Bourbon Is The New Wine Cooler

Many years ago, I worked in the restaurant industry in New York City. First I was a hostess, then a waitress and, finally, a bartender, the coolest job of all of the service industry gigs. So I would like to preface by saying, I  do know how a wine cooler is viewed but it was loved at one point. I have witnessed many trends in booze. For a moment, Bartles And James had a following  as did big bowls of fruity low budget hootch in the form of sex on the beacheses and bahama mamases. Eventually the cosmopolitan made its way in, combining the fruity with the more sophisticated look. Then came microbrewery beers and the more respectable martini often with snooty infusions of whatever the mixologist...all of the bartenders are locked in the closet now with the janitors, secretaries and stewardesses.... can throw in to make it taste less like gin. And, now, artisan spirits. Or as I like to think of it, God's most expensive disinfectant and husband tranquillizer. 

I have to say, I ain't a big drinker. Hell, I ain't even a little drinker.  Which has turned out to make me a very handy guinea pig with a raw untouched palate. There is no bias in my mouth. I don't drink it but I can taste discerningly. In fact, due to early years of drinking anything that had alcohol in it dumped in fruit punches, I was under the false impression that bourbons all tasted alike. Boozy. Sort of like varnish.

Before the connoisseurs get their collective panties in a bunch, I admit that I was wrong. In fact, there is indeed a huge difference in quality spirits in general. First I smell it to see if it has that odor I used to associate with old drunks.  Then I put my lips up to the glass, tip it so that touches them, then let it slide onto my tongue where I let it generate the sensations in different areas of my mouth, noting which parts are being effected, the type of tastes and after tastes. Some taste more watery. Some leave a bitterness sitting there. The good ones leave a pleasant sensation, you can sense where they came from, which grains, the storage that facilitated its aging. The lesser ones may have pretty packaging but it is like a bad looking woman with a good make up job. The make up might cover some of it, but, underneath it all, it is what it is. Usually some one didn't put the same effort in to cut costs, speed up production, decided to ride on a nice bottle and a spiffy label.

In essence, I still am not a drinker but I can appreciate the difference. My husband and his partner are adamant about maintaining that integrity in their product because they know at  the end of the trend,  the good ones will keep thriving. I will keep tasting so that I can tell the differences, identify the qualities, tell them if I think they are slipping, applaud their greatness, boast to others. LOUDLY. And make car payments with the results many years after the ones with the pretty labels riding the trend are renting out their distillery spaces to autobody repair shops.