Hey Free Rangers,
First, Michael Brooks was the most important leftist communicator of our time, and one of the funnier humans that has ever graced this particular ball of dirt. He would have been 41 today. I never met the man, and I miss him every day. His core message was this: Be kind to people, be ruthless with systems. Here is a talk he gave at Lafayette College in 2020: Michael Brooks at Lafayette. If you find his words and ideas as striking as I do, there is a lot to explore as he was co-host of Majority Report and host of the Michael Brooks Show, and most of his work and words remain available online, for the future benefit of all progressive thinkers and humankind in general.
Now, many exciting happenings are brewing here at free range along with the storm season. We eagerly await our exclusive 1792 Full Proof Bourbon barrel, both for the sweet Kentucky vine water itself (which lived another year in barrel after we tasted and selected), and for the physical barrel which will live in front of the shop and house this great looking Hollywood Juniper that currently stares longing out our front window. Cellar selections and Magical Mystery packs are in the queue, increasing in frequency and breadth through the fall and into gifting season. Stay tuned to this space.
Our most recent adopted tree is the Japanese Holly that now resides out on the (Atlantic) Ave in the barrel that once contained our delicious exclusive Roknar Cask Strength Rye by Far North Spirits. Thank dog for trees, the planting of which is amongst the worthiest of distractions from whatever I should have been doing when said tree (and/or necessary barrels and soil) arrived. After situating the new tree in its barrel, while scraping around in the bottom of the tall plastic bag for the last handfuls of its native soil that had shaken off the potted root ball, something jumped at me. It’s difficult to understand how a fully grown frog had survived the travel and the planting process without getting squished, but luckily he caught his little frog face on the side of the bag at the end of a shockingly vigorous jump, which was the only thing between little Frogger and the unforgiving asphalt gauntlet of Atlantic Ave. Having grown up on Atari 2600, witnessing him spring into active traffic would have deeply struck the core of an origin chord, and who has time for that kind of therapy. After screaming at such a pitch that I had to immediately explain myself to a couple of stunned passers by, I scrunched up the top of the bag so that air could get in, but a small fist sized frog wouldn’t fit out, and my little green new friend swung gently in the bottom on a little pad of soil. Our initial thought was to find the nearest body of water in Prospect Park to release him, but I watch too much nature content to set any critter into a local ecosystem without knowing whether or not it is native or invasive. So, I walked him to our friends down the block at One Love Animal Hospital where they took Frogger off my hands (literally), and found him an adoptive terrarium home with a local amphibian enthusiast. It was a real circle of life kinda week here on the Range. How are you?
This week’s in store tasting showcases a trio of the finest liqueurs of which we are aware. Rothman & Winter is fairly well known for their Crème de Violette, the key ingredient in an Aviation cocktail, but they also have a full line of liqueurs and they do stone fruit particularly well. This Thursday, August 15th (5-7pm), please join us for FREE tastes of Rothman & Winter Crème de Violette alongside Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur and Rothman & Winter Orchard Peach Liqueur. We’ll be showing these with club soda and/or Prosecco, for a bit of spritz fun. As usual, all Rothman & Winter in stock are available at 10% off on the website all week:
(!) Rothman & Winter Sale page (!)
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
P.S. Free Range E-mail Archive
