Racine man’s miniature bottle collection: where the glass is never half empty

RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) – In David Sorensen’s basement, you’ll find an overwhelming sight of tiny figurines, glasses and plastic pieces.

At first glance, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell each of these little sculptures are filled with booze.

Sorensen says he has nearly 11 thousand miniature bottles collected, valued at nearly 200 thousand dollars. He says he started purchasing them when his brother had collected a smaller set back in 1985.

“I thought it looked pretty cool,” Sorensen said. “All the different bottles, the different colors, all the different flavors.”

His stash now holds alcoholic beverage containers from nearly every country. He has statuettes of just about every major celebrity you could imagine, sharing a space with nearly every animal you’d be able to find at the zoo.

“I think it looks cool and it’s one of the most unique collections I’ve ever seen,” Sorensen said.

Sorensen has been with his girlfriend, Karen Erikson, for nearly 30 years. She says when they first started dating, the collection was a lot smaller than it is today.

“The collection, like our relationship, has grown over the years,” Erickson said. “We’ve grabbed bags of them in Las Vegas carrying them back to the motel.”

Sorensen has built shelves to store the bottles throughout his home. His living room, bathroom and bedroom are decorated with the items he’s spent decades gathering.

“I sit here a lot and watch TV and during commercials I don't have to watch commercials. I can sit here and look at my bottles,” Sorensen said.

"Yeah, they have booze in them, but they’re also very creative,” Erickson said. “It’s a collection, and he’s very proud of it and he’s very good at it.”