Bourbon and Sense

Talking Sense

Bourbon Festival

I had the good fortune last Friday to attend the Bourbon Festival in New Orleans. I only went to the seminars that were the daytime activities; they had grand tastings and dinners in the evenings. But even during the seminars, samples were provided of various brands along with information and discussion of that brand’s philosophy. By the end of each hour-long seminar, the audience was in giggles and barely paying attention to the speaker. But who cared? One seminar was a panel of four women, three of whom were the master distillers for their brand – the other woman was a brand ambassador for Wild Turkey. The panel gave a lot of insight into their craft and helped the audience appreciate their whiskey.

Another seminar was given by Master Mixologist Bob “G” Gleason and brand ambassador for Jim Beam brands. His wit and fact-filled seminar gave me new appreciation for the Jim Beam spirits. One small tidbit was his assertion that younger bourbons have more caramel taste while older bourbons are more vanillin: due to the time it takes for the flavors to come out of the barrels. Mr. Gleason showed us a couple of ways to make an old Fashion with Master Mixologist’s flourishes. Although the recipe is simple, it was the muddling of the orange in one case, or the order of mixing in the other that created different tasting cocktails. Every audience member got to make his/her own!

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Collateral Damage

I read an Associated Press article by John Leicester titled, Without Russia, science going solo on world’s woes and dreams. It made me realize that there are serious impacts from war beyond no Russian caviar and Standard Vodka. It’s hard to get past the destruction of a society and subjugation of a people to think there might be other impacts. But this article gives the story of one. Examples abound: climate scientists depend on data from Russian Artic sources to monitor our climate; Europe Space Agency planned Martian rover depends on Russian heater units to survive the bitter cold, French experimental fusion power reactor depends on Russian components to operate. A lot of cooperation and funding both ways has been linking the world to Russia and Russia to the world. On television this morning, the news showed Russians handing over the keys of the International Space Station to an American astronaut (it was symbolic as the Russians prepared to return home). All this is food for thought: why would Putin risk all this wonderful cooperation and progress?