Whisky Storage Options?

Suzanne1967 · May 11 2015 at 4:26PM

Hi All,

As a new collector and one whose collection is now growing - with a once in a lifetime trip to Speyside planned for our Summer Hols this year and a possible large number of additional bottles being brought home - I was wondering how everyone stores their Whisky Collection? We have a modest sized home, and are already running out of display space for Whisky, what other options would others suggest, what options do you use yourself?

Any advice and or info / inspiration or photos would be much appreciated!

Oh, and here is a pic of our current 21 bottle collection, with a few duplicates out away in a cupboard at present!

Many thanks in advance!

SanctTom · May 11 2015 at 8:50PM

I am quite contrary to the concept of "display space" - all my bottles are for drinking, so I don't feel obliged to show anybody anything about my whiskys unless it's in the glass... even myself :redface:
I store my bottles in different cupboards/rooms throughout the house (actually wherever my wife lets me :evil: ) without any thought to "looking nice", thinking more about "having the right malt to hand at the right time"...
So my advice is to keep things simple - don't think too much about it - just keep your bottles to hand in case of acute whisky crisis... :lol:

Tmgreen122 · May 29 2016 at 1:08AM

I'm looking to start my own collection of whiskey. While I do enjoy the taste, my ultimate goal is to turn a profit down the road. I have a lot of questions but my first question is about storing whiskey for extended periods (years if not decades) of time.

Should it be stored upright or on it's side? Should I dip the necks in wax before storage? Is a basement cabinet a safe place to store it? Should a get a dehumidifier and place near where I'm storing my whiskey?

All of these questions apply to corked whiskey bottles and capped whiskey bottles.

So far, my collection includes a bottle of Traverse City Whiskey and a bottle of Glenlivit 12.

Quin · May 30 2016 at 1:29AM

Forget about a collection. You need to drink em. Collection is just necessary for Malts that you cant get in the future. All others are for drinking.

horst_s_2 · May 30 2016 at 2:41PM

There is some information about storing whisky at home. Here is the link to our explanations:
https://www.whisky.com/information/knowledge/about-whisky/storage.html

Suzanne1967 · June 9 2016 at 6:12PM

Well, it looks like the storage issue has a solution, just won this.... collecting at the weekend.....

Think the opened Bottles can go in here........

Had to rent a van to fetch it at the weekend, and a major amount of sorting out to do before then, but I think it will look great..... then its just keeping on top of replacing them as we drink them :smile:

hwchoy · June 10 2016 at 9:26AM

do you store or display your bottles in their box? I think UV light from daylight would damage the contents, not to mention the label over years, so I always keep mine in the box. but what about those Glenrothes and Jura with their open boxes? should I keep them in a closed cupboard instead?

Suzanne1967 · June 10 2016 at 9:41AM

"hwchoy" wrote:
do you store or display your bottles in their box? I think UV light from daylight would damage the contents, not to mention the label over years, so I always keep mine in the box. but what about those Glenrothes and Jura with their open boxes? should I keep them in a closed cupboard instead?

It all depends on what reasons you are collecting, if collecting to speculate on future value, then I would advise keeping them in a cool and dark environment, even if within their boxes, as this would prevent labels and boxes from becoming faded.

For ourselves, at present, all bottles are stored in their boxes, except the opened ones, which are visible so we can see what we have open - about 8 bottles at any time. As we are collecting to drink - not for future value - then I don't anticipate any bottle will be around more than 4 or 5 years max, so UV damage isn't a major issue for us, or at least we don't feel it is, I would be happy to be corrected by anyone with more information.

The plan is to use the drop down cupboard to store the opened bottles, which will be in a dark environment, so wont remain in their boxes. The rest of the collection will be inside the glass cupboards, and protected from direct UV, so will probably stored out of boxes, or at least some will, I wont know until the unit is collected and set up tomorrow, then we can have a play with it and see how it looks!

hwchoy · June 10 2016 at 9:56AM

you can store your Glencairns in the drop cabinet.

SavageHenry · June 10 2016 at 11:01AM

On a similar note, what about storing whisky in hot - Middle Eastern hot - climates?

I like to have three or four bottles on the go at once, just for variety.

Suzanne1967 · June 10 2016 at 8:53PM

"SavageHenry" wrote:
On a similar note, what about storing whisky in hot - Middle Eastern hot - climates?

I like to have three or four bottles on the go at once, just for variety.

I would probably suggest using a cool cellar, or the coolest area of the house if at all possible, but that would be a guess on my part, thankfully here in the UK we don't seem to have too many extremes of temperature!