re: Whiskey/Bourbon/Scotch appreciation thread

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This is partly our fault. We, the bourbon drinking collective, have been doing it for years now — haughtily referencing some tiny boutique bourbon we’ve recently tried. They snobbed up the beer and we said nothing. They snobbed up pub food and we said nothing. This was inevitable, and we ushered it in.

10 years ago: “Oh you like Jim Beam? You should try Maker’s Mark.”

Five years ago: “Maker’s, huh? Check out Bulleit next time.”

Two years ago: “Bulleit’s a solid starter bourbon, but next time try for a Jefferson’s Reserve. I had it at a tasting recently. You’ll hear about it soon.”

And so on. Before I knew the impact of my own pretentiousness, I’d contributed to the mania. The marketing has amped up America, too: I spent a good portion of a recent Sunday evening staring down the overdressed packaging of the Basil Hayden’s I was working on. The metallic crest, the faux-antique lettering, the distiller’s signature wrapped over the cork — the entire bottle looks like the get-up for some sort of steam-punk bluegrass superhero.

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