It’s the last thing most of this industry wants to admit, but alcohol, in no conceivable form, is a health food, regardless of its other properties and earthly delights. Knowing this, I do occasionally get questioned about the moral implications of my life choices, and I have considered thoughts on the matter that boil down to a fairly libertarian perspective. Consenting adults should be allowed to do just about anything they want to themselves, and as one such adult who wittingly partakes in delicious intoxicants, I have no ethical issue selling them to others of legal age. This is how I explained it to the evangelical Uber drive in whose vehicle I found myself one night not long ago. When he pressed the issue, I explained that while I didn’t plan to shutter the source of my livelihood based on his concerns, I also wouldn’t condescend to tell him- a total stranger- how to live the rest of his life. He didn’t make the connection, or appreciate the irony, and when he continued on about how many lives have been destroyed by alcohol, I replied that many more have been killed in the name of some god or another than by any legal beverage, and he should probably end the sermon and drive me home, or just drop me off at the next corner.
So, I recently left town for the first time in all reasonable memory, just for a couple of nights, upstate to visit a friend. It was glorious to dig in the dirt, plant some spring sprouts, and hang out with an old friend, and a sweet rescue dog. At a local bar that night she tells me, “that guy is a lawyer for the NRA, we call him NRA Dave.” She immediately realized her mistake, and pretended he had already left, when I suggested that I should go buy him a beer and ask him how he feels about his life decisions, and if selling his soul was all he had hoped it would be. I swore not to make a scene at her regular local spot, but there he was, sitting alone at the center of the bar, Oakleys around his neck, connected by neoprene. Here’s the thing: If you’re going to spend your life as the tyranny of evil men, at least make sure to do so for the keys to the kingdom. But if despicable work isn’t making you billions, and you’re just doing it for the billable hours, people should sit down next to you every day and questions your life decisions. At least then he’d have somebody to talk to.
As most of you know, we at Free Range are of the belief that Kings County Distillery is making the most classic Kentucky style Bourbon that one can find here in Brooklyn (that’s actually distilled in New York- not just down proofed here from purchased Kentucky juice- looking at you, Widow Jane 10yr). We have carried many Kings Co.’s whiskeys for many years, and have just recently selected and purchased our eighth single barrel, a 5 year, 15 gallon barrel proof wheated Bourbon. The juice from this 5 ½ year 15 gallon barrel shows the color and depth I would expect from a 10-14 year full size barrel (53-55 gallons), and it is impressively red for a batch that saw no secondary barrel finish (sherry, port, Madeira cask). Clocking in at just over 130 proof, this is one of the highest proof bottles ever to leave that fine distillery, and while higher proof does not mean inherently better, this is one of our favorite all-time Kings Co. barrels that also happens to be super high proof. This is special stuff, and there isn’t very much of it, given the size of the barrel, and proof at bottling. The 34 bottles we have to sell just hit the shelf at $139, but click below to claim one for $109, with the automatic coupon code!
