Unlike with food, your primary concern doesn't need to be the drink "going bad," although that can happen with wine and some liqueurs. (If you're drinking wine that has turned, you'll probably know right away it will taste like vinegar.) The greater issue is the deterioration of taste and quality. No one wants to be treated to a pricey bottle of booze, only for its quality to decline before you even get to try it.
"Home storage of distilled spirits is a constant competition between convenience and preservation," said Allen Katz, co-founder of New York Distilling Company . Even if you don't have a wine cellar, there are some basic guidelines for how to (and how not to) store alcohol at home. Here's how to best preserve your bottles.
Think of your bottles as vampires: Keep them away from heat and sunlight
This is the golden rule for storing virtually all kinds of alcohol. "To keep spirits, liqueurs and wines at their most pristine," Katz told INSIDER, "you want to store them in a place that maintains a reasonably cool temperature (or simply avoid warm temps like near a radiator or against a wall that gets a lot of sunlight) and avoids natural light."
Researchers from Bacardi presented some detailed information on the effects of light and heat on booze at an event in 2015 . Their in-house tests suggested that heat can change the way a spirit tastes, by breaking down its organic molecules, and that light can fade the color of a spirit. Again, this kind of deterioration won't make you sick (well, unless you drink to excess, obviously), but it's also not the kind of "aging" that distillers and vintners work so carefully to create.
Opened bottles are the most at risk of deterioration
Unopened spirits and wine can theoretically keep for years if stored properly. But unless you're having a party, or you only buy nippers, chances are you're going to be storing some opened bottles for a while. Spirits like vodka don't exactly go bad once they're opened, but they will deteriorate in quality over time.
At the same event, the Bacardi researchers also presented some of their findings on the effects of oxidation the effect of air on alcohol. Since exposure to air can kill some of the flavors of wine and spirits, often leaving behind the more severe, acidic ones to overpower the taste, you'll want to take some precautions to counteract this. Obviously, use the stoppers or caps that come with the bottles that's a no-brainer. Buy smaller quantities when possible, especially if it's a liqueur or something else you won't use very much of at a time. And try not to leave the last couple of ounces by their lonesome the less liquid in a bottle, the faster it will oxidize.
Even unopened wine is at risk of oxidation. Keep your wine on its side, like in a wine rack, to make sure the cork doesn't dry out, shrink, and let air in.
Some opened bottles need to be refrigerated
"Once opened, aromatized wines like vermouths and Amaro should be refrigerated to retard oxidation," said Katz.
If you like a martini every now and then, make sure you're not leaving your opened vermouth out alongside your gin or vodka. Fortified wines will deteriorate in flavor, making for a pretty stale drink. Keep it tightly sealed in the fridge and don't expect it to last as long as a straight spirit.
