Once Upon A Time Free Rangers,
Elvis borrowed a purple Sharpie from my camera bag, and I never saw it again. The King was such a well dressed eye contact straight shooter and seemed so sincere when he swore he’d get it back to me before the shank of the evening, just needed it for the set lists. It was at some great old theater in the south. Maybe the Ryman, maybe the Fox? At the time, I was rolling through hill, vale, and late night mountain pick with my old pal, Jeff Austin, and Elvis was the tour manager with Todd Snider. I’ve been meaning to get in touch with Todd since Jeff’s memorial concert back in Colorado in 2019. It was from a luxury box with a near perfect view, tears absolutely streaming, that I realized that everybody I needed to see was backstage (especially Todd Snider, Nick Forster- one of the most genuine, generous fellows in the state, Chris Castino, and my other old pal, Ben Kaufmann) and the guy who always made sure I had rockstar access was gone. And now Todd’s dead too. There were certainly people with the ability who would have hooked me up had I thought to ask in advance, which Ben told me back at the hotel shorty before the show. And thank dog for our conversations that weekend; he is the only reason I held it together at all. I knew so many people in the building and hadn’t felt that alone since the moment I heard that Jeff had passed.
If Jeff knew I’d be in the same state as any show he intended to play, sit in, and/or consume- which he always did, even if we hadn’t driven in together (which we often did)- he’d make sure that I could get anywhere on site where he and the fellas might be, much to the chagrin of several surly venue security chiefs, and all manner of a-holes at the first Bonnaroo. But for most of ‘em, if I was cool with Jeff, I was cool with the universe. In an interview once, Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon, told me with a reverent chuckle, “On stage, Jeff is a freight train.” Hunter Thompson often said that you know who your friends are at 3 o’clock in the morning. Jeff Austin was a freight train, who would take my calls at 3 o’clock in the morning. There is no replacing that. You can’t just rewind.
Now, this week’s FREE in-store tasting is with our guy, Clarke at old school importer and distributor, Rosenthal, the source of the vast majority of Arbois we’ve ever carried. We also get our wide array of beguiling Paolo Bea wines from these fine folks. So let’s crack some of said bottles and taste together, shall we? This Thursday, December 11th (5-7pm), please join us for FREE tastes of Dorbon Cuvée des Moyne 2017, an old world long lived Chard based blend, Overnoy-Crinquand Ploussard 2022, a mouthful of a name, but a light fresh dry elegant chillable red on the palate (Pinot adjacent), and Paolo Bea Rosso de Veo 2019, a natural red of depth and style from a legendary producer in a banner vintage. As usual, all tasting day wines are (at least) 10% off in store on tasting day only!
Glad you all enjoyed the Kelley Fox tasting last week. We went deep on those purchases- because we love her delicious juice (and lovely labels) oh so much- and Derek just posted a sale page which includes 2 curated 6-packs @ 30% off! Check out the spread here:
(!) Click here for Kelley Fox ONLINE ONLY sale page here (!)
And thanks to everybody who already snagged their bottle of EH Taylor Small Batch Bourbon at $77. If you only put in for 1 bottle, there’s still one more for you under the limit, and Derek has removed a couple of sold out companion bottles from that page and added a few new additions, including Michter’s Barrel Strength Rye @ $129, Milam & Greene Unabridged Bourbon @ $79, and the highly sought after and fairly rare Old Forester Single Barrel Rye Barrel Strength at the lowest price around by a mile @ $95. For those who haven’t seen, and/or don’t know, or just forgot about it last time, pick any whiskey on the sale page below and get 1 EH Taylor Small Batch Bourbon @ $77! And the vast majority of that sale page is made up of exclusive bottles and/or lowest price in town. Great time to start checking people off of your gift list, and rewarding yourself for doing so. Happy Hunting!
**limit 2 per customer
(!) Click here for EH Taylor Sale Page (!)
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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