And when I go, I want to go to whiskey heaven...
Since it is St. Patrick’s Day this weekend, three things come to mind: 1) This is the one time a year I will not, under any circumstances, go to an Irish pub, 2) Related to the first item on the list, probably a good time to remember our old Blizzard tradition of going for Mexican food on St. Patrick’s Day and to an Irish pub for Cinco de Mayo, and 3) It’s probably a good time for a blog post about whiskey.
Whiskey is one of the things that makes life worth living. It’s very name comes from a Gaelic word meaning “water of life.” It pairs well with everything, great joy, great sadness, anger and contentment. It especially pairs well with music and there are so many great whiskey drinking songs. That’s right, I like drinking whiskey while listening to songs about drinking whiskey. To pick but a few favorites:
I used to drink all types of whiskey, but I’ve found I can’t bring myself to buy any product from Kentucky as long as Mitch McConnell continues to work to destroy our country. So all forms of bourbon and many ryes are on the “no buy” list for me these days. Sorry. But if you live in Kentucky, vote that evil fucker out and I’ll be happy to raise a glass of Kentucky bourbon again.
I’ve probably drank more Jameson than anything else. Maybe water. It’s got to be close. While I was working on Diablo 2 helping confirm that the European translations met standards, I was lucky enough to visit the Dublin distillery, and holy hell their distillery reserve is so smooth I think I could drink it from a water glass like it was water. Some of their other whiskeys are almost as smooth, the 12 year old reserve is pretty close. Redbreast whiskey is another Irish whiskey that’s super smooth, but these days as I’m a writer I try and keep the cost down and stick to the regular Jameson most the time.
I love scotch, preferably the Highland single malts. Glendronach is a favorite. The characters in Four Corners go through a bottle at the beginning of the book. I remember once I was having a miserable day, and to console myself I made myself a nice meal and bought a bottle of Glenmorangie. As I was coming out of the store with my whisky and groceries, I thought the total had to be short, and when I looked over the receipt found the store hadn’t charged me for the bottle. It was like some sort of cosmic karmic blessing, as if the twin drunken divinities of Tom Waits and Shane MacGowan knew the sort of day I was having and gifted me with a bottle.
This blog entry won’t be the first time I’ve stopped the writing in order to pour a glass. Whiskey Heaven indeed. Sláinte! Time to drink whiskey while I listen to whiskey drinking songs.
