, when it some day happens to me.

Cheers
Jan

[Di Blasi]

Hey Richiyaado! I'm not always successful, but I usually put hot water, (comes out hot enough to make a cup of tea here in Bergen!) in the bottle, cork it, then soak it in the sink in hot water. Sometimes they come right off, other times I have to peel them a bit, with the hot water running over the label. I have torn some, then I just throw it away, a bit disappointed. But I also have those wine labels, gonna give it a try now actually! I just don't understand how they work, when the label is glued to the bottle, and those wine label removers seem to be sticky on one side. I'll soon find out.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Sorry to veer off-topic, but am curious to know how you go about removing labels from your bottles, Di Blasi.

These label removers are also on the Loch Fyne Whisky site in the Hardware and glasses section of the shop.


https://www.lfw.co.uk/

[irishwhiskeychaser]

In relation to keeping bottles I really could not start keeping empties it is just not possible. My missus has an issue as it is about the amount of open and full bottles. I can't imagine the impending doom that would befall me if I started keeping the empties

[Deactivated Member]

The label removers are a little tricky to use. You need to really press them on firmly--they suggest rubbing with the back of a spoon. They actually peel off the top layer of paper, leaving the bottom layer glued to the bottle.

I haven't tried soaking whisky bottles in water, but I've done it with beer bottles, with mostly unsatisfactory results. Some glues are not water-soluble (Canadian beers, for some reason), so the labels won't come off at all. And even when they do, they are entirely sodden, and it is very difficult to dry them out undamaged.

My gripe with the the label-remover kits is that they seem a bit pricey--about a dollar a label for the small kit sold by LFW, and $.50 per label for the bulk one cited above. Maybe I should just learn to throw things away.

[Di Blasi]

" ...it is very difficult to dry them out undamaged."
This is actually the easiest part! When they're floating in the water, soaked, just lift them out of the water, allowing them to drip most of the water off, then place them on a paper towel to dry, which they do completely.
[/quote]

[Bullie]

I'm actually saving a lot of them, since I'm going to use them decorate a tasting room I'm building at home. But most of the bottles and tubes saved are of the more 'exclusive' kind...

[Di Blasi]

I wonder if those tins and special edition boxes, (like the Lord of the Isles, etc), carry any value?? Are they worth saving, collecting, for future sales? Of course, not with a full bottle inside, just the tin or box? Maybe a collector, like WhiskyHammer, or someone else reading this. I would guess the labels wouldn't be worth much, unless perhaps they were gotten directly from the distillery and never put on a bottle, without any bent corners.

[Richiyaado]

Thanks for the label removal info, everyone. Think I'll try the soaking method first... am near the end of my Ardbeg 10yo, so I have my guinea pig.

[Di Blasi]

Good luck with the Ardbeg Ten, it's persistent, but can be done. I've also added a drop of dish soap while the water fills up in the sink, not sure if it helps or not.

[MacLover]

I toss the bottles except for the very rare ones like the Black Bowmore or Macallan Raffles Hotel. I do however keep and give away when needed the wooden boxes as I have friends who often are looking for spare boxes for Mac GRs, Springbank Local Barleys, etc.

[Mr Ellen]

I toss the bottles except for the very rare ones like the Black Bowmore or Macallan Raffles Hotel. I do however keep and give away when needed the wooden boxes as I have friends who often are looking for spare boxes for Mac GRs, Springbank Local Barleys, etc.

Just saving the bottles of your ordinary daily drams, ehrm...??

Cheers
_________________
Anders

[Dan G]

... Some glues are not water-soluble (Canadian beers, for some reason), so the labels won't come off at all.

If labels on Canadian beer were put on with water soluble glue, no one could keep track of their own beer in the communal cooler at bush parties.

As for keeping bottles, I have a hard enough time convincing my wife the full ones warrant space - no way she'd let me keep empties even if I wanted to (which I don't).

Keeping tasting notes seems more useful, and I seldom even to that for whisky (though I do keep a wine diary).

[les taylor]

Just been to the bottle bank this morning. I think I have about three empties i.e Ardbeg committee releases. Which can't be repeated. I like the idea of Photographing them and and having a file on the computer I'll try that.

[Muskrat Portage]

... I like the idea of Photographing them and and having a file on the computer I'll try that.

Les:
I photograph each bottle and tube/box together with a digital camera and the download them into the computer. Then I save the pictures onto a disk and save it for insurance purposes, whereby you can prove what bottles you owned.

So far I have tossed out the empties and then replaced them with the same product. I'm planning a "drain 'em and toss 'em" this month to eliminate some of my close to empty bottles. The odd exceptional one I'll retain until I can replace it or keep if it's irreplaceable (ie: older Edradour 10 yo with tube).
Muskrat

[les taylor]

Thanks Muskrat I'm definitely going to do that its a great idea and also brings back good memories whilst not cluttering up the place with empties. Slainte.

[Lawrence]

MP has whisky tube models......the loser get thrown off the show....who will be Canada' Next Top Whisky Tube Model?

[mikeymad]

I have kept bottles around for a while, and I must admit that I have kept them in the past. But now, once I have taken a picture of it (for the archive), I let them go. Or pass them along to my friend who keeps some. (Bowmore dragon, Auchentoshan 1971, Bowmore 1973). I got to make room for new bottles coming in.

[lexvo]

A collegue of mine collects bottles, so I drop my bottles on his desk If he already has it, I throw it away.