Another Old Friend is Discovered and Made Vogue
First it was Guinness, the drink of cranky old Irishmen in stinky pubs, that became trendy several years back. In the early 80's we drank it at Muldoon's Saloon, The Shannon View Inn and Murphy's Pub...... the only places that served the 'nectar of the gods' on tap. In the late 90's somewhere between Dublin and Madison Avenue a marketing executive realized they could make big bucks if the old stout was accepted by hip young bar hoppers. Guinness is served everywhere these days. Not a bad thing I suppose but this cranky old guy liked it when it wasn't. Guinness was special, an occasional treat to be enjoyed with old men in dark Irish Pubs, preferably with fish & chips.
The same thing happened to the 1950's classic martini. I love a good vodka martini but don't claim to be an old pro. Martinis were before-my-time. I do recall having to teach a young bartender how to make a vodka martini 'my way' many years ago. I like it a certain way. Just a twirl of the vermouth, dump the excess and shake it very hard so I get ice chips in that sexy glass. Martini bars started popping up everywhere in the 90's and the next thing you know everyone thought they were suave like 007.
Now my favorite hard liquor of all time has suddenly become vogue. Bourbon on-the-rocks has been my basic drink of choice for many years. The beauty is you don't need a recipe to mix one. When I want to soothe my soul with a libation and beer won't do.... because liquor is quicker..... nothing takes the chill off a crappy mood better than the warm breath of bourbon. Like Guinness, bourbon was also considered and 'old man's' drink, unsophisticated and harsh. Most bourbons don't have the smoothness of a fine Scotch and many people mix it with Coke or some other cutter. Give me three fingers of Knob Creek, George Dickel's or Bookers (my fav) and I'm good to go. Of course I also like the less expensive and always popular Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. Don't put the bottle away just yet. The first one always goes fast.
Not long ago I read an online article written by a young lady (gasp) explaining how bourbon has become chic, the drink of choice for many 20 and 30-somethings in trendy bars and night clubs. She was giving a lesson in bourbon etiquette. BOURBON ETIQUETTE!? What the fuck is that? The only time those words should be in the same sentence is when some snobby Scotch drinking blueblood laments that (spoken like Thurston Howell III) "People who drink bourbon have no etiquette." I'm okay with that because it's mostly true. The problem with anything old suddenly becoming fashionable is the beautiful people have to make rules on how to enjoy it. You must know the rules and terminolgy to prove you're with the in-crowd. Old whiskey drinkers like myself have been doing just fine without rules ........ thankyouverymuch. Yuppie assholes!
Instead of just ordering, drinking and enjoying a beverage the trendy crowd must 'break it down', talk about the process, the aging and learn about the beverage as if knowing the nuances of sour mash makes you a connoisseur of Whiskey. Why does everything have to be turned into a wine-like experience? Just drink it already! We know where Kentucky and Tennessee are, the corn, the oak barrels and realize the rednecks invented it. Isn't that enough? That knowledge doesn't make me hip. Please don't turn the Appalacians into Napa Valley with bus tours and souvenirs. Whiskey is not supposed to be pretentious. Haven't these people seen Deliverance? Let the hillbillies concentrate on making the good stuff......not Whiskey tourism. I'm guessing by the time I heard about this hip new trend it was too late.
I chose to ignore this trend, quietly enjoy my bourbon pretending all was right in the world and the yuppies had not invaded our drinking space. Today a friend's blog mentioned whiskey causing a horrible flashback. The article rushed through my mind, the trend, the yuppies, the new rules and the violation. It set me off. I need a drink. Jack Daniels is in the process of building a huge addition to their distillery. They'll need it, apparently a lot of hipster Euros, Japanese and Americans have jumped on the bourbon bandwagon. It might get crowded up here but I'm not getting off. My front row seat has been reserved for decades. Sooner or later they'll find some new-old-thing to 'discover', our bourbon will become passe (like martinis are becoming) and us cranky old jerks will be drinking alone again.
Cheers.
The same thing happened to the 1950's classic martini. I love a good vodka martini but don't claim to be an old pro. Martinis were before-my-time. I do recall having to teach a young bartender how to make a vodka martini 'my way' many years ago. I like it a certain way. Just a twirl of the vermouth, dump the excess and shake it very hard so I get ice chips in that sexy glass. Martini bars started popping up everywhere in the 90's and the next thing you know everyone thought they were suave like 007.
Now my favorite hard liquor of all time has suddenly become vogue. Bourbon on-the-rocks has been my basic drink of choice for many years. The beauty is you don't need a recipe to mix one. When I want to soothe my soul with a libation and beer won't do.... because liquor is quicker..... nothing takes the chill off a crappy mood better than the warm breath of bourbon. Like Guinness, bourbon was also considered and 'old man's' drink, unsophisticated and harsh. Most bourbons don't have the smoothness of a fine Scotch and many people mix it with Coke or some other cutter. Give me three fingers of Knob Creek, George Dickel's or Bookers (my fav) and I'm good to go. Of course I also like the less expensive and always popular Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. Don't put the bottle away just yet. The first one always goes fast.
Not long ago I read an online article written by a young lady (gasp) explaining how bourbon has become chic, the drink of choice for many 20 and 30-somethings in trendy bars and night clubs. She was giving a lesson in bourbon etiquette. BOURBON ETIQUETTE!? What the fuck is that? The only time those words should be in the same sentence is when some snobby Scotch drinking blueblood laments that (spoken like Thurston Howell III) "People who drink bourbon have no etiquette." I'm okay with that because it's mostly true. The problem with anything old suddenly becoming fashionable is the beautiful people have to make rules on how to enjoy it. You must know the rules and terminolgy to prove you're with the in-crowd. Old whiskey drinkers like myself have been doing just fine without rules ........ thankyouverymuch. Yuppie assholes!
Instead of just ordering, drinking and enjoying a beverage the trendy crowd must 'break it down', talk about the process, the aging and learn about the beverage as if knowing the nuances of sour mash makes you a connoisseur of Whiskey. Why does everything have to be turned into a wine-like experience? Just drink it already! We know where Kentucky and Tennessee are, the corn, the oak barrels and realize the rednecks invented it. Isn't that enough? That knowledge doesn't make me hip. Please don't turn the Appalacians into Napa Valley with bus tours and souvenirs. Whiskey is not supposed to be pretentious. Haven't these people seen Deliverance? Let the hillbillies concentrate on making the good stuff......not Whiskey tourism. I'm guessing by the time I heard about this hip new trend it was too late.
I chose to ignore this trend, quietly enjoy my bourbon pretending all was right in the world and the yuppies had not invaded our drinking space. Today a friend's blog mentioned whiskey causing a horrible flashback. The article rushed through my mind, the trend, the yuppies, the new rules and the violation. It set me off. I need a drink. Jack Daniels is in the process of building a huge addition to their distillery. They'll need it, apparently a lot of hipster Euros, Japanese and Americans have jumped on the bourbon bandwagon. It might get crowded up here but I'm not getting off. My front row seat has been reserved for decades. Sooner or later they'll find some new-old-thing to 'discover', our bourbon will become passe (like martinis are becoming) and us cranky old jerks will be drinking alone again.
Cheers.