Keep your spices up to date!

[catherine]

My neighbor across the street (she's from York, England and her husband, now deceased, was from Haiti) moved last year to Austin to be closer to grandkids and the night before she left she gave DH and I the last of her liquor bottles. They were interesting--not your standard Myers or Jack Daniels. There was a particular Scottish liqueur that I wish I had written down the name of. I'll never remember what it was now, but I really liked it at the time.

I have no stockpile of alcohol in my house. If I feel like wine, or if company is coming, I'll run out and get some.

[HappyHiker]

Scottish liqueur that I wish I had written down the name of. Could it be Drambuie?

[catherine]

Scottish liqueur that I wish I had written down the name of. Could it be Drambuie?

Good guess, but no--I know all the fairly well-known Scottish liqueurs (My Scottish MIL often imbibed--sometimes too much--on Drambuie!)

Thanks for wagering a guess, though!

After doing a Google search, I'm thinking it may have been Glayva, because I think it started with a "G". https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/5237/glayva-liqueur

[iris lilies]

About liqeurs—They just sit around forever! That is why I don’t collect them.

In our big kitchen cabinet where we keep alcohol, paper and plastic eating utensils, and tall bottles of olive oil and vinegar, We have only two liqeurs, Crème de menthe and butter shots. DH discovered the joys of Butter Shots in his holiday eggnog recently, so I know that bottle will be used. I use crème de menthe in a dessert I make so that will eventually be used up.

I have a bottle of Rum because I used to make a great rum cake but now I can’t find my Bundt pan and I think I might’ve tossed it so now I have no use for that rum.

[rosarugosa]

Haha, I am enjoying the thread drift here! The other night I felt like a small whiskey before bed (fairly unusual, I'm usually just a wino) and DH said he would join me. As we perused the options in the cabinet, I proposed the Jameson, which had just about 2 shots in a 1.75 liter bottle, because then I could get rid of that big honking bottle that has been taking up space for years! I took note of other dusty bottles with small amounts and said we needed to work on drinking this stuff and clearing out those bottles from the liquor cabinet. So there we have the makings of a new decluttering project!
We have several bottles of vodka from my sister's move, because vodka is good stuff even though we almost never drink it. We have the obligatory bottles of stuff we bought for specific concoctions; I'm looking at you Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, and Creme de Cocoa!
I would like to whittle us down to my idea of the perfect liquor cabinet. I think I have the makings of a new thread!

[SteveinMN]

Why is it that people are so reluctant to get rid of liquor? Even stuff they don't necessarily like. People (well, not people here, but...) toss or give away clothes left and right; they trade cars every few years, they change the décor in their houses according to whatever Pottery Barn or Goop tells them to change. But for some reason, the "have I used it in a year?" guideline rarely seems to apply to liquor. Not poking at anyone here (I think people here are more inclined to get rid of it if they don't want it); just curious as to why liquor seems to be exempt from the usual rules of decluttering for so many.

[iris lilies]

Why is it that people are so reluctant to get rid of liquor? Even stuff they don't necessarily like. People (well, not people here, but...) toss or give away clothes left and right; they trade cars every few years, they change the décor in their houses according to whatever Pottery Barn or Goop tells them to change. But for some reason, the "have I used it in a year?" guideline rarely seems to apply to liquor. Not poking at anyone here (I think people here are more inclined to get rid of it if they don't want it); just curious as to why liquor seems to be exempt from the usual rules of decluttering for so many.

Here is my knee-jerk answer: a bunch of bottles of liquor sitting around makes people feel rich, they think it gives the appearance of being wealthy.Just a guess. I think of the households I knew growing up that had a lot of liquor bottles sitting around in one place usually on a buffet or drinks cabinet and they were higher end than the homes of most everyone else, or else they were asperational at least.

And maybe we think of a liquor collection as an expensive investment. With liquers that is true because those things are, what, $15 $20 $25 a bottle?

[jp1]

To answer your question, Steve, I suppose the difference is that people who enjoy liquor understand that it's a very personal taste thing. Sure one may get get rid of their car because no one is likely interested in that tired, slightly dirty, mostly generic honda or mazda or whatever. But just as people are reluctant to get rid of random artifacts (we've had a few posts here about random letters or photos found and the like) because they thinks someone may really want them so too with liquor. Someone they know may really want to drink it. No, the liquor may not likely bring up memories of long lost relatives, but it may be something they really really enjoyed when they were at X point in their life. Or maybe they're just lushes with good taste. But in either case if I had something that was easy to keep (like a bottle of booze) that might be enjoyed that way I'd be inclined to keep it. At least until I was moving. Then i'd throw an "everything must be drunk" party and open up all the fun stuff.

[Tammy]

Some of my husbands whiskeys are over 100 a bottle

[JaneV2.0]

I was inspired by this thread to download a recipe book for mocktails; I like the idea of umbrella drinks, even without the booze.

"Why is it that people are so reluctant to get rid of liquor?"
I would guess because it doesn't go bad? I had a bottle of Schnapps for ten years or more. Clearly, I'm not a guzzler...