The Whiskey Brotherhood

Ardbeg Uigeadail DetailThere are certain things in life that you either “get” or “don’t get”.  If you get it, everyone else who gets it gets you.  But if you don’t get it, you don’t get the people who do get it.  Get it?

What I’m alluding to here is the brotherhood between whiskey drinkers.  Although this seems like a silly concept, it does in fact exist.  Assuming you are a whiskey drinker (and that you do “get it”), consider your experiences at the bar, at the liquor store, or at a party.  Oftentimes, the beer and vodka imbibers, or the dreaded bottled water drinkers, outnumber the rest of us.  When you’re not keen on the aforementioned options, you can feel a bit alone.  But alas – once in a while you’ll find a like-minded individual who prefers the old aqua vitae over everything else.

Over the weekend, I was on a business trip to San Antonio.  After a long day of meetings, my boss and I ended up at the hotel bar with a bunch of other people in town for the same conference.  I hear people shouting to the bartender “Coors Light!”, “Gin & Tonic!”, “Chardonnay!”  I feel a little out of place, but I order the Macallan 12 Year Old.  About twenty minutes pass, and a man walks up next to me to get another drink.  The bartender asks, “Another Macallan?”  The man nods, and receives his drink a minute later.  I tell him that I too am drinking the Macallan, and there is an immediate connection established between us.  We say “Cheers!”, clink our glasses together, and talk for a few minutes.  I’m not saying I made a lifelong friend, but we had a momentary bond that nobody else in that bar could claim.

Have you ever experienced a whiskey brotherhood?

 

-Ryan

6 comments

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  1. I’m experiencing the whiskey brotherhood right now. I’ve been loving the whiskey blogosphere. I’ve started blogging myself and have been listed by “the other Ryan” at Value Whiskey Reviews and Jason’s Scotch Whiskey Reviews. Ryan and I have been having interesting philosophical conversations about the universe and about more important matters, particularly scotch and bourbon on e-mail and in comments following each others reviews. It’s awesome. I enjoyed my whiskey obsession alone or with only a few friends for years. I feel that I have suddenly come upon a larger community and I appreciate it.

    1. It seems that you know exactly what I’m talking about, Josh. And you’ve been added to my blogroll as well. 😉

      -Ryan

      1. Awesome! I appreciate it very much. I’m definitely feeling the brotherhood!

  2. Totally know where you’re coming from! Although I have enjoyed whisk(e)y for many many years, the past few years have seen my interests escalate dramatically. The fact that three of my neighbors and most of my close friends are whisk(e)y lovers as well has definitely aided in this escalation.

    And as Josh said, the blog and twitter universe have taken things to a whole new level. There are so many great writers out there, and the fact that we can all interact and share experiences is just so wonderful.

    Cheers!
    G-LO

      • Ryan on March 24, 2012 at 10:14 pm
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      You should consider yourself very lucky that your neighbors and close friends are whiskey lovers. My wife is into whiskey, but most of my friends are around my age and don’t understand the allure of whiskey. Even my co-workers who are in the appropriate “demographic” are mostly beer and wine drinkers.

      Yes, all of the social tools on the old Interwebs make learning, appreciating, and interacting a whole lot easier.

      Thanks for the comment!

      -Ryan

  3. Hi,

    Totaly understand this! Love whisky as a woman is even a bit harder in this world, you get some weird looks for people… But my husband is also innto whisky and we have some friends also and our neighbour that love it. We now go together to festivals, tastings ect. My husband and I blog also, and social media has taken this to a whole other level. We love it, but our surrounding (family/collegeaus) dont get it, and just see that you have some strong liquer at home, and dont get tasting, that is not getting drunk, but tasting and smelling, making it an experience. They just do not get it, that it is so nice to be around people who also love whisky, and be able to talk about it. We love to travel and visit distilleries ect, people look weird and say, thats not a holliday… for you maybe, for us absolutly! 🙂 Know it when walking into a bar and staring at the bottles looking for something nice, and trying to enjoy…. It seems that it is a community in a community, people who understand each other, just love that. How more we do with this, the deeper we get pulled in, you keep on learning and always new expierences….

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