The Whiskey to Life

TIME -- ...Or How I Learned To Appreciate Great Whiskey. Time is the most valuable and precious commodity in the universe. It is the only thing we can never get more of. Assuming one has time, they’ve got opportunity to acquire more love, money, health, wisdom, happiness, even family. Without time, nothing matters. Having all the gold or Pappy in the world is meaningless unless you’ve got time to enjoy it. You can’t take it with you, after all. Health is imperative too, but of course the idea of being healthy is to have the ability to properly enjoy our time here on Earth. Maybe as a result of being conscious of the limiting factor that is Time, modern society has evolved into an instant gratification world. Anything we want is a click away. From information to groceries, electronics to dates, on-demand cars to dog walkers, everything is a click and a short wait away. Heck, Drizly will deliver Birthday Bourbon in Los Angeles, on demand, in an hour (

Ah, Thanksgiving. It really is a tradition like no other. Family and friends coming together to break bread, share in the year’s joys, and commiserate our pains. There’s the feast, of course. The turkey, the cranberries, the green bean casserole, the yams, the stuffing, the pies… all decadent, all familiar, all comforting. Maybe your family has football on in the background. Maybe you play games or tell stories. One thing is almost definitely a certainty – there will be arguments. Sure, it could be about politics or current events. It could be about sports, or movies, or comic book villains, or even the classic dark meat vs light meat debate. Someone at the table will invariably hit a nerve, touch the proverbial third rail, or otherwise get under someone else’s skin. It’s tradition. I, for one, enjoy a good debate. It’s even better when my opposition is sharp, logical and well thought out; it just hones my counterpoint. I am the offspring of a law professor

Take pains; be perfect. -Bottom,  A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Act I Scene II William Shakespeare A Midwinter Night’s Dram. Act 6, Scene 6 Blend of Straight Rye Whiskeys Finished in French oak Port barrels Blended and bottled by High West Distilling – Park City, Utah 98.6 Proof $120 A great whiskey, like a great work of literature, can be defined by how it’s finished. Not to overly simplify, but the core engine in most whiskeys remains the same; a mashbill of corn, rye, barley, fermented to produce alcohol (“white dog” or “white lightning”), aged in charred new oak barrels - a long rest with variable temperatures to infuse the white dog with the complex flavors pulled from the wood. Each distillery turns the dials to produce their juice – more corn here, lighter char there, higher temperature fluctuations, etc… And of course, that variation is more than enough to produce specific and distinct flavors, styles, brands, and rabid fans. Sometime in t