I like the little things

God Bless John Spencer and Leo McGarry:

Good scotch sits in a charcoal barrel for 12 years, very good scotch gets smoked for 29 years, Johnnie Walker Blue is 60 year old scotch.



There are firsts in life that forever are tattooed in your memory- your first kiss, your first ballgame, your first job offer, the feeling of your car being hit in your first accident, the freezing cold temperature of the water on your feet the first time you waded into the Pacific, and for me on Thanksgiving there was another first- my first glass of Johnnie Walker Blue.

It happened innocently enough. A chat with my uncle about scotch, a casual remark about a recent whiskey tasting I attended, and then the remark from him

"What was the scotch Jed Had in West Wing?"
"Jed? You mean Josh?"
"The Chief of staff"
"Oh, Leo- um, Johnnie Walker Blue"
"Yeah, you want some?"
"YOU HAVE JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE?????"

Indeed he did, but it took a few minutes to get it as he could not find it. Yeah, a MISSING bottle of Blue. A cruise purchase from Mexico from "6-8 years ago" but it was found.

Until this moment I was pounding merlot, the bottle was presented to me- just like I remember from gazes at liquor stores and the finer bars out there- only this time it was there in front of me. He looked to pour me a glass in my wine glass- the one that most recently held a glass of wine from an $11 bottle of merlot. I was aghast.
"I need a better glass than this"
My cousin found a waterford brandy glass- worked for me.

I was given a sip- just to see if I liked it. I took a whiff- it smelled good. Like every good brown smell combined: oak, rye, vanilla bean, ale, catchers mitt, hardwood floor, leather, espresso. I would have detailed my car with that smell- I would relish my ride to work. Instead, I sat and sucked in that moment- tried to sober up the best I could to take it all in. I swirled, sniffed, gazed, pondered, raised my glass, sniffed again, closed my eyes, raised it some more, found my lips and took it in- Johnnie Walker Blue..

It was smooth, it was deep, it was sophisticated, it was different. Scotch, bourbon, whiskey usually stings the back of your throat, usually brings some pain with the pleasure- it makes you work for it. Blue did none of that. Blue seduced you with a wink of its eye. It realized you worked hard to obtain blue- why trouble you more than needed? Afterall, you were drinking blue to relax- so lets relax.

Johnnie Walker Blue is 60 year old scotch.

I put the glass back down and was given another pour, a larger one. My first glass of Blue.


That's what I remember...