Where’s the Whiskey?
I was walking through the local grocery store today when I realized something: there is not a huge selection of bourbons, whiskeys, or scotches. There are some of the ones you would expect like Wild Turkey (thankfully), Jim Beam, Jack Daniel’s, and Dewar’s but beyond those big name brands there isn’t much selection. It’s actually a very puny selection.
But wine? The next aisle over has both sides dedicated to wine. My drink of choice gets half of one side of the aisle. That’s pathetic.
I am not writing this because I am a whiskey connoisseur because, quite frankly, due to my geographic location how could I be? Trader Joe’s has an acceptable wine selection. Sam’s Club and Costco have decent wine selections. But if you are looking for something stronger you are just out of luck.
In this environment how can I even become whiskey/bourbon/scotch literate? I just don’t see a reasonably easy way to reach a comfortable level of whiskey literacy. And I don’t think that’s because there are no choices. Just take a quick perusal of Wikipedia’s page that lists whiskey. There are hundreds of distillers on this page and, although I don’t know for sure, I would bet that there are many more less popular choices as well.
So what is the deal? Do Americans not like stiff drinks? That can’t be the case. Hell, this country’s founders were some of the biggest proponents of alcohol and that really hasn’t changed judging by the overflow of college- and post-college-aged revelers at the local bars here in the Orange County area.
So what am I suppose to do? Frankly, I don’t know the answer right now but when I do find out a way to get access to a larger variety of whiskeys I will have some fun.
Until that day comes I will have to sustain myself on Wild Turkey and cigars, which isn’t that bad of a consolation prize after all.
