Sunday, July 12, 2009

The End of An Era

I had a back operation 11 years ago this month to repair a herniated disk. To make a long story short(er)... and without the usual Geezer "let me tell you about my operation" gory details... my co-workers showed up at my house early in my convalescence and gifted me with a liter bottle of The Glenlivet... as shown below.

I poured the last of that bottle into a Rusty Nail a short while ago and toasted those same co-workers. Repeatedly.

I know you're going to ask, Gentle Reader, so I'll just come right out and tell you: The Glenlivet is not my single-malt of choice, me being more of a Glenmorangie/Oban/Balvenie/Macallans kinda guy. The bottle you see above lasted 11 years because it was always my Emergency Single-Malt, doled out one or two drams at a time until I could get to the liquor store and restock the usual, customary, and slightly unreasonable (in price only) brand.


This is most definitely a record for "longest-lived bottle of booze" in MY personal history
and I don't expect it to be challenged, ever. Unless someone gifts me with another bottle of same... and then all bets are off.

And now it's back out to the verandah to continue enjoying the evening's coolness.

12 comments:

  1. Too cool!

    We had a "Mexican Dinner Night" onboard Wildebeest III in December '99, and we acquired a bottle of Grand Marnier to splash on top of the Magaritas Especial.

    This was in Las Palmas, Grand Canaria.

    The bottle survived the trip and three moves, it is half full and I just took a hit of it, by golly it's still smooth as silk.

    ReplyDelete
  2. While trying to decide between a small bottle of tequila or a large one at the liquor store, a friend walked up and said, "Get the big one; it's not like it will go bad." Good advice. I was recently gifted with some Glenlivet - just a small bottle - doubt it will last 11 years.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How are those two leftover Sapporos from Memorial Day holding up? Uh... never mind.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Darryl: As Lou notes... alcohol doesn't go bad (with the possible exception of an opened bottle of wine). I find liqueurs tend to hang on quite a while here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington, but I can't come CLOSE to matching you!

    Lou: Your friend speaks truth! :D

    Bob: That Sapporo is LONG gone!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've got a bottle of Kahlua sitting in the back of a cupboard that's never been cracked. A gift from someone who didn't know we can't stand the stuff.

    I probably should have re-gifted that poor bottle a long time ago.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is quite impressive! I buy The Oracle a bottle of single-malt about every 3 Christmases. He prefers the Glenmorangie as well. Plus he likes a good small-batch bourbon ala' Woodford's Reserve.

    Hmmmm...so do I.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Damn nice co-workers you had there, Buck. God bless 'em!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Daphne: Yeah... the Kahlua should probably go off to someone who appreciates it. I've been known to have a Black Russian every so often. Pretty rare, but not unknown.

    Kris: A bottle of single-malt of the preferred variety lasts about three months here. Unless it's something like that 18-year-old Macallan's I was gifted with earlier this year. I ration that stuff and TRY to limit consumption to "special occasions." Still and even, that particular bottle is three-fourths gone. "Special occasions" have been coming up rather frequently of late. :D

    Jim: My co-workers were some great people, in ALL respects.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Buck,
    I'm not saying the Grand Marnier is older than your Scotch, just shows how some bottles will have staying power.

    We have a closet full of Island Rums that are now nine years old-- We just don't drink the same as we did back then.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I toured the Oban distillery a couple of years ago. It's the smallest in Scotland. A few years ago they found 36 barrels that someone had purchased back in 1967, and had never taken delivery. That made it over 30 years in the barrel.

    They were selling it for $100 pounds a bottle at the distillery. One day three guys stopped in and heard the story. They left, then came back and bought five bottles. They figured out they could take them back to London and sell them at the Whiskey Exchange for a nice profit.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gordon: Dang. I sure would have liked to have been on that distillery tour with you! Even though 100 quid is just slightly out of my price range, LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  12. The funny thing about a distillery tour is that the process is the same for beer and whiskey. With beer they stop after the fermentation; whiskey gets run through the still twice.

    It's kind of like touring cathedrals in Europe; one distillery is pretty much like another unless you really get into details like the shape of the still. Of course, the reward at the end is the tasting, which I can't do (but I do smell it). Some places are a little more generous with the samples than others, of course.

    You could spend a month touring a couple of distilleries a day in Scotland and still miss a bunch.

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask.