This Whiskey Collector Owns More Than 500 Bottles. His Top 5 Might Surprise You

It’s hard to believe that someone with a staggering collection of over 500 whiskeys had never sipped a fine dram until a decade ago, but that’s the surprising truth behind Dave Silbey’s story. Since first learning to savor and enjoy whiskey, Silbey, a 65-year-old hotel management worker, has filled his home bar in Valparaiso, IN, with a selection that rivals any high-end whiskey bar.

“I was pretty much a wine drinker. So about 10 years ago, my wife said, ‘Hey, I’ve been drinking wine with you forever. I want you to learn to have one cocktail that you would enjoy,’” Silbey says. His parents drank Manhattans, so he decided to try one. “From there, I started to taste some whiskeys on their own, but up until then, I never had a drop of brown liquor in my life.”

Going from never having enjoyed whiskey to a collection like that takes a lot of dedication. “When I dive into something, I tend to go all in,” Silbey says. “It started to become fun with friends to see what we could find as we went out hunting.”…

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