If you’re reading this, you must be a bourbon lover. You might also be wondering (as do I) does the world really need another bourbon blog? I’ve continued to ask myself that very question. It may even be the reason it took me a while to get the blog going. But I looked at my own bourbon reading habits and thought that if I look at multiple blogs, facebook groups, twitter accounts that are all bourbon related, then others with the same love of bourbon would probably do the same. I hope to make the site conversational, and as such, I’ll need your comments. Certainly you should feel free to comment on individual posts and reviews, but also share content suggestions as well.
Generally, when someone asks “What are you passionate about?” I cringe. It almost seems that “passion” is an overused term. Then I started realizing that if you are thinking about, reading about, and researching a topic more than a few times a week (okay, sometimes more than a few times a day), that probably makes you passionate.
I am passionate about bourbon, fountain pens, and St. Louis Cardinals baseball. However, I hesitate to give that as an answer to the “What are you passionate about” question in job interviews. Something about being passionate about bourbon might give your next employer some slight concern. My passion usually shows up in my tendency to maybe go a little bit overboard in the depth of research and exploration of the minutiae.
There was a time that I mainly sought out single malt scotches. It was after a weekend trip where my father, brother and I went on a trip to watch eagles on Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee and drink scotch. We sampled a couple of scotches from the various different distilling regions of Scotland and I found that I was partial to the Highlands/Speyside scotches. After scotch prices started to skyrocket, I decided to do some research and discovered America’s native spirit and felt I needed to dive deeper into bourbon. This was before the world decided that bourbon was “the thing.” At that time, bottles from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection were displayed on the shelves.
This was a time when I almost didn’t buy the Pappy that was displayed because the bottle was pretty dusty and the guy on the label smoking the cigar looked a little pompous. But it was there. Available. At retail. So much for times past. But it is because of the scarcity and hype that I’ve decided to look for other bourbons that are drinkable, good values, and available. In some ways, I’m hesitant to state this because I don’t want some of my “everyday go-to” bourbons to start rising in price and become scarce.
So let me ask: why do you drink the bourbon that you do?
- Is it because you actually like the flavors you’re tasting, or is it the latest craze that someone said it is the “must have” bourbon out there right now? Do you have to chase the one that everyone’s talking about, or have you found your “go to” bourbon that you both enjoy and can readily find?
- Have you ever purchased a rare bottle on the secondary market? Have you ever (and I hope not) purchased a rare bottle at retail only to flip it?
- And what attracts you to your bourbon? Is it having the one that no one else can get or is it that you really enjoy the flavor profile, even though you found it on the bottom shelf of your favorite package store?
Okay, with all these questions posed, you, dear reader, will need to make this a conversation and respond.