Greetings Free Rangers,
I know I’m not going out on limb when I say that John Steinbeck had a profound command of the language as well as a deep, prophetic grasp on the skeletal structure and nerve systems of the American experiment. My current subway reading (where the vast majority of my pleasure page-turning occurs) is The Winter of Our Discontent. A lot of American “classics” are tedious, overwrought monstrosities, crammed through the dry eye holes of high school students throughout the land. Somewhere between Hawthorne and Brontë, I genuinely believed I didn’t like to read. But there was also a time in my drinking juvenilia when I thought I didn’t like tequila, because at that point Cuervo was tequila. The language and subtle precision of Steinbeck’s notions seems completely fresh, even today, here in this brutally cynical foul year of lord two thousand and twenty-one. I was fully engrossed in the torments and schemes of the various inhabitants of New Baytown (genius re-naming of Sag Harbor), when Steinbeck looked up from his typewriter, stared directly into the cockles of my soul, and made me laugh like a crazy person. Luckily it was on the G train so nobody noticed. It was the most quiet yet direct shattering of the 4th wall that I can recall in an American Canon novel. After a quote from a peripheral character towards our hero, the text reads, “He didn’t say it meanly the way it looks in print.” It’s unobtrusive, seamless, globular. Immaculate prose.
We here at Free Range are actively re-examining our pandemic guidelines, and policies in general, and we’ll likely be opening up for in-store shopping fairly near full-time pretty soon (first week in April?), but we will maintain our limit on the number of people in the shop at one time for at least another few weeks. As always, you’ll be the first to know. Watch this space, as they say. But I can promise that we’ll be doubling down on the no cell phone policy. Any of you who have ever stood behind a register, waiting for someone holding up the line who then apologizes to person on the other end of their phone call, but makes no such pleasantry toward the lowly shopkeeper will especially understand.
I promise I didn’t plan this, but the best buying opportunity to pop up in the last couple of weeks gives me the excuse to mention Hunter S. Thompson again. Woody Creek, CO is an unincorporated town, a post office, and a census-designated place, in Pitkin County, where Hunter Thompson famously ran for Sheriff on his Freak Power platform. Twenty-something miles down the road lies the largely farm to bottle Woody Creek Distillers. As an added bonus, co-owners Pat & Mary Scanlan bear the name of the magazine that first published Thompson’s breakthrough piece, The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, though I can’t find any connection or reason for this seemingly profound coincidence. But John C. Lilly believed that coincidence was the means by which the natural Universe makes its divine will known here on Earth, and who am I to disagree?
This week’s subject of sale is Woody Creek Distillers Rye, which is being closed out for the best possible reason: they’ve change the bottle design and the local distributor is clearing out those bearing the old label, which I find to be more distinctive and befitting of the product. The new design is fine, but somewhat generically bold printed, which seems more for the purpose of eye-catching than toward any cohesive aesthetic. More importantly, the tasty juice inside the bottle(s) will not change. While their Bourbon and Wheated Bourbon are solid, it’s the Rye that most intrigued our palates when the Free Range team tasted through. Woody Creek Distillery Rye is a lovely, atypically floral example of this great American grain, in whiskey form. It’s on the softer, more vanilla side of the Rye than the more conventional spicier examples. As the mash bill consists of 100% local CO Rye, this white floral perfume of the juice must be a result of harvest and place, for those skeptical of the concept of terroir in whiskey. This whole line of questioning has me jonesing for a world-class road trip, but you don’t have to leave town to sample this exemplary whiskey. Click below to add a bottle (or three) of this delicious American Rye to your cart, along with the promo code that will score you the lowest price we will ever offer. Who’s thirsty?
(!) Click here to add a bottle w/ coupon code (!)
sale: retail:
Woody Creek Distillers Rye Whiskey $33 $47
** This week only, as supplies last! **
* No other discounts apply.*
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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