HAVING your very own bottle of liquor at a bar may be cool, but only if you keep your eye on the clock - or rather the calendar.

Customers at most clubs here may buy bottles of alcohol, then store them if they go unfinished at the end of the night.

But how long is a bar obliged to keep an open bottle of liquor for you?

If left unclaimed beyond this period, the liquor goes down the drain. Yes, it will be thrown away.

DISPUTE

In 25-year-old writer Ryan Huang's case, his attempt to extend the storage date of his bottles of premium whisky turned into a dispute with a bar.

Mr Huang told The New Paper that he and his four friends had bought a membership package at The Fashion Bar at Clarke Quay on 28 Jul last year.

The package was purchased at a promotional price of $288 with The Cannery - part of the clutch of bars and clubs, which includes The Fashion Bar.

As part of it, each man received two bottles of premium whisky worth about $150 to $200 each.

He said: 'As there were so many bottles and we travel quite a bit for work, we negotiated with the bar manager to extend the expiry date to April this year.'

The original expiry date was August last year - one month after the purchase date.

The bottle tags the four men were given - which bore their names, the type of liquor, purchase and extended expiry dates - had this in fine print:

'I understand that this bottle will be kept for my consumption for 30 days from the above date, after which time, the management may assume that I no longer want it and may dispose of it.'

Last month, the four men found that their bottles had been disposed of by the bar.

They sent a joint e-mail to operations manager Aric Tan to find out what happened.

In the e-mail exchange, Mr Tan told the group that the liquor had expired and there was no 'manager's approval for extension'.

Mr Bernard Lim, executive vice-president of Lifebrandz (which owns The Cannery), told The New Paper that the bar manager who dealt with the four men has since left the company and that he 'can't track what he had done'.

'I can state that no respectable bar in Singapore would hold bottles for that long. We do make an exception and extend it for two weeks,' said MrLim.

As for the four unhappy customers, Mr Lim said that if they came to him with their bottle tags as proof, he would be happy to clear the matter up with them.

The New Paper spoke with more than 10 bars and clubs and most said they did not keep bottles for more than 30 days.

Mr Andrew Ing, chief operating officer of St James Power Station, told The New Paper: 'Some customers ask for an extension and we do allow for a grace period on a case-by-case basis. The longest we've extended for is a month.

'The expiry date is an industry practice and people accept it. No one has ever asked us for a long extension such as nine months.'

STORAGE PROBLEMS

For most of the bars, the expiry date is important because storage is an issue.

Attica's marketing manager Amanda Ng said this is especially so 'when an outlet is small'.

She added: 'Besides the leftover bottles, we also need to store new stock, glassware and other important amenities.'

In the case of St James, which has much bigger premises, storage is less of a problem.

The store currently keeps 7,000 bottles and can manage up to 10,000.

Six staff members run and manage it, and the club complex uses a computerised system to track the bottles.

Customers may even go online to track their bottles at St James.

But even so, when the expiry date comes up on a bottle, the staff will dispose of the alcohol.

Mr Ing said: 'Members don't usually have many issues with that.'

Peranakan Place told The New Paper that it would grant short extensions if customers request it.

Over at Thumper, the staff will telephone customers to remind them of the expiry date as it doesn't keep the bottles of liquor beyond two months.

AVOIDING COMPLAINTS

Its marketing manager Ryn Cheng said the practice kicked in two months ago because the club wanted to avoid possible customer complaints over the disposal of their bottles.

'Since we operate on a biometric system, we have their details,' she said.

The longest Thumper has kept a bottle for a customer was three months.

Even specialised whisky outlets like The Whisky Store at the Waterfront at Havelock Road keeps its customers' bottles for up to only two months.

Ms Joyce Ng, one of the managing partners, said it is also not profitable for an establishment to keep a customer's bottle for so long.

'You want the customers to keep coming back. And for us, we don't charge for storage.'

Added Mr Ing: 'What's the use if you keep a bottle for a customer for a very long time but he comes in, say, once in three weeks.

'There's no point for him to keep a bottle as it makes more sense to buy from the bar.'

An exception to the local industry practice is Japanese whisky bar Coffee Bar K at UE Square.

General manager Sylvia Yee said it was a Japanese practice to keep their customers' bottles as long as they want.

'At the moment, one customer has kept his bottle with us for about two years,' she said.

The bar does however, charge what Ms Yee calls a 'keep charge'.

She explained if a customer wanted to have a drink from his bottle, the bar charges $10 per person. The price includes the mixer, ice and service.

Currently, Coffee Bar K keeps about 200 bottles on its storage shelf located near the bar.

The IndoChine Group of restaurants and bars said its 15 outlets can each store 200 to 300 bottles.

It even gives customers 'an indefinite grace period' beyond the one-month expiry.

NO EXTENSIONS

'We usually do not have extensions longer than a month. However, we had isolated cases where we have kept bottles for up to six months for some of our regular customers,' said IndoChine Group's marketing manager Clementine Rogers.

Young clubbers like Sherilyn Tan, 20, said she hasn't even heard of the 30-day rule.

'My friends and I usually either buy single drinks or jugs. We don't buy bottles,' she said.

Experienced barflies, such as MrKCChan, however, feel that the 30-day expiry date is fair.

The 32-year-old senior manager, who has a membership with St James, usually finishes the bottle of alcohol with the help of a friend the night they buy it.

He has kept a bottle at St James before, but finished it after a few visits.

He said: 'One to two months' expiry is more than enough for drinkers.

'If everyone opens a bottle and drinks a little bit and keeps it at a club, imagine all the space it would take to store them.

'Clubs need customers to drink for them to continue operating as a club. As consumers, you don't want the clubs to fold either.'