Ask any experienced curator of biological collections to describe what he or she sees as some of the more persistent problems of the job and a familiar story will unfold. For dry collections, the environmental issues of temperature, humidity and dust will be to the fore, together with insect pests and the hazards of insecticide use in confined spaces. In the case of liquid-preserved material there will be the major problem of safety where methylated ethanol is the preservative being used, which it commonly is despite attempts to find a generally acceptable alternative, and then the perennial topic - the choice and availability of suitable containers. A discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of different types of storage containers for museum spirit collections is the purpose of this paper.