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Tales from the Bunghole (Not What You May Think)

“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” — Benjamin Franklin, supposedly. Except the first recorded use of the word “bacteria” occurred in 1864 and Franklin died in 1790. Previously in this series: Odd but Essential Booze TruthsSingle barrel and small batch Every barrel of whiskey is slightly different …

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Creative Capital

Odd but Essential Booze Truths

I had so much fun reading The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (TOCSC) that I could continue writing about it for months. But don’t worry, I won’t. Previously in this series: Tennessee Whiskey and the Whiskey RebellionThe book isn’t a work of fiction or nonfiction, of course, but a work of reference. In fact, in 2022 it won …

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Creative Capital

Tennessee Whiskey and the Whiskey Rebellion

Back in 1981 two songwriters, Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, were sitting in the Bluebird Café in Nashville drinking a lot of Tennessee whiskey. Dillon told Hargrove he had an idea for a song about the whiskey and so, at four a.m., they headed off to Hargrove’s place and wrote “Tennessee Whiskey,” a terrific song. …

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Creative Capital

Rise of the Fern Bar!

When I first reached legal drinking age most bars were designed to be patronized by men – that is, by people who couldn’t care less what the places looked like. As a result, most bars looked and smelled terrible. (But I quickly got used to it.) Previously in this series: The Mysteries of VodkaBut along …

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Creative Capital

The Mysteries of Vodka

Vodka “Vodka is unlike other forms of alcohol in that there is no justifiable excuse for drinking it … you might as well inject vodka into your bloodstream.” Russian writer Viktor Yerofeyev Previously in this series: The Near Classic CocktailsFor much of my drinking life I assumed that vodka-was-vodka, a neutral grain spirit that tasted …

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The Near Classic Cocktails

The CosmopolitanI’m going to be flat-out sexist because it’s true – the Cosmo was a promising new cocktail that was ruined when, in the 1990s, virtually every young woman who ever went near a bar ordered one. No doubt they heard about it from Sex and the City, where, surprise surprise, it was the house drink. …

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Classic Cocktails

The Manhattan This mixture of whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters, garnished with a maraschino cherry, is believed to be the original “cocktail” in the modern sense of the word. Invented around 1880, the Manhattan became almost instantly popular, with the Boston Herald calling it “as good as anything that can be manufactured.” Previously in this series: Shaken …

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Shaken not Stirred? Tisk Tisk

The martini (continued) Global consternation erupted when, in Dr. No, James Bond ordered a Smirnoff vodka martini. He then compounded this felony by instructing that it be “shaken, not stirred.” Previously in this series: How Does a Cocktail Achieve “Classic” Status?Here is the original text of this unfortunate incident: [In the prior scene Bond ultimately wins …

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How Does a Cocktail Achieve “Classic” Status?

The Daiquiri The Daiquiri is one of those terrific drinks that happened by accident. Around the turn of the twentieth century an American engineer named Cox, working in the small town of Daiquiri in Puerto Rico, was entertaining some American visitors. He was about to whip up some drinks but realized he was out of …

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Speaking of Drinks…

Tiki two As I mentioned, I came of legal drinking age at a time when you could only get tiki drinks at Chinese restaurants. The pioneering Don The Beachcomber was no more, and as far as I knew all the Trader Vic’s had closed, except for a few locations abroad. Previously in this series: The …

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The Tiki Phenomenon

I had the great misfortune to reach legal drinking age just as the tiki drink phenomenon was turning into a parody of itself. Formerly terrific drinks such as the Zombie, the Scorpion and the Rum Runner were now available only in Chinese restaurants and they all tasted exactly alike, being made by then out of …

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Strange but True Tales from the Bottle

TOCSC pays for itself I had barely dipped my toe into The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (TOCSC) when the book paid for itself – which is saying something – because I found the guy I want to be in my next life. I was still early in the B’s (the TOCSC entries are alphabetical) when I came …

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Creative Capital

The Oxford Companion — a Drinker’s Bible

“What whiskey won’t cure there is no cure for.” — Irish proverb Maybe you’ve noticed those annoying people who conduct all their video calls in front of a carefully curated bookcase full of impossibly erudite volumes that no one – including them – ever actually reads. What you won’t find on those carefully curated bookcases …

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Face the Facts About a “Multipolar” World

“It is simply a myth that the world is anywhere close to multipolar.” — Jo Inge Bekkevold, Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies Previously in this series: Europe’s Shrinking RelevanceWhy is it that so many commentators insist that we live in a multipolar world? Part of it is simply ideological blindness. The university community, like it …

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Europe’s Shrinking Relevance

“As a result of the accelerating decline in Europe’s global influence and reach … the overrepresentation of Europeans in global institutions is the greatest flaw in the international architecture.”Walter Russell Mead Previously in this series: Failing to Get Rich Before They Get too Old“The EU is a construct perfectly adept at standardizing phone chargers … but …

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Failing to Get Rich Before They Get Old

As we saw last week, President Xi understood (as observers in the West did not) that China’s growth model was exhausted and that the only known strategy for continued growth was to transition to a Western-style consumer-led economy. That had been the strategy used by other now-wealthy Asian societies. But Xi knew more than that …

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Creative Capital

The New World Order

“The vaunted China model … has entered its death throes.” — Michael Schuman in “The Atlantic” Following the end of World War II we lived in a bipolar world, with the US and USSR vying for domination. When the Soviet Union collapsed around 1990, we entered a unipolar world with the US as global hegemon. But then, …

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VA Conclusion

A Committee of Inquiry was investigating Angie’s attempted suicide at VA, and now the chair and vice chair of the Committee had been in Rich’s office for an hour and a half. They finally left, looking grim, and Rich had remained in his office alone for a long time. Then he summoned Meg and me …

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Medical Emergency

Meg and I had been enjoying some serious quality time on the couch in VA’s front room when Meg suddenly froze – she’d heard something. Previously in this series Disaster StrikesI froze, too, and we both listened. I said, “It sounds like a girl crying,” and as far as I was concerned she could cry …

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Disaster Strikes

As I’ve mentioned, from my first day at VA I’d been flirting vigorously with Meg Petronius, albeit to no avail. What I didn’t know was that Meg had recently ended a troubled, long-term relationship and the last thing she wanted was to fall into another one. Previously in this series: The Resignation But as the …

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The Resignation

Meg had asked me to tell the girls they could get out of their beds, but I’d told her I couldn’t, “Because I don’t work here anymore.” Previously in this series: End of the Line“What the hell are you talking about?” she said. Still sitting under the pine tree, I said, “I quit. I’ll turn …

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End of the Line

I’d just broken up a fight between Earl and Eddie – I was seriously disappointed in Earl and had sent him to the front room to serve a time-out until bedtime. Earl had been a good Head Boy, he had a good job at a sawmill and he was on his way to being a …

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