I believe there is a question that many of us have asked ourselves at one point or another; how many bottles are too many bottles? In other words, how many bottles of bourbon (whisk(e)y and scotch included) should you have in your collection? As you could probably imagine by the previously posed questions, I have recently moved my collection of bourbon to a new location in the house, yet again. This move marks the fourth time in the past three years and every time we move locations a discussion occurs between Mrs. Bourbon Bossman and I about how many bottles is too many. Now before we talk about how many bottles are too many, let’s chat about my journey a bit; which probably many of you have experienced as well.

When I started this bourbon journey three years ago, I housed my collection in one of our china hutches. This hutch allowed for approximately 25 bottles and I specifically remember stating to Mrs. Bourbon Bossman “I will never need more room than this.” Well… that did not last long and about a year later I moved the location of my collection and took over one full upper and lower section of our kitchen cabinets. This second location allowed for approximately 45 bottles and again I was positive this would be all I ever needed; nope wrong again! This time the kitchen location lasted about a year and a half, but quickly ran out of space; this also correlated with the time I decided to start writing.

From the kitchen cabinets, Mrs. Bourbon Bossman was nice enough to give up half of our walk-in pantry for my collection. This new location housed approximately 80 bottles, if fully stocked. There were approximately 76 bottles in this location at its peak, but I paired back the collection to 66 bottles over the past few months, through enjoyment and a lot of sharing with others at holiday gatherings. Nonetheless, for some reason over the past few months, I have started to feel that I have too many bottles of bourbon, whisk(e)y, and scotch in our house.

Well, that leads us to this last weekend when I decided to move my collection again; this time not for space. Instead, I decided to convert my office, which was not being used very efficiently, to a creative space for doing just this, reviewing bourbon. With this move, I now have a location in the house for writing, taking photographs, and tasting/storing bourbon. So over the past week in between late-night meetings and long hours, I have been constructing two new shelving units, a bar chart for storing my collection, and of course, adding LED lighting for the show. Unexpectedly, it now looks like I will be able to store approximately 100-120 bottles in this new location, which again brought up the question of how many bottles are too many bottles?

So I sit here on this fine Wednesday evening staring at my current collection of now 68 bottles, as two more were found in the wild last night, wondering how many bottles should I have? Now I am an extremely lucky man and have a very supportive Mrs. Bourbon Bossman who encourages me to expand my collection and always states “You work very hard to allow for this hobby and should continue to do what you enjoy!” Although I appreciate this more than she will ever know, for some reason, I can not help but wonder if I have too many bottles in our house?

I truly believe the question of how many bottles are too many is a personal question that depends on where you are in your bourbon journey. If you are just starting your journey or starting your career, then in this case your collection of bourbon should indeed be smaller; but could grow over time if you so chose. Now maybe it is later in your journey or career, then in this case you might have a larger collection, or perhaps still small, but with more expensive bottles; a topic for a future posting. The key thing everyone must remember when it comes to your collection is cost; I can not emphasize this enough! I know we have all sat in front of the expensive bottle of bourbon on the shelf for $100, $200, or even $300 thinking to ourselves that we can afford it and I have room in my collection for it. Even if that is the case, please remember that a bottle of bourbon, whisk(e)y, or scotch is not worth your financial security.

Right now in my journey and career, I am honored enough that I could indeed have a collection of over 100 bottles, but a few years ago that would not have been true. I have worked several jobs at once to help support us through graduate school and worked my way up the ranks in the current organization to allow for an expensive hobby such as this. However, unlike many, my career is also very volatile so I realize that this could change at any time. We all know that life always loves to throw challenges and curveballs at us, hence why it is called “life.” In turn, we must adapt to overcome these challenges so we can continue to enjoy bourbon!

So for me, after writing this article and spending the past week becoming very intimate with my bottle collection, I believe 68 bottles if too many. For some 68 bottles might only be a fraction of their collection and for others, they could never even fathom having that many bottles. But please remember, to each their own, as it is their journey, not yours. I believe I have settled on the number 57, as this number of bottles is visually pleasing for my new display cases and more importantly, it is stainable for our current budget. Perhaps this number will change as life circumstances change, such as changing jobs, moving cities, or maybe the popularity of this blog, probably not the last one, but for now, that is how many bottles my collection will have. So, I leave you with the same question; How many bottles is too many bottles for you?

As always, please remember, drinking bourbon is a personal adventure, so do not be afraid to drink it neat, with ice, or add some water. It’s your bourbon, you bought it, and you should enjoy it how you want to enjoy it!

Cheers! Prost! Sláinte!

Bourbon Bossman