🥃 I Need a Backup Bottle.

💥 Opening Pour

There comes a moment in nearly every whiskey lover’s life when one bottle suddenly becomes two. You find something you love, glance at the remaining bottles on the shelf, and four dangerous words slip into your head:

I need a backup bottle.

The logic sounds flawless. Sometimes it even is. Other times, it’s fear of missing out wearing a respectable bourbon hat.

📖 The Story

I learned this lesson while reorganizing my whiskey shelves a few years ago. “Reorganizing,” of course, is what collectors call moving bottles six inches to the left and somehow losing an entire Saturday.

I pulled out a bourbon I remembered buying because I genuinely enjoyed it. It had become harder to find, so when I spotted another bottle, I bought a backup. Perfectly reasonable.

Then I reached behind it.

There was another one.

Three bottles of the same bourbon.

I stood there trying to reconstruct the chain of events. One was for drinking. One was insurance. The third apparently existed in case the first two were called into active duty.

That’s when I started looking around the room.

There were doubles of other bottles, too. A limited release I was “saving.” Another bottle I’d bought because somebody told me it was disappearing. One whiskey I had apparently decided was so important that Future Ethan needed protection from a bourbon shortage that existed primarily in Present Ethan’s imagination.

None of those purchases seemed ridiculous when I made them.

That’s how it happens.

Nobody walks into a liquor store and says, “Today I’d like to create a long-term storage problem.”

Instead, you find a bottle you like. You hear it may become harder to find. You see only two left on the shelf. Your primitive hunter-gatherer instincts kick in, except instead of dragging a mastodon back to camp, you’re standing at checkout holding $140 worth of bourbon.

And to be fair, scarcity in whiskey is real. Expressions disappear. Releases change. Favorite batches come and go. Sometimes you finish a terrific bottle only to discover replacing it has become difficult or considerably more expensive.

But there’s a difference between buying something because you love drinking it and buying something because you’re afraid somebody else might get it first.

That afternoon, staring at my accidental three-bottle strategic reserve, I finally figured out the rule I still use today:

A backup bottle needs a job.

If I’ve tasted the whiskey, love it, regularly drink it, and know I’ll eventually open the second bottle? Fine. Buy two.

But if I haven’t even opened bottle number one?

That second bottle isn’t a backup.

It’s a prediction.

And whiskey has humbled enough predictions to fill a rickhouse.

🥇 The Weekly Pour

Holladay Soft Red Wheat Bottled in Bond

This is the kind of bottle that illustrates my backup rule nicely: drink the first one before deciding whether you need the second.

Holladay makes this wheated bourbon in Weston, Missouri, using a mash bill of 73% corn, 15% wheat, and 12% malted barley. It’s aged at least six years, bottled at 100 proof, and currently sells directly from the distillery for $64.99.

• Bottle: Holladay Soft Red Wheat Bottled in Bond

• Price: ~$65

• Proof: 100

• Age: 6+ years

• Nose: Brown sugar, candied fruit and warm baking spice

• Palate: Vanilla, maple sweetness and light barrel char

• Finish: Medium, sweet and easygoing, with lingering fruit and grain notes

The tasting notes above reflect recent drinker reviews rather than official distillery tasting notes; Holladay’s own materials emphasize the softer, sweeter profile created by replacing rye with soft red wheat.

✅ Bottled in Bond at 100 proof
✅ Aged at least six years
✅ Wheated mash bill for a softer contrast to rye-forward bourbon

🛒 Buy it now → $64.99 direct from Holladay Distillery Shop Holladay Soft Red Wheat

Would I buy two without tasting it first? No.

Would I understand buying another after you empty half the first bottle? Now we’re talking.

🍹The Art of Mixing

The Backup Plan

Because unlike your whiskey collection, this backup actually has a purpose.

Ingredients

• 2 oz wheated bourbon

• ¾ oz fresh lemon juice

• ½ oz maple syrup

• 2 dashes aromatic bitters

• Lemon peel

Instructions

1. Add bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup, and bitters to a shaker with ice.

2. Shake until well chilled.

3. Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.

4. Express a lemon peel over the drink and garnish.

The maple gives the bourbon a darker sweetness without burying it, while fresh lemon keeps everything bright. It’s simple enough for Friday night and good enough that somebody may ask for another.

Tip: Use real maple syrup, but measure it. Maple syrup has the same personality as the friend who says, “I’ll only stay for one drink.” Give it too much freedom and suddenly it has taken over the evening.

🍖 Flavor Pairing Picks

Pair it with:

• 🍗 Herb-roasted chicken with maple glaze — savory meat and caramelized sweetness play nicely against a wheated bourbon’s softer profile.

• 🍑 Grilled peaches with vanilla ice cream — char brings out the oak while warm fruit and vanilla echo bourbon’s sweeter side.

• 💨 Medium-bodied Connecticut Broadleaf cigar — cocoa, earth and restrained sweetness give a 100-proof bourbon enough company without trying to overpower it.

🧠 Big Lesson of the Week

Buy the backup because you loved the first bottle—not because you’re afraid there won’t be a third.

A collection should reflect your palate, your memories, and the whiskey you actually enjoy. Otherwise, sooner or later, you’re not collecting anymore.

You’re managing inventory.

🥂 Final Toast

Here’s to the bottle you opened,
the backup you bought for the right reason,
and the one you bravely left on the shelf.

May your glass stay full and your shelving remain structurally sound.

🥃 Repeatable Proverb

“Buy the second bottle because you loved the first—not because you’re afraid there won’t be a third.”

📖 The Whiskey Journal Is Here

For those of us who believe every bottle tells a story worth writing down.

I finally released The Art of the Pour Official Whiskey Tasting Journal—the same one I use to jot down:

🖋️ Tasting notes, barrel picks, and “finally cracked it open” moments
🗓️ First pours with friends
🧠 Thoughts that hit halfway through a good pour

🎁 And because I love a good surprise, I’m throwing in a free printable Whiskey Tasting Wheel—yep, the one folks keep asking about from past newsletters.

Already a subscriber? You’re first in line.
👉 Get the Journal + Free Whiskey Wheel

Now It’s Your Turn

What bottle was so good that you immediately bought a backup?

Reply and tell me the bottle—and whether that second one is still sitting unopened.

Bonus points if you’ve got three.

At that point, this is less a confession and more a support group.

Cheers to good bottles, sensible backups, and shelves that can still carry the load,

Ethan “Neat” Whitmore

P.S. Tuesday, we’re talking about the bottle you refuse to open. You bought it. You wanted it. You’ve stared at it for three years. So what exactly are you waiting for?