Use-by dates

Apart from a glass of red wine a day -strictly medicinal purposes you understand - I don't imbibe very often but I like to keep a few bottles of drink in case someone calls.
I was given a bottle of Croft's original sherry at Christmas and was astonished to read that, after opening, it has to be stored in a fridge and used within 3 weeks. I have had a bottle of Harvey's Bristol cream, which carries no such storage instructions, opened in a cupboard for several years now. I'm sure I've had a nip or two long after three weeks'opening and am still here to tell the tale.
What are the rules about storing drink?

 

I've done the same J by the H, and I'm still alive. Kept an opened bottle of sherry for at least 12 months and drank it, tasted fine.

 

I seem to remember horrors from such tales as the Dorothy L Sayers ones, where someone dies from taking old sherry, or port, or something, and they go into great detail (of which I have but the haziest recollection, sorry!) about how this could have killed the bloke. It turns out, of course, that he was poisoned deliberately, of course, but the point remains that there is some danger - pity I can't remember the details!! But since reading that (a few decades ago :eek: ) I haven't had old sherry....... probably paranoid but still....

 

I would have thought the alcohol would act as a preservative. I have bottles of vodka, gin, rum and scotch (for guests) that are years old - and they appear to be fine.

 

sherry is only fortified wine and it doesnt keep Thats why its sometimes best to refuse it if you think it has been on a shelf in a restaurant or pub for a long time,,once the bottle has been opened and is exposed to the air well it just starts to disintigrate..
spirits are safe to store ..whisky..rum etc...
At home try to finish a bottle of any of the drier sherries within a few days, and keep the wine refrigerated and stoppered after opening. Amontillados, Olorosos and Cream sherries will last much longer whether chilled or otherwise; usually a couple of months or so.

 

IIIve jusht taken yur advishe about the dry shhherry Wildflower. THanksh...

 

:D :D I have got a bottle i keep in the fridge just for cooking with,,