"out of the box" (or, keep it in there!)

I always have kept em in their box throughout the life of the bottle even when I knew nothing about the possible adverse effects of light. It's just a personal aesthetic.

@RikS, you are right to avoid direct sunlight on your whisky, but you don't need to keep the bottles in boxes or tubes.

Sure, some of the boxes are pretty. I keep a few of the boxes and tubes around, but I throw out most of them.

My “cabinet” is a corner-unit cupboard. No light gets in, so most of the boxes/tubes get tossed.

If the bottle came in a box, I keep it in the box until I open it. Or until one of my daughters needs a tube to make a bank or some other little craft project.

If the bottle didn't come in a box, it sits there naked until I open it, and I don't worry a thing about. (They're out of direct sunlight.)

Once I open a bottle, the box is trash.

I keep empty boxes in storage tote and bottles in a dark basement cabinet. A bottle without the box eats up less space in the cabinet. Also, if I want to gift or trade a bottle, I can give the reciever both the bottle and box/tube. If the bottle is opened the box gets tossed or used for holding samples intended for a swap.

I like to keep them in a box because sometimes I take them to a friend's place to share. It allows me to have peace of mind when I transport them in their box, even when I use a backpack or tote-bag to transport the lot. I keep them in their boxes because I don't live in a situation where I need to "display" them for others to see. I guess if I did, I might not keep them in their boxes, but I would certainly keep the boxes.

I toss the box/tube after I open a bottle. I use a bottle tote bag from my wine shop when I transport over to a friend's place. I keep all bottles in a special cabinet, away from light/heat. When I use to work in an art museum, we had customized crates and boxes for artwork. When I left the museum for another job, the wood shop gave me a lovely cabinet to store my bottles (I was known to have tasty after hours beverages in my office and happy to share after a long workweek).

Well, it looks like I buck the trend. As I only have a small number (compared to many of you) open at one time, I like to keep my bottles inside their tube or box. Whisky drinking is still an occasion for me, and I like to appreciate the bottle and it's packaging as a whole. My open bottles are not on display - so aesthetic appearance doesn't really matter to me. As said, t's also nice to transport the bottle in it's original packaging to friends homes for tastings - especially if they haven't had it before. I guess it's a bit like a Japanese tea ceremony where it's not just about drinking the product.

I keep them in the tubes/boxes. I enjoy the ceremony of pulling out the box, especially when sharing with friends.

Keep it in the box/tube. It helps to protect against light and avoids or dampens what some on this sight have described as the "dreaded bottle klink"...klink...klink...klink...

I have all of my open bottles in these two drawers, some boxed, some unboxed.

All my unopened bottles are in this closet in my office. My wife mentions quite regularly that this is not the intended purpose of this closet.

@BlueNote that's an interesting set of drawers. I don't recall seeing any like that before - are they purpose built or designed for some other purpose? It's certainly a nice way to store them safely.

@Hewie They were purpose built as part of this cabinet. The only problem is that the cabinet maker made the partitions to fit the bottles I had at the time. So now I have to unbox or untube some of them to fit.

@BlueNote that's a nice design. I like the granite? "mini bar" in the center - aesthetically pleasing and functional without being a monstrosity in the room. Very nice.

@Hewie Thanks, it is very functional. My beloved and very tolerant wife is less than pleased that I have hogged the whole unit. I have several bottles in the two lower side cupboards where she keeps her extensive cookbook collection.

@BlueNote - Very impressive storage and display cabinets! Re the OP - I am a keeper in the box guy. I don't really have space to 'display' and have been known to be a tad on the clumsy side - a box has spared my blushes more than once . . . Quite like the look of a lot of the boxes and like @Hewie enjoy the ceremony of opening and pulling out the malt.

In an ideal world I'd have them out and proudly on display but you work with what you've got!

@BlueNote, Man cannot live by cook books alone. I think she is very lucky to have a husband who allows her to display cook books....in his whisky cabinet...let me know how that one goes over

Love the partitioned drawers, they are awesome!

A shelf (or two, or three, or four, or five, or six...) of bottles on a display shelf out of the box is definitely "whisk(e)y porn"

I keep mine in the box/tube when packed away for storage. If on display I'd like to display them out of the bottle. I'll cross that bridge if I make a display cabinet.

I do both. In my cabinet, I store them out of the container. The ones that are not in my cabinet are stored in their containers.