Resolutions for 2018.

None! I've never had any new years resolutions. Are you implementing some kind of punishment if you break them?

As I continue to sip my first dram of 2018, noting my decision not to partake in Dry January this year, I came across this piece. It got me to thinking. I know we skirt this issue a lot here, but sometimes it's good to think about it. I leave you the link for reading at your discretion.

theglobeandmail.com/life/first-person/…

@Nozinan Thanks for the link. Being a medical practitioner I know you have strong feelings about this issue. I think we often don't realize that our habit (which we euphemistically refer to as a hobby) is getting away on us. There is quite a bit in that story that hits home. I have gained about 7 lbs in the last few months and I am noticeably less energetic. For the past several months I have moved up from a few drams on weekends to a couple of drams every evening before dinner. My drams have also become closer to an ounce and a half each. I have been told that due to a medical condition that requires the use of blood thinning medication that I should be consuming very little alcohol. I need to smarten up. This is why I will do the dry January again. I need to know that I don't have an out of control problem. I might do like the writer and extend it this year. And when I start drinking again I need to get back to moderation. And that probably means less time spent on whisky web sites and forums.

Cheers.

@BlueNote I think my greater craving are for the forums than the whisky... I know what you mean though. The constant discussion motivates increased purchasing and increased consumption in order to try everything.

As much as I would not want to give up whisky, I think I would be even more loathe to give up the best of what I've gotten from sites like this one. You know who you are.

I have resolved to quit smoking once and for all this year - I am a light/social smoker but would benefit in lots of ways from kicking this bad habit.

I said on another thread recently I don't drink excessively but would describe my consumption as 'committed'! I want to make sure I stick to my rule of having at least a couple of days a week where I don't drink anything alcoholic.

I actually did the maths a while back and even though I drink more regularly these days I reckon I drink less alcohol as it is spread out thinly rather than being consumed over a couple of evenings - it's surprising how much alcohol one consumes when you drink wine - my worry is that the pours/drams get a bit bigger and more frequent over time and before one knows it . .

Best of luck to all those making an extra effort!

My resolutions are quite simple:

• Lose some weight. I’m not big into fad diets and I do hit the weights on a regular basis, but my weight has gotten out of control. There is no reason for me to be over 200lbs at 5’10”. I’m not trying to be Brad Pitt in Fight Club but it’s important I not suffer a heart attack before turning 40. The men in my family have a history of heart problems.

• Drink less. This seems generic, but the sub-goal is to drink better whisky, though less overall. It’s tempting to try every whisky I come across, but I’m not a millionaire, so I’m going to scale back my purchases, ideally only buying a maximum of one bottle per month. I’m committing to measuring my pours as well as I’m probably a bit too generous with myself.

@OdysseusUnbound - in my 'youth' I trained heavily (martial arts) and competed; I was always one who struggled to bulk up . . .

Funny how we crave what we don't have as now I just look at food and I feel my waist bulge and mreasts (that's man breasts) sag

I'm not buying a single bottle this year. Not one.

I just moved in with my girlfriend, and the first thing I brought in was my whisky (naturally). She didn't know I had cases and cases of the stuff. She suggested I display them on top of the kitchen cupboards, which I liked too, so up they went. Covered one cupboard. Then another. One on the next wall. Then one just for Ardbegs. Another (larger!) just for Laphroaigs. A whole lineup of Kilkerrans. Then my open bottles. Then the bottles that belong to my club. She started to visibly regret the suggestion to put them all out. :)

It's too much. I have enough to enjoy any style that strikes my fancy, enough to get me through plenty of good times and bad times, enough to mark every special occasion from here to my mid-40s. Enough to fuel my club for years on end.

I'm not buying a single bottle this year. Not one.

@MadSingleMalt - would you like a small wager . . . ha ha - I jest!

Best of luck, sincerely!

I am certainly going to be buying less - My Bday whiskies are already chosen and I have a few others that I would like but my collection has nearly doubled in this last year and that's with current consumption . . .

I've even promised myself that I will only buy a select few brands if they are on offer locally! I think there is some justification in that due to current and upcoming price hikes.

@RianC, I know: A 100% buying freeze sounds unlikely. But I have zero need for additional whisky supplies. Three occasions recently passed that I would normally celebrate by buying a new bottle (pay raise, birthday, Christmas money), and I skipped it each time. Honestly, there's hardly anything I want to buy anyway. I tried to buy a "raise whisky," but my shop was out of the Springbank Burgundy and there was nothing else worth getting excited about.

The real eye-opener came when I realized that I'd bought so many bottles for my club that we can't even get to them all in the current club year. That effectively makes them my bottles, and I don't need any. None.

I'm gonna drink down my stash and cannibalize them into my club's supply over the next couple years, then become more of a "buyer & drinker in the moment" with just a few special bottles put aside for the future. That sounds more fun anyway.

@MadSingleMalt, I think that you are hard-core enough to pull it off...not one whisky bottle purchase (for yourself) during 2018. Good luck! That one becomes much easier of course when you can choose ones you want to try for your club. I've gifted a few bottles to my sister that I planned to drink from too.

I make no resolutions. As to bottle purchases, I hope to keep it to near zero this year, but I do think we will replace our more than half empty bottle of Cuervo Reserva de La Familia tequila. That one has been our big treat for the last month.

There are too few Connosrs swearing off purchases to generalise, but if this is to be the trend, does that mean that the whisky market has finally reached a top?

@MadSingleMalt - It was never a 'plan' to build a stash although often I buy a bottle and really like it so buy another for future enjoyment. That being said, there is a real enjoyment in buying a bottle and popping it asap - something I rarely do.

This last year though I've bought a lot that were simply good deals - I won't need any 'mid-week' bottles for some time now.

Being honest there are probably 5 - 10 whiskys that I really want to buy this year any others would simply be adding to the pile. hmm I sense a thread topic here . . .

Thanks, @Victor. But even using the club as an "outlet" for my buying urges has to stop. My current personal supply would allow me to very easily sell bottles to the club for 2-3 years. I can provide my buddies with lots of great malts, allow me to cash out a little bit, and still give me the chance to taste these bottles I've been hoarding.

A Glen Scotia 22 IB? To the club!

Benromach 10/100? To the club!

That Longrow Red whichever-one-it-was? To the club!

I wish I had resolved to do that for the current club year. It would have yielded a $1000 swing in my personal finances, which would be pretty handy at the moment. Live and learn.

@MadSingleMalt - Can I join your club, please . . .

@MadSingleMalt

I think it takes a paradigm shift to "get it" that you don't need to buy more. I had a similar epiphany in the last year.

That's why I'm determined to end the year with as much or less whisky than I started with. I'm not quitting buying completely (FOMO alert), but this will necessitate more consideration when choosing what to buy.

Hmmm...probably to limit my purchases exclusively to special bottles and/or already established personal all-time favorites. Hopefully that allocation would fall into the rule of only buy once one has been finished ie replenishment. I only have so much room and I'm already drowning in books & music...It's getting to the point where whisk(e)y is next up. I have to consciously limit myself to the two cabinet spaces that I have which equates to about 42-45 bottles.

Count me among those who've decided that enough is enough and who is planning to severely limit what I buy this year, and probably every year going forward. In addition, I've also decided that life is too short to drink whisky I don't love - or at the very least like a whole lot.

So, I've got myself a can of Private Preserve, and if over the course of a few pours over a few weeks I don't find myself really digging a whisky, I'll preserve that sucker, cork and tape it up, and store it in a box. Waiting to be given away to someone who'd appreciate it more than I.

Oh, I'm well aware that palates change and whiskies can change with time and air exposure, so I may indeed find myself giving away whiskies I'd end up enjoying in a year or five. But I've gotten to the point where I don't really care about that. I'd rather have a shelf with 5-10 standard bottles I know really well and will re-buy when they are empty, than an ever growing collection of bottles I may or may not like, and I may or may not ever get to open.

As for putting all that into a resolution... I hadn't thought about it that way, and I hesitate to make strict rules around it, but suffice to say I'm on a mission to drastically reduce the number of bottles I buy and the number of bottles already on my shelf.

I would like to exercise more patience, and be far more selective when buying. If I could accomplish both of those goals, I estimate I could reduce the number of bottles I take home by more than 50%. That would make for a good start for possibly further reductions in following years.

@KRB80, you make a good point about whisky bottles vis-a-vis other unnecessary things that can accumulate, like books and music. It helps to put a certain restriction on the space you allow for it, and then work within that.

As I alluded to above, I just moved. As part of that, I told off nearly all my CDs and about half my books. It feels great. It also makes the mental weight of all that whisky I'm holding seem even heavier.

Wow—there are a lot of "buy less" intentions among us this year!

Is this just the perennial good intention from us nutjobs who suffer the guilt of past over-buying?

Maybe it's a reflection of the market? Did we stock up when the gettin' was good and now feel little interest in the new stuff coming out?

Maybe it's part of a modern trend toward minimalism?

I feel motivated by all three of those ideas, but especially the minimalism. I don't want to possess a bunch of stuff. If I owned zero whisky and someone handed me $3000, I would not race to the liquor store with it to assemble the whisky apocalypse bunker that I'm currently staring at. I'd buy one Ardbeg and one Springbank, then put the rest in the bank.

@MadSingleMalt I think there are probably a number of factors leading to the "buy less" resolutions.

The prices for all decent whiskies (occasional Calgary sale prices aside) are going up.

Many of us who have been in it for a while are running out of space.

@Nelom, I just came across the following article that advocates some of the same stuff you're talking about:

thewhiskeywash.com/lifestyle/…

@MadSingleMalt Nothing new there. I already drink "better", and I don't waste my EtOH consumption on mediocre stuff. So I don't think I could improve on that.

@Nozinan I would not consider 14 drinks per week for men moderate. That's 14 ounces of hard liquor, slightly more than half a bottle. That would be before any other alcohol such as beer and wine is added into the mix.

@Nozinan Sorry, I meant that last one for @MadSingleMalt regarding the linked article.

@BlueNote, surely one would count beer and wine toward the 14 each week?

@BlueNote - I'd say for the average Brit that's on the low end of the scale . . . but all consumed in 1 - 2 nights!

Everyone is different re. their tolerance to alcohol and I'd wager that stress and general modern lifestyle is a huge and under studied contributor to many terminal or serious illnesses. If a wee nip (or two) of an evening helps iron out the creases I reckon that's better for many folk than being a stressed out health 'freak'.

I totally agree on the quality over quantity point though.

@MadSingleMalt Yeah, that's what I meant. If you were doing 14 ounces of Scotch per week, you have no room left for your beer after work and your wine with dinner.

@BlueNote - I limit my beer drinking to a couple of bottles over the weekend - rarely more than that. One of my whisky pours is usually around a single (25ml) measure and has on average 1.2 units in it. Most of the beers I drink are well over 2 units a bottle.

I've pretty much limited my alcohol consumption to whisky to make room for it, so to speak (I feel like I'm in confession )

@RianC Yeah, I agree that a little something is a nice relaxant and mood enhancer. I'm just saying there's a big difference between a "wee nip" and shitfaced. I am a transplanted Brit and, no offence mate, I know that Brits lean much closer to the shitfaced end of the scale. Great beer though.