Drink

      About the Drinker (umm, Author)

A singer, logistics/operations geek...  who loves a good drink.

I've hiked the highlands with a bottle in my backpack; Organized educational whisky and rum events in restaurants and bars and boats; Made colonial cocktails with a red-hot loggerhead; And used my sword to open bottles of champagne for a wedding toast, a college degree completed, and a Happy New Year!

It began with scotch, oh and it began well. I co-founded a group devoted to singing close harmony over a table stocked with single malt (The idea was to help us taste more bottles on a budget, but singing kept happpening, so we embraced it). I sail, so rum began to happen! Then one day, someone gave me a glass of gin that wasn't the horrible stuff my father used to drink.

I used to play a game at a friend's tasting parties: Matching the right person to the right whisky.  A newer game is asking people for adjectives and stories before choosing a drink for them (and I love finding bartenders who will play this game on me!)

      Whisk(e)y

Scotch. Yes, first it was scotch

I love whisky! The Scots don't understand whisky because of some genetic quirk, but because they drink, smell, and think about it a lot. Also because they live in the terrain and weather that make it.  So... I drink, smell, think, and sing about it a lot. As for terrain and weather, I grew up in New England and now live in Seattle, both areas with Scott-ish weather!

You don't need to be wealthy to enjoy good whisky - if you learn a little, share with friends, and don't fall into snobbery, then you can do very well for normal money.

Making notes at a distillery

A taste of PC5 before Bruichladdich ever bottled it

I organized a private tasting of PC5-PC8

Nosing at Aberlour

      Sabers and Champagne

Dramatic and tasty. Just apply a sword, some bravado, and proper technique!

I learned how to open champagne bottles with a sword from a mad Scotsman, several years ago at his hogmanay party.
I have studied the art since and can perform it at your gathering, or teach you how to do it yourself. Have sword will travel!
(if I teach you, I am empowered to induct you into our ranks with a certificate and/or society pin)

Step.1: Addressing the Bottle (Photo by Cheryl Richards)

Step.2: Choosing your field (Photo by Cheryl Richards)

Step.3: Popping your cork (Photo by Cheryl Richards)

      Rum

Ah, Rum! So much history, and so many nicknames, in one bottle!

It's the drink that Paul Revere, Ernest Hemingway, and every pirate you've ever read about can agree on.
If you sail, care about history, or like lime then you should meet rum. Would you like me to introduce you?

After the first Black Tot Day on board the Liberty Clipper

I like to keep a couple rums on hand

The local blacksmith forge invited me to make flip for their open house

      Stories

At the Kendall Tavern's Hogmanay party

Drinking is much more interesting when someone has a good story

Good drink, bad drink. I'd give you the full story here, but really, they're best heard live, with a glass nearby.

• Timing Device   (How a beer can help the anchor hold your boat in place)
• Squeaky's Hitch   (Sailing tips from a strange man who invited us on his boat for a breakfast beer)
• Does Sailing Make Whisky Taste Better   (An ongoing debate)
• My Favorite Dramming Glass   (Realizing how much the vessel does for the drink)
• Three Categories of Gin   (A useful, but very subjective shorthand)
• Single Barrel Whisky? Then All Bets Are Off   (Sometimes you have NO idea what that bottle will taste like)
• Inventing Drinks   (Different inspirations, seasons, and experiments behind the "Race Point Rickey", "Baha Mango", "Rum Hoda", "Sub-Tropical Itch"...)
• Driving Whisky Across Country   (some things you don't load into the shipping pod)

Just breathing in the atmosphere (photo by C. Lavely)