[MM-MALTS-L] Re: Source for Sample Bottles

[Tim]

Ethan,

I've been buying mine over the years online through 2 sources, but as an 
obsessive-compulsive malt nutcase, I find I end up cleaning all new 
bottles before using them anyway (even if precleaned) so lately I've 
been using SKS in upstate NY:

http://www.sks-bottle.com/

These bottles come right off the production line and are visibly "dirty" 
but clean up nicely and are the cheapest I've found to date.

I used to buy precleaned bottles from US Plastic Corp but as noted 
above, I found myself cleaning them before using anyway so I haven't 
bought from them in a couple of years and they may not be the cheapest 
US based source currently.

http://www.usplastic.com/

I found that for 60 ml sample bottles the french squares work best 
because the openings are larger and much easier to clean and reuse.  
They also fit really well on old wooden spice racks that are easy to 
find in thrift shops and maximize volume to space ratios in the 
drammery.  For 120 and 240 ml bottles I stick to the Boston rounds since 
these openings are larger and easier to get bottle brushes in and they 
are more aesthetically pleasing, particularly when backlit.  ;-)  I also 
always get either style with the polycone caps which seal well and have 
never interacted badly with my samples, but I do make sure they are 
stored upright so no direct whisky to cap contact occurs.

Haven't found a good online source for bottle brushes yet and grab them 
by the handful when I see them in kitchen supply shops locally.

As for vatting, I've confirmed over the years that I have a unique 
talent of being able to consistently create a final product that is 
substantively less than the sum of its parts, so I've given up dabbling 
in this area...  For transporting I normally use Nalgene and then 
rebottle into glass when I get home.

Happy S'tampling!   Tim
> On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 5:29 AM, Ethan Prater <eprater at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> Where can I find/purchase glass sample bottles for whisky? In some cases I
> want to vat/blend my own in smaller bottles than 750ml, other times
> transport small amounts.
>
> Is there a particularly good source, ideally one with non-punitive shipping
> costs to the USA?
>