Whisky Forum - Storing your treasures - daylight?

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

I've spent the afternoon rearranging my office/room of alcohol and have ended up putting in two new small shelving units, in addition to my corner drinks cabinet. My plan was to move the whisky (or as much of it as possible) onto the shelves and use the drinks cabinet cupboard for other (lesser) beverages.

The window in the room is east-facing, and the drinks shelves are on the southern wall - will daylight be a problem for the storage of any of my non-cartoned bottles, given that at no point will they be in direct sunlight (barring any sudden shift in the Earth's orbit!)? I've had a quick Google, but couldn't find anything conclusive...

sorren · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:01 pm Post subject:

Yes it is a serious problem, bring them to my house and I will look after them for you ....
But seriously, it is best to keep them out of " direct sunlight" .. If your looking at long term then it might be best to not have them in the sunlight, if you intend opening them in near future then it should be ok, try putting the bottles with no tubed in the most shaded area or slightly back on the shelf..

opelfruit · Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 7:07 pm Post subject:

They are not in direct sunlight, which is the worst place for it to be, so that's ok. Indirect sunlight will cause some deterioration of the whisky but over a long time. I've got bottles out on an open shelf and drink them so they are not long term keepers. I do have some long term keeps on said shelf but they are at the back so the light has to pass through other bottles and it's darker/more recessed.

If you want to keep bottles outside of a box/sleeve for a long period of time on an open shelf in indirect sunlight.....put them at the back.
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

Thanks all, thought as much, will keep the ones without boxes/tubes in the drinks cabinet Smile

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

In the end I had more than enough boxed bottles to fill the shelves and then some. All finished now apart from a missing shelf for the centre unit, I'm sure it'll turn up when I stop looking for it!

http://s1127.Photobucket.com/user/elnjb1/library/collection

Diademo · Master Of Malts Joined: 22 Aug 2012 Posts: 1255

Rather non-technical article about the study from Bacardi how extremes of temperature and light change the flavor of a spirit, not only the colour:
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/quick-chug-booze-goes-weird/

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

opelfruit · Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 12:47 pm Post subject:

Yikes, I hope they are not lead crystal decanters....don't store whisky in there for a long time as they can leach out lead.

Don't worry about the Jura, that one can be kept in sunlight indefinitely and it wont get any worse than it was at the point of bottling Laughing

_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

Resurrecting my thread, somehow(!) my collection outgrew the original shelving, so I present the new Wall of Whisky (and other distilled products). Obviously this is just the boxes ones, the others are tucked away in a drinks cabinet...on that note, if anyone has a spare Blanton's Gold box that they were going to recycle, I'd gladly pay the postage costs Smile

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Quaich1 · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 2:34 pm Post subject:

Indiana, a very nice wall of whiskies and other spirits. Great presentation!
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"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

opelfruit · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 2:46 pm Post subject:

Well played sir!

Hmm I need to up my game.....
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

Thanks both, I've tried to keep them grouped, across the top shelves are Highlands, then Islay over the next two. Then going down the left, Japanese, Other Foreign and Islands at the bottom. On the right it's Speyside then Lowland/Blends at the bottom right. Ran out of room for the Glenlivets and Glenmorangies Rolling Eyes

opelfruit · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 3:25 pm Post subject:

Due to general feelings of inadequacy I've counted my closed bottles and between whisky and rum I've only got 30....This simply is not good enough! I'm going to do a big order for my next one, got some catching up to do.

My main issue is storage. I'm not allowed to have a large cabinet (and I don't trust my kids not to mess with the ones at hand height!!
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

IndianaBlues · Master Of Malts Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 457

Yes children can be troublesome, I trust mine not to go exploring but when they have friends around...

By closed do you mean "still sealed" or "cartoned"? If the former, then I can probably count them on one hand Embarassed