mitchshrader
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2006
- Messages
- 146
debt.. is a REAL PROBLEM..
cause there's always something just out of reach, unless you're warren buffet or bill gates..
and even if you Are, there's still things there's only ONE of.. and you ain't got it..
The sky is the limit, but the banker and often the spouse are a little more down to earth.. some system for minimizing bankruptcies and divorces is desireable, just to avoid distractions..
I have made the usual errors, buying fancy liquour that didn't please me, and then looking askance at a nearly full mistake and trying to figure who'd DRINK it for me..
and as lately found one that has the most extreme evaporation factor, which makes it NOT economical.. though otherwise pleasant enough.
So, I use a few simple rules to help me make my collection choices. I think about what a single shot costs, in relation to my budget. A 30$ bottle is 2$ a shot, and 150$ bottle is 10$ a shot, and for all practical purposes, that's the range I'm expecting to stay in. Cheaper isn't often interesting, more expensive isn't affordable, and I can't drink every bottle. You have to draw some sort of lines.. (and sometimes cross them!)
So, my 'real' range is centered around 6$ a shot booze. 90$ a bottle. Roughly. This is high enough to get quite a few mid level scotches, and some top shelf rye's and bourbons, and the occasional thrifty aged gem of a malt that you grab and run with..
Some will tell you to buy 'lots of good cheap stuff' and dodge the expensive, others will ignore cheap.. but in fact, good is where you find it. The reason you admit in advance you'll cross lines, is that the distillers and marketers do.
Obviously, the more money it costs, the harder they work at GETTING that money, and part of that is telling you how wonderful it is.
It'd be a lot cheaper if they didn't pay folks to brag on it.
Once you realize a chunk of the cost is excise taxes and storage fees, and another chunk is advertising costs, and then distributor and retailer mark-ups, and then they charge SALES TAX on TAXES you ALL paid.. (ain't that cute?)
what the guy actually got for making the whisky doesn't look like a big piece of it. So, just suck it up on what things cost. You won't get handmade and 20 years old for the price of commercial 5 year old, and don't expect to. Both may be good, and the 20 yr be 10x the cost, and whether you think it's worth it or NOT.. that's the way it is. Nobody touches it for free..
So, HOW do you decide? Drink it. And.. when you like it enough to buy another bottle, buy a spare. And, if you like it enough to buy ANOTHER bottle, buy ANOTHER spare.
And, if you don't care for it , give it away, blend it with something else that goes too far in another direction, cook with it, Or carefully set it in a place of pride, front and center in the collection, and with hushed reverence offer it to your next gullible guest.. (and a Big Glass of it, Too)
But that's the whole trick, other'n constant research, obsessive nitpicking analysis of tastes, craven groveling to those with sacred founts of knowledge, teeth-gritted civilized courtesy to those demonic fiends who brag on rare acquisitions and don't even HINT you might someday taste them.. :whistling: (just in case they become all altruistic around the holidays or something) ..
But if you'll drink one, buy two. from then on. And, if you don't want it enough to have a spare, don't have ANY.
For every 2 spares, you buy one experiment, and one 'for the guests'.. odd stuff that keeps them out of your favorites. Cherry brandy. Plum Wine. Mandarin Vodka. 'neat' things..
So, Your collection grows, with a fat slice of exactly what you like, and a nice set of varied distractions for guests, and the odd whimsical stab at a new and different flavor that might be better'n all the rest. BUT: you stick to your budget, overall, spread out around the middle of your range.
That will let you grow a collection that is bragworthy, and still functions as your private bar. And, you may well be surprised at Christmas time..
cause there's always something just out of reach, unless you're warren buffet or bill gates..
and even if you Are, there's still things there's only ONE of.. and you ain't got it..
The sky is the limit, but the banker and often the spouse are a little more down to earth.. some system for minimizing bankruptcies and divorces is desireable, just to avoid distractions..
I have made the usual errors, buying fancy liquour that didn't please me, and then looking askance at a nearly full mistake and trying to figure who'd DRINK it for me..
and as lately found one that has the most extreme evaporation factor, which makes it NOT economical.. though otherwise pleasant enough.
So, I use a few simple rules to help me make my collection choices. I think about what a single shot costs, in relation to my budget. A 30$ bottle is 2$ a shot, and 150$ bottle is 10$ a shot, and for all practical purposes, that's the range I'm expecting to stay in. Cheaper isn't often interesting, more expensive isn't affordable, and I can't drink every bottle. You have to draw some sort of lines.. (and sometimes cross them!)
So, my 'real' range is centered around 6$ a shot booze. 90$ a bottle. Roughly. This is high enough to get quite a few mid level scotches, and some top shelf rye's and bourbons, and the occasional thrifty aged gem of a malt that you grab and run with..
Some will tell you to buy 'lots of good cheap stuff' and dodge the expensive, others will ignore cheap.. but in fact, good is where you find it. The reason you admit in advance you'll cross lines, is that the distillers and marketers do.
Obviously, the more money it costs, the harder they work at GETTING that money, and part of that is telling you how wonderful it is.
It'd be a lot cheaper if they didn't pay folks to brag on it.
Once you realize a chunk of the cost is excise taxes and storage fees, and another chunk is advertising costs, and then distributor and retailer mark-ups, and then they charge SALES TAX on TAXES you ALL paid.. (ain't that cute?)
what the guy actually got for making the whisky doesn't look like a big piece of it. So, just suck it up on what things cost. You won't get handmade and 20 years old for the price of commercial 5 year old, and don't expect to. Both may be good, and the 20 yr be 10x the cost, and whether you think it's worth it or NOT.. that's the way it is. Nobody touches it for free..
So, HOW do you decide? Drink it. And.. when you like it enough to buy another bottle, buy a spare. And, if you like it enough to buy ANOTHER bottle, buy ANOTHER spare.
And, if you don't care for it , give it away, blend it with something else that goes too far in another direction, cook with it, Or carefully set it in a place of pride, front and center in the collection, and with hushed reverence offer it to your next gullible guest..
(and a Big Glass of it, Too) But that's the whole trick, other'n constant research, obsessive nitpicking analysis of tastes, craven groveling to those with sacred founts of knowledge, teeth-gritted civilized courtesy to those demonic fiends who brag on rare acquisitions and don't even HINT you might someday taste them.. :whistling: (just in case they become all altruistic around the holidays or something) ..
But if you'll drink one, buy two. from then on. And, if you don't want it enough to have a spare, don't have ANY.
For every 2 spares, you buy one experiment, and one 'for the guests'.. odd stuff that keeps them out of your favorites. Cherry brandy. Plum Wine. Mandarin Vodka. 'neat' things..
So, Your collection grows, with a fat slice of exactly what you like, and a nice set of varied distractions for guests, and the odd whimsical stab at a new and different flavor that might be better'n all the rest. BUT: you stick to your budget, overall, spread out around the middle of your range.
That will let you grow a collection that is bragworthy, and still functions as your private bar. And, you may well be surprised at Christmas time..
