There was a time and a place in my life when I actually prided myself on having a well-stocked liquor cabinet. There always seemed to be friends dropping by, and I had a nice big place to myself (was residing in a condo owned by my parents), so it seemed like a cool thing to do.
In fact, when I first moved out of the condo into my first apartment in The Annex (spacious two-bedroom digs that I shared with a friend from school), I bought two microwave carts from IKEA: once of which was actually used to hold a microwave, while the other became a dedicated bar cart.
Now I am esconced, and have been for some time, here in The Hovel. The "bar cart" is still here, but hasn't been opened since (I think) Bill Clinton was still in the White House -- until tonight:
Here's what I found in the liquor cabinet:
- Unopened bottles:
- Glenfiddich single malt scotch whisky (750 mL) -- I remember when I bought this; it was shortly after I turned 30; the bottle came with a 'bonus' Glenfiddich bar towel, which has long since disappeared
- Absolut vodka (375 mL) -- the blue lettering on the label seems a bit faded, but otherwise things look perfectly intact
- Cuervo Expecial tequila (375 mL) -- I think this was a 30th birthday present from my coworkers, most of whom did not witness the time a couple years previously that I got very very damaged on tequila during a Friday night bar outing with other coworkers from the same company, otherwise they would probably have picked something else (I hope)
- Kahlua "Licor de Cafe" (200 mL) -- unknown vintage
- Open bottles, partially consumed:
- Bacardi amber rum (750 mL) -- level only about an inch down from the top; if I had to take a guess, I probably bought this around Xmas to mix with eggnog
- Martini extra dry vermouth (500 mL) -- level two inches down from the top; I used to sometimes bring my own cocktail shaker with me to social gatherings and mix martinis for everyone there
- Bottles with a few dregs in them (one inch or less left in the bottle):
- Campari (750 mL) -- probably a late-90s nostalgic throwback to my late-80s/early-90s evil Yuppie wannabe phase, when I drank a lot of the stuff
- Cinzano vermouth (1 L) -- no doubt a leftover from the aforementioned martini-girl phase
- Ricardo coconut rum (750 mL) -- was probably making pina coladas
- O'Darby Irish Cream (375 mL) -- for hot chocolate or coffee
- Unopened wine bottles:
- Codorniu Classico Brut sparkling white wine (750 mL) -- this possibly could have been a pre-New Year's Eve purchase, but I can't for the life of me think when
- Inniskillin Chardonnay (1993) (750 mL) -- a gift maybe?
- Valpollicella -- the lack of other information on the label would lead me to believe that this was made by a friend