We are doing whiskey wrong.
Between barrel picks and limited editions, festivals and social media —
We lost our way...
You ever have one of those friends that's the loveable idiot of your group?
I have.
In some groups I am.
Every once in a great while they say something profound. On accident, unaware of how deep, meaningful, or amazing the little thought that escaped their mouth was?
Jack Sparrow was the loveable idiot of his group. Never sure if what he was saying was real or delusional, maddening or ridiculous. But in the first movie he says something that was so deep and perfect that it still dazzles me all these years later.
"Wherever we want to go, we go.
That's what a ship is you know.
It's not just a keel and hull and a deck and sails.
That's what a ship needs.
But what a ship is...
What the Black Pearl really is...
Is Freedom."
My barrel pick experiences will live with me the rest of my life. The groups I was with, the staff I interacted with, the distillery tour, the picking, the final product. Then the anticipation, marketing it, and only then hearing what other people think.
I love the chance to try something new or special or different. A special release, a first run, the next experiment, or happy accident.
Fèis Ìle is on my bucket list, so is New Orleans Bourbon Festival, Whiskey Fest, Spirit of Speyside, and so many others. To meet those behind the whiskey, to sit with likeminded and sip on some of the most amazing whiskies in the world.
I have many friends that are WhiskeyTubers, follow hundreds of whiskey folk on the Gram, and have so many whiskey themed groups I am a part of I call it WhiskeyBook now.
Whiskey needs these things. Needs to find new ways to engage with an audience hungry for interaction, depth, new things, and ways to feel involved with the thing they love so much. A special experience, a unique bottle, a peek behind the curtain...
But that isn't what whiskey IS.
Whiskey brings people together. From across the room, across the aisle, across borders, across the world.
Do we think that it is because of a special limited release? Double Gold in the latest competition? Non Chill Filtering? Small Batch, Handcrafted marketing BULLSHIT?!?!
So what is whiskey then?
It is equal parts science and voodoo and sometimes just blind luck.
Whiskey is magic, mystery, and myth.
The smell of my grandparents recliners, the memory of a fresh crack or the last drops clinging to the bottle as you finish it...but most importantly with whom.
Memories forged over driveways, backyard barbeques, tailgates, and worn bar tops. Complete strangers transformed to life long friends over a glass shared.
Not only the subjective feelings but the histories of our countries and people forged by whiskey. Taxation, rebellions, the growth of agriculture into business and business into industry.
Started out of necessity and survival it is now an art form.
The work of slaves, immigrants, and the poor, now funded by venture capital, Fortune 500 companies, and multi national organizations.
A magical elixir to ease the mind, a sacred water of remembrance, a healing salve for body and soul.
Bringing the mighty to their knees...lifting the broken to their feet.
Burning to the tongue...warming to the heart.
Courage and comfort, celebration and mourning, ritual and rite of passage.
How?
The same way a ship is freedom, the vessel that we tie our memories, our hopes, and our stories to.
Whiskey is story...our story, your story, and my story.
Told around campfires, bars, barrels, and anywhere else we gather to share a dram.
Stories of heartache and triumph, of exploration and history, and of bonds forged or memories long faded into myth.
But always whiskey.
For too long we have lost the stories and so lost all that was bound to them. That is why I write.
Some will be personal, others history, some fiction, and some passed down so long ago no one knows.
So grab a seat...and a dram. Let us remember the stories of our past and our love that is this Water of Life...
And let me tell you a whiskey.