Hey Free Rangers,
Pretty sure the guy who just huffed out of here is on his way home to write a negative review, so I’ll just formulate my response here, and then adjust the next draft according to his own for the interwebs. We shall see. So, it’s 5pm on the dot on the first Friday of this absurd jungle heatwave, and an enthusiastic fella roughly my vintage- half my build- trots in, turns half a circle to make eye contact and asks me my name. I reply and he says, “I’m Neal,” extending a sweaty hand, which I shake though I’m not happy about it. “You helped me last time, I think, it was a….” He sees something on the wall and steps over to point at our long time staple $27 Sancerre Rosé near dead center of the main wall. “It was this,” he attests with the certainty of a televangelist who’s screwing his secretary on the side, “but it was $20 before!” As the wall in question is arranged by color and price, and that Sancerre had been there for many months (years?), I am 100% certain that he is wrong about the location and the wine, but the words waterfall was too dense to break through with any new information, like trying to debate Ben Shapiro. He had just come from a long boozy brunch he says, but he’s absolutely sure of his demonstrably wrong “facts” and continues, “No, I was here like two weeks ago, like a month ago, it was different.” So I calmly tell him: This is the same wine that has been in that spot for a very long time, I promise you this. I really don’t know what else to say about it.
Failing to get my point across about the geography, and hoping to engage in some actual conversation about what he likes to drink, I posited, “I genuinely don’t know where to go with what you’re giving me, but I’d love to talk about what’s inside the bottles with you. That’s kinda my jam.” While “my jam” is not something I would say unironically, I definitely heard it leave my lips, but my self loathing was cut short when looking back from the wall to a now decidedly sour face that said, “Ok, wow,” before turning for the door. Apparently, failing to alter reality to suit whatever is going on in his bitchy, tipsy little brain was a bridge too far. … Who needs a drink? … Looks like his online review just landed. Hmmm, that’s a fairly unusual name, Neal Kawesch, let’s see what was going on with you (please tell me your last name is pronounced ‘kvetch’). This should be interesting… Spoiler alter: Neal came back in- after an even boozier dinner- before we even had a chance to fully read, let alone respond to his review. Stay tuned.
Now, big thanks to everybody who jumped in our pre-sale for the 2 new exclusive Nashville Barrel Co whiskeys! For those who need a refresher, or want the whole story, check in with our last note here: Nashville Barrel Co Exclusives E-mail!
Apologies that the 3-pack sold out so quickly, but plenty of Nashville Barrel Co FR 5yr Tennessee Bourbon (non Lincoln County process- no charcoal) and the just arrived Nashville Barrel Co FR 34yr Cask Strength (151°) Canadian Whiskey still available, at the lowest price(s) that will ever be offered! Click the link below to check out our exclusive Nashville Barrel Co offer:
(!) Click here for Nashville Barrel Co x Free Range Sale (!)
And this week’s FREE in-store tasting welcomes to the shop MS Walker, from whom we procure the absolutely delicious (and biodynamically farmed) Alphonse Mellot La Moussiere Sancerre Blanc 2023. We’ll also be showing the Brusset Gigondas Tradition Le Grand Montmirail 2022, a deep and dark southern Rhone red, and the best Irish Cream (also super clean and only 3 ingredients), Coole Swan. So please join us this Thursday, June, 26th (5-7pm), for FREE tastes of these biodynamic French wines and a pinch of the Irish Cream. See you there!
And last but not least, of course the Summer Sale of Sales rolls on!
So many crazy deals on wine and whiskey, along with the occasional agave distillate, from $17 to $499 per bottle.
Check it out here:
(!) Click here for Sale of Sales (!)
Happy hunting,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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