Into the Weekend

You probably noticed that we got a few Bourbon casks in yesterday from David OG's most recent trip to Kentucky. I say that because even with a one bottle limit our Weller 107 barrel sold through in no time, while huge chunks of inventory were removed from the Eagle Rare and new Four Roses barrel as well. This was all happening during the Benriach firestorm, which—I will tell you again—if you haven't jumped on yet, you should. You will be kicking yourself for the next decade if you don't grab at least one of the sherry butts (the PX is sold out, but the Oloroso is still in SF). These are whiskies that taste very much in the vein of our 5th & Harrison Compass Box release of last year—the holy trinity of malt, sherry, and peat. I had guys come back for second and thirds yesterday because they well understood these whiskies are practically extinct today.

Can you believe we were sending out an email for the Port Dundas 28 year cask while all that was happening? Meanwhile, I'm prepping the Bunnahabhain 10 and Benriach 15 year for an email touting $50 single malt values next week that will go out while I'm in Kentucky. My Bourbon schedule thus far is Wild Turkey, Michter's, Four Roses, Willett, Copper & Kings, with a potential stop in Bardstown to check out a new facility. If you haven't been to Kentucky in a few years, you wouldn't recognize it today. There are so many new distilleries now it will make your head spin. It was only back in 2013 that David OG and I were rummaging through the abandoned Old Taylor distillery, while today it's been revamped and refurbished into Castle & Key. You're wondering how all these new producers will compete in an already crowded market? Don't worry about Kentucky. They're getting so much tourism for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail at this point that each of these new distilleries can probably subsist just on that business for the time being. It's really something. 

I had a long and grueling week, but I've got some fantastic Bordeaux bottles from the 1989 and 2007 vintages to run through over the weekend. We just brought in some aged selections that I'm going to write about for the On the Trail blog as soon as I'm done typing this up. I was absolutely spent last night, trying to patiently wait for my pizza, slugging down Champagne to try and numb the feedback coming out of the TV. I can't listen to people argue anymore. I was at the gym yesterday morning on the treadmill with my headphones in, reading the closed caption subtitles on the ESPN screen, and getting nauseous as Stephen A. Smith and some other angry analyst traded barbs about Kevin Durant's decision not to visit the White House. Everywhere I look these days there are people trying to win arguments or convince themselves of an alternate reality rather than actually communicate and help one another. It reminded me of an email exchange I had with some random guy years ago where he reached out to me for help with a Tequila question and ended up questioning or refuting everything I told him. It was like he only reached out to me because he wanted to fight—just for the sake of starting a debate. I feel like that's how more and more people are behaving today. 

What is information for, really? Is it there to enrich your life, or is it simply a tool by which you make yourself feel powerful or enlightened? Do people want to learn more about wine or whiskey or the various phenomena in our world because it increases the enjoyment of living, or so that they can arm themselves with the latest talking points and start an argument with someone who clearly doesn't agree with them? Look at Steve Bannon yesterday, for God's sake! The guy couldn't wait to get back to Breitbart so that he could use all of his executive experience to start fighting with people again! He doesn't actually want to improve anything or learn from his run in government. He just wants to win the point, whatever that may be. I've seen the same personalities throughout my tenure in the booze business and they're exhausting, to the point that I had to sit down last night and drink myself into a stupor. At one point I started singing the old Tom Cochrane song "Life is a Highway" to myself on the couch, changing the words into "life is an argument, I'm going to fight it all night long....."

-David Driscoll