Aimless in a world of $18 cocktails and single batch crap

[spopepro]

I feel like in years past this could have even first appeared at the vsalon; these days the discourse has tamed a bit. But the zeitgeist the author channels is something that I have increasingly become sensitive to. Special craft whiskeys with no age statement and clearly done in 10L barrels, 800kcal triple smoothie sours with enough sugar and flavorings added to make Wonka blush, everyone having a bar programme… I love the good life but what is being packaged and sold leaves me empty and always questioning if anything is real.

https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/poo...rs-nathan-west

[Mark Kelly]

My solution is simple: I will not drink anything that has to be mixed. I've stuck with this for 30 years and it has yet to fail me.

[robin3mj]

A kid from my town has started a boutique bourbon brand. Basically they buy from generic label distillers and slap some pretty stickers on the bottle. Do I mention: We’re from New Jersey.

I don’t bother with mixed drinks often but the mezcal Negroni at Jose Andres’ steak joint in Chicago is worth the splurge, relatively speaking.

[Too Tall]

Well said. The only mixed drink I order is a Old Fashioned with one caveat. I'll chat with the bartender "do you like making Old Fashioneds?" If there is a enthusiastic response and they have good Rye it's a winner....hold the cherry.

[bigbill]

I enjoy a Maker's Mark Manhattan. Otherwise, I like decent brown liquor on the rocks. I attended a conference in Sioux Falls last week and I upgraded my flights for more legroom, free bag, and free drinks on the flight. American Airlines has Dewar's Scotch and the flight attendant was giving me two bottles at a time. Wyoming Whiskey is made about 15 minutes from our summer place. Meh, I've had better. My favorite whiskey in recent years is Quiet Man, which is a blended whiskey from Ireland. There's a gas station in Flagstaff that has an amazing selection of brown liquors and I bought Quiet Man on a whim because it's named after my all-time favorite movie. I've had a hard time finding it, but I'll buy a few bottles when I do find it.

[zetroc]

The phenomenon of private spirits labeling has made me a permanent skeptic wrt trying new brands. Today I won't try any new liquor brand if it isn't made by a storied distiller (vats in Indiana don't count.)

I used to be able to afford any bourbon I wanted before the internet hype machine got ahold of things. But you can't go home again.

[72gmc]

Well said. The only mixed drink I order is a Old Fashioned with one caveat. I'll chat with the bartender "do you like making Old Fashioneds?" If there is a enthusiastic response and they have good Rye it's a winner....hold the cherry.

On the road, my orders run about 80/20 old fashioned to Manhattan. In the years when work was taking me to Las Vegas, an old fashioned was the only thing I ordered after one unfortunate Manhattan attempt. Old fashioneds seemed to be reliably good-to-great across venues.

I don't like a cherry in an old fashioned. I don't like a maraschino cherry in anything.

[caleb]

I love the good life but what is being packaged and sold leaves me empty and always questioning if anything is real.

Last Friday I found myself without lunch and went to a knockoff Sweetgreen salad place. $13.59 was the advertised price for romaine with some chicken and a cutesie name, which somehow rang up to over 18 bucks, and a standard tip sent it over 20. The salad was meh. I picked up groceries on my way home.

It's not just smoked cocktails that can leave you wondering what the hell you just agreed to.

The article is good, and this paragraph is 2023 in a nutshell:

None of this is bad, or none of it is worse than anything else, but it’s strange, in 2023, to see idealism still shackled to consumerism. Researching this essay, I read an exhortation to consider the hardships of cane cutters when drinking cachaça. But should I? Do those people profit by my feeling a little bad as I swill down the undercompensated fruits of their labor? Should I feel bad for banana pickers, for iPhone makers in Zhengzhou, for textile workers in Bangladesh, for avocado growers murdered by gangsters in Michoacán? My humanity says yes. My reason tells me feeling isn’t action, and that this nugatory penance is a cheap way of wiping the slate before doing whatever we want, which is what everyone seems to be doing irrespective of their politics.