When enthusiasm outpaces reason...

Luckily, I have a nephew who enjoys bourbon and whisky and a good cigar as well. If I have duplicate bottles or if I am in the liquor store I might purchase an extra bottle for him.

I tend to host tastings with them...friends can certainly help out!

All that to say, I am in a similar boat. I love peat monsters, but my initial enthusiasm hasn't resulted in a balanced collection and I find I don't want peat all of the time.

I'm no purist when it comes to whisky, so if it's not something I'm crazy about, I will mix it or make cocktails out of it. For example, Wiser's Hopped makes a much better rye & ginger than a drink on its own.

I did the same thing when I first got interested, although probably not to the same extent. I have no bottles that I will never finish (although some might take some time, and perhaps a few friends--and most of those were gifted). I am trying to limit my purchasing, though...I was on a trip last week and considered both a Glendronach 12 and a Stagg Jr.; both were about the same cost, and I couldn't decide, and in the end I bought neither. I have enough here, unopened and opened, to sample first.

Some very good answers.

My interest in whisky has always been heavy on reading and discovering and less heavy on the consumption, and I drink whisky for the specific flavours and I'm not into mixed drinks that mask the flavours.

Because, with the exception of epic tastings, I tend to be a lightweight, and circumstances don't allow too many opportunities to indulge, I will never get around to the spirits I don't REALLY enjoy. I'm happy to keep them around if I may occasionally reach for them, but otherwise they take up room.

For example, I like HP 12, but my bottle is open 5 years and I can't remember the last time I had some. And I'm not "saving it" for a special occasion like some of the others I've decanted. So an Aberlour 10 will likely never get opened, let alone finished.

And when I have friends over, my enthusiasm for whisky makes me want to serve the "good stuff", and I have enough variety to satisfy even the more inexperienced guests.

Gifting, unless I know it's something that the other person will want, is a non-started if the bottle won't pass muster with me.

If I could do it all over again, I would have tried to avoid buying ahead so much for "things to try", and maybe that would have avoided a few unfortunate purchasers.

If only there were more 200 cc bottles.... for someone like me that's the perfect trial size.

I'm in a similar boat, and I'm thinking next time I'm attending a summit of similar I might post a "For Trade" list. I'd rather trade something I'm not keen on for something I've never tried than have it sit on a shelf getting dusty. Even if what I get in a trade would turn out to be something I don't care for, at least I've gotten to try something new.

@Nelom

That's why summits are great, and also why networks of enthusiasts are great.

For instance, though I'm not really into Canadian whisky there are a couple I like, but it's great to be able to get samples of things so even if I didn't need a whole bottle, at least I got to experience it. I'd never get through a CR Monarch or Wiser's Legacy on my own, but I'm glad I had a chance to taste them. Similarly I have friends who aren't quite as enthusiastic as I am about Scotch but this way they get to try some high quality examples without paying for a bottle of each.

Win Win!

The only problem is that when starting out those networks aren't formed...

@Nozinan Yes, I understand about serving friends "the good stuff" if they're into it and you want them to appreciate it--but in a party situation, sometimes it's easier to just put out the ho-hum stuff.

Then, there's my friend who drinks Wiser's Deluxe with Pepsi on a regular basis. Knowing he likes Wiser's, I took over an unopened bottle of Wiser's Legacy I had recently found and purchased. He tried it, commented "That's really good whisky!" and proceeded to pour the glass full of Pepsi...needless to say, I won't be serving him any more of my "good stuff."

Of course it's nice to be able to treat an interested friend or acquaintance a dram of my good stuff but I also like having less expensive but still nice whiskies around for less fastidious drinkers. Booze-hounds get one jack Daniel's and a farewell

@Nozinan. Although they may not be to your taste, I'm sure there are many, many other enthusiasts who would gladly take your collection of Aberlours, HP 12 and whatever else is languishing in the back of your cabinet off your hands. Have a whisky garage sale, or a whisky auction, or start up the whisky equivalent of a food bank. You need to move that stuff on, brother.

Incidentally, I always keep a decanter each of a high end blend (CB Great King St. Artists' Blend right now) and a decent entry level malt (AnCnoc 12 at the moment) for my less sophisticated, less pretentious friends.

Nozinan, I completely understand your dilemma. I too was very enthusiastic when I started this journey several years back. I didn't really know what I liked so I was all over the place with my purchases. While I don't have hundreds of bottles, I do have dozens. And while I have limited my recent buys, it will likely take me decades to get through what I have on hand. Sadly I don't have enough friends/family interested in these spirits to expedite the process.

The idea of a whisky summit sounds great. But in reality they are hard to put together and difficult for many people to attend. While drinking in the company of others is frequently more enjoyable than drinking alone, the latter is obviously far easier to arrange.

My thought was perhaps it would be easier to get a subset of 6 connosrs to partake in a group swap. An initial discussion on reasonably comparable quality bottles in each member's collection that would be offered up by each individual, and then divided into 4 oz sample bottles and shipped to the other 5 members. As someone who already has too many bottles, and would like to reduce inventory while being exposed to new flavors, I'd love to be able to pull something like this off. It wouldn't solve your problem of what to do with mistake purchases, but it would allow you to trade a bottle of something decent for 5 other samples you weren't already committed to buying.

@broadwayblue @BlueNote Great suggestions.

I should note that the HP12 is almost gone and it's not one I would want to give away. I did get re-gifted a bottle from someone who does not drink a couple of years back and I brought it to a party (that particular bottle turned out to be really good) and made sure someone else went home with it.

I think whisky summits are a great way to try stuff without buying...everybody brings stuff that is special for them. I agree they are hard to set up that's why the Ontario Summit was the first of its kind and the Fall Summit in New Mexico took a lot of effort to organize and I wish I could be there). But I also believe that they are not a place to get rid of unwanted whisky.

I do believe that there are probably people out there who would enjoy, and appreciate, the whiskies that I have and don't want, but the trick is finding them, and also making sure that I don't feel that I'm getting an advantage out of the swap. This isn't the cut throat business world. We sincerely want our trading partners to be satisfied. Win - win is the best.

A great point about the swaps suggested. There are some whiskies, maybe "lower end" or not in my preferred profile I would like to try but don't want a whole bottle of. Splitting one bottle up between a group is a good idea. Whisky clubs often operate on a similar principle.

It's just the logistics of it all, and the fact that we all have other lives to live and can't spend so time on whisky...