Hey Free Rangers,
Free Range Wine & Spirits has existed entirely in spaces with terrible karma. It started by acquiring the lease and the liquor license (but not the deep debt and profound bad faith in a small corner of the industry) from a tiny failing wine shop at 355 Atlantic Ave. From the very first, I had plans to move to a bigger space within a year or two (within 400 feet for very specific regulatory reasons). Shortly thereafter I was able to strike a deal with a woman named Miriam who owned 329 Atlantic Ave and seemed like the kind of person with whom my great aunt Nini would have played Rummikub. She had multiple similar bids for the space, and agreed to meet with me in midtown Manhattan, where she worked as an accountant. I explained my situation, and my plan, and expressed my interest in a long term lease as I planned to really build something here, and invest in the neighborhood. Very shortly thereafter we had an agreement in principle, though her lawyer who decided that I “was up to something” and a well known dirtbag in the local real estate market tried very hard to blow it up. Sorry, Al, but you know it’s true. You don’t care about the neighborhood, just about flipping and increasing the price of as many units as possible.
After Miriam and I had agreed to all terms, and even the lawyer was mostly on board, Al was still actively courting other parties, and he succeeded in getting me outdid by not an insignificant amount. Miriam took a chance on me and my weird little vision of a neighborhood wine shop over the Russian nail salon that had offered more money. Re: karma, 329 Atlantic Ave had previously been inhabited by a day spa whose owner *allegedly* embezzled $100K from the PTA of a local public school and lied about where the money had gone, which dragged Miriam into court to prove that she hadn’t received the money in rent. So, she had every reason to be wary of another new small business owner, over a small chain operation with a bit of history, but she wasn’t. Miriam saw that I was sincere and that I was in this 100% with damned near 100% of my net worth. And here we are almost a decade later, having paid the rent *mostly* on time ever since.
Miriam beat daunting odds and pancreatic cancer a couple of years back. Sadly, round two didn’t go as well, and we’ve received word that she passed earlier this week. She was cooler to me than many people to whom I’m blood related, and many many a glass has been raised to her in this space (some with her). We will continue to toast to her memory, and her faith in us that made this little shop possible, for many moons to come. Cheers, Miriam! Thanks for allowing us the space to exist in this wonderful little neighborhood, and for being one of our all-time greatest cheerleaders. Her family has asked that in lieu of flowers anyone who wishes to honor Miriam’s memory please do so by adopting a pet or giving to the ASPCA, which you can do here, if you like (needless to say, we did): ASPCA Memorial Giving
Back to the day’s business, already in progress…. At least for one more week, masks in the shop are optional for those who are vaccinated (which is 90%+ of you). And the in-store tasting program rolls on, after a minor train wreck last week. Apologies to those who were expecting to taste Journeyman whiskeys last week, but you’re welcome to those who got an impromptu set of personal selections by me instead. More on that at some point.
This week’s FREE tasting is with our friend Chris from MS Walker. We carry so many different kinds of lovely sipables from that outfit that we weren’t entirely sure what to show, and this is what we came up with: West Cork Distillers has long been one of our favorite producers of whiskey in the world, quality per dollar, and their flagship 8 year Single Malt at under forty bucks remains one the best deals out there. We recently tasted 2 new expressionsfinished in beer casks, which are super tasty and we just picked up, so we’re starting there.
Tomorrow, Thursday, 8/19, 4-6pm we’re pouring you FREE tastes of West Cork Distllers IPA Cask Finish and West Cork Distllers Stout Cask Finishalongside the wholly unique West Cork Distillers Bog Oak from their Glengarriff series. And since many of you don’t drink whiskey during the summer, we’re also showing Maris Rosé Cans to add something light and fresh to the mix.
** 10% off all of the above, Thursday only! **
Fare thee well,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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