Upgrading Your Spirit Showcase Part II

I recently wrote about how to handle upgrading your collection of nicer liquors. Getting a new bar cart and losing the bottom shelf liquors were some of my first suggestions to really take it up a notch and show you’re serious about your collection. But since then, I’ve come up with a few more that will polish off your collection so that no one mistakes you as the true spirit aficionado you are.

First off, though, make sure your liquors aren’t too cluttered together. I’ve seen pictures of people showing off their lineups and the bottles are almost touching or hugging one another. Whether this is in a straight line or there are multiple bottles behind the first line, I find this to look rather congested, trashy, and unsophisticated. If you’re going to show off a lot of bottles like that, dedicate more space, furniture, or compartments for them to space them out and let each shine.

Decide on a dedicated spot.

Don’t scatter multiple liquor bottles throughout your home, even if you are a huge collector or afficionado of one spirit or another. This will just make you look like a showoff alcoholic. Like I mentioned above, make sure you have a specific cabinet, shelf, desk, or wall compartment for your collection. The whole display should look as if that area is dedicated to your liquor lineup and not like you just plopped them down randomly somewhere.

Keep it to two types of spirits or less.

We know that you may be a huge fan of bourbon, a long time drinker of vodka, and a budding enthusiast in tequila, but if you can keep your liquor bottles to two spirits or less, that’s probably better. Otherwise, things can look crowded, not uniform, and not very calculated. In fact, I’d suggest trying to whittle it down to one spirit if you can, but if you’re proud of your palate in both vodka and bourbon, by all means show both off. I’d simply recommend keeping the two collections opposite one another or separate entirely if you can manage.

Clean up the empties.

I know that your first bottle of Don Julio is a prized possession of yours, but really, if you loved it so much, you’d already have another waiting to replace it. The only time I think it’s appropriate to still have an empty bottle on display is if you’re currently unable to find another bottle in your area (for rarer breeds). If that’s the case, I can’t blame you for wanting to keep it up there if only as a reminder to yourself to seek out that rare spirit.