How much time do you keep a bottle?

Yesterday I had a dram of Uigeadail that has been sitting in my cupboard open for about four months. I must say that it has undergone quite a change. The grand peaty smokyness is quite gone I'm afraid. Still a quality spirit, still full of flavour but lacking some of the punch and thus the allure.

I guess this is far more noticeable with peated malts than others.

To answer your question. Probably a couple of months and up to a year perhaps.

I keep a bottle until it is empty or until I give it away. That could be a period of many years, sometimes. Because I have so many open bottles, 100 at least, most of my open bottles have been open now more than 2 years. I am working to change that, by not opening large numbers of new bottles while I finish off, and give away, some of the older ones. Ideally, I am striving to keep most bottles no more than 18 months. Some prized possessions, which cannot likely be replaced, will, however, get decanted into smaller bottles with minimal air spaces and treasured for longer periods.

UNOPENED bottles? I keep them until I open and drink them. Nowadays if you don't put away for the future duplicates of your favourite bottles while you can get them, you won't be able to find and drink them in the future.

@LordGlascarnoch Like many, I keep my bottles from a few months to 18 months. I really like the effect of air on whiskies, but in the first month I can usually evaluate if the whisky can take air or not. Therfore if one cannot take it, I will drink it fast which is for me in 2 months (probably closer to 3) while in the other case it will usually take me a year. Unfortunately, you whiskies that can be almost stable for a year and can suddenly change in a month and others will start to fade away like your Uigeadail (I doubt having an Uigeadail for more than 3 months simply because it is so damn good!). Nadurra is another one that will slowly fade away loosing is heather and smoke. BTW you should try to keep a Booker's for a year, while it will loose some spices on the nose (don't be fooled, it's stilll there on the palate), it will gain some very nice floral notes, mainly a typical bourbon's rosewater note quite special in such a fiery Whiskey.

@LordGlascarnoch I forgot, if you like banana flavor try to give some air and time to any virgin oak it usually do the trick and if you wait for too long you will be left with the malt of the distillery. So I find that it is a good way to dicover the real flavor of a ditillery's malt which is tough to pinpoint in a sherry finish.

@LordGlascarnoch I have bottles that have been open for years. Like Victor at one point I had almost 60 open bottles, I made a decision not to open any new bottles until I finish a bottle or give it away, I'm down to 38 open bottles of whiskey, that's what my bar will hold. I use to have open bottles stored in closets all over the house. I put some of my older open bottles in smaller bottles, sealed the cork with taped and I'll drink them in the future. These Whiskeys are discontinued, I don't count these as open bottles, more like part of my collection.

@Victor I agree with you completely, buy good whiskey today and save as much as you can for tomorrow. I buy exceptional whiskey in batches of 3, 1 to drink now, 2nd is a backup bottle, 3rd I save for the future. Exceptional whiskey doesn't necessarily mean it has to expensive. I use to buy Glengoyne 17y for $50 a bottle, wish I had save more of them, the Glengoyne 10y sells for more than that today.

@Robert99 I know you enjoy Knob Creek Single Barrel 9y 120 proof bourbon, so do I. I had double win the other day, I bought an exceptional bottle of the KCSB, ran back and bought 2 more, on sale for $26 a bottle. I have several bottles of the KCSB saved from various exceptional batches.

Save a bottle when you can and your collection will grow. Bottles change, get expensive or are discontinued. Buy when you find a good deal.

I have about 30 bottles open. The only one that has lasted less than a year is A'Bunadh, because we almost always drink that at group tastings.

I've had some bottles open for over four years.

I would like to have fewer bottles open. I generally only open a new bottle when I have company over, and there is something we want to try that isn't open. Then It can take what seems like forever to get through them. The only open bottle I ever gave away (I have given away sealed bottles) was a Glenfiddich 15 YO, which I really did not want and knew I would never drink.

@Benancio, I too purchase in triplets: one for now, one for later, and one just in case. Recently I've upped the replenishment limits because three bottles won't last forever. I do occasionally open more than one bottle at a time to observe aging patterns, the hardiness of various expressions, and tendencies which may be common to particular producers or regions.

If a bottle is less than half full (yes I'm an optimist) I like to finish it within 4-6 weeks. I've found any longer than that and most whiskys go flat. So even though I usually have several bottles open at once because they need to breathe a little to open up, when a bottle gets down to 2/3 full I start to focus and finish it.

Well its really a matter of the ratio between what is left in the bottle an the air. If it's just a little whisky left the air will "consume" it quicker...

@LordGlascarnoch Interesting discussion topic I don't like to keep a lot of opened bottles around for any great length of time. I believe you are wondering about open bottles. I always keep a two to three bottle limit of opened ones at anyone time. The only rule to this exception would be when ragging hoards of barbarians, also know as out of town family, show up to raid my cabinet then I may have more opened. I also once open a bottle only keep it around for a few weeks or even a few months at most. This is only my own way of cabinet management and works best for me. Hope this was helpful. (:

I have a strict policy of not being 'allowed' more than 10 open bottles at any given time :-D Difficult, yes, but I find you get to know your Scotch better if you limit yourself to drinking only a few different profiles at a time - as you discover so many new aspects in the months after uncorking. Otherwise it just becomes too much of a jumble and it becomes hard to really pin down a particular expression.

I follow the wisdom of @PMessinger and @Jules: Fewer bottles at a time that you can focus on and finish off before they deteriorate. I make an exception for bottles that I hear (from Connosr folks) improve with age. Those bottles live out a much longer life, sometimes tucked away out of sight someplace.

Plus, unopened bottles in the stash can give you some pleasant anticipation while they wait for their turns.

And this: "ragging hoards of barbarians"—I hope none of your female relations are reading this! I like funny typos.