Often Valentine’s Day creeps up on us without us even realizing it.  We find ourselves needing to get a gift for a person, a romantic, wonderful gift.  And oftentimes this leads us to search through our heads frantically for a gift.  That in turn lets us easily buy a gift that we ourselves would treasure, perhaps more so than your paramour.

Holding out a box with my best wrapping job (red paper with pink hearts and a large red bow) I tell her that I love her more than life itself.  She kisses me and takes the box.  In turn, she hands me an even larger box.  I am chagrined to see that her wrapping job makes me look like mine is a stroke victim rehabilitation project.  I kiss her in turn.

Unwrapping the box, I find a beautiful set of red satin sheets.  “I love them,” I exclaim.  In my head, I think to myself that satin sheets look great but in fact they are cold when you get in to them plus they are incredibly slippery.  Blankets, cats, and people shoot off the bed like greased pigs on Farm Day.

She unwraps the box in turn and gives me a slightly halting “Oh dearest, this is great” as she holds up the bottle of Ron Abuelo, 12 Años  rum that I gave her. Not just any rum, this, but aged and matured rum that would make a pirate stop and admire the day and think deep thoughts, before  falling into a pleasant reverie.

Well, I guess that each of us tended to think a little bit at least of what WE would like.  But, the spirit of the day carried us through.  We put the sheets on the bed, had some lovely aged rum, a little bit more rum, and things carried on and we decided to see how we liked the sheets.  Bringing the bottle into the room, we got comfortable.  As things tend to go, one thing led to another.  Valentine’s Day was working it’s magic and things were ramping up when-just at the moment-my leg slipped on the damn satin sheets, the rest of me followed and I wrenched my knee, sprained my ankle and lay on the floor moaning in pain.  The fates were kind though – I landed next to the bottle.  I don’t remember much else although I am told that satin sheets drenched in Ron Abuelo, 12 Años rum burn surprisingly well.

So, for this Valentine’s Day, I urge you, ladies, to think of your man and his joints.  Don’t purchase him a set of satin sheets (unless you are secretly after his life insurance) but instead buy him a bottle of Ron Abuelo Rum.

Consider this handy chart:

She might be a keeper.

Ø  Ron Abuelo 7 Años – a rich blend of rums, aged for seven years in small oak barrels.  Brilliant amber, medium-bodied with hints of fruity caramel, tea leaf and notes of toasted coconut and spice. SRP: $22.99 / 750ml – Appropriate for a Valentine’s Day Gift if it is early in the relationship, your significant other is generally cheap, or has not developed his rum palate yet.

Ø  Ron Abuelo, 12 Años – richer, darker and more full-bodied.  Its character, softness and complexity will delight the most sophisticated and challenging palate.  SRP: $32.99 / 750ml – Appropriate for a long term relationship, if you have been slighting him lately, and he is decent to you.

I LOVE this woman.

Ø  Ron Abuelo Centuria – a limited edition bottling created to celebrate the 100-Year anniversary of Varela Hermanos and their long tradition of producing the finest aged rums in Panama.  To produce this rare spirit, the Varela family opened up private stocks from their highly-guarded “Reserva de la Familia” and utilized a selection of rums aged up to 30 years.  SRP: $130 / 750ml – Appropriate for THE love of your life, if you are buttering him up for some good jewelry, you have been together years and years, or if you have recently been cheating on him.

Damn this is good rum....Hey, has she been cheating on me?

Ron Abuelo is produced entirely from estate-grown sugar cane in Panama by the family-owned Varela Hermanos.  The company dates back to 1908 when Don José Varela established the first sugar mill in the recently-formed Republic of Panama, the San Isidro Sugar Mill.  Almost 30 years later, Varela began the distillation of alcohol from their sugar cane crop in 1936.  Currently run by the third generation, Varela Hermanos has approximately 1000 hectares of land devoted exclusively to the cultivation of sugar cane.

Definitely helpful in facing the devil.

Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi’ tippeny, we fear nae evil;
Wi’ usquabae, we’ll face the devil!–

Robert Burns in “Tam o ‘Shanter”

No Haggis for us tonight, steak sandwiches, but definitely a dram of Scotch. I am thinking Glenlivet 18 year single malt.

The above paragraph is fictional.  However, to skip ahead a bit on the review, Elijah Craig 18 Year is the bourbon you would get in a bar that had pictures of dogs playing poker, if you ordered their best bourbon.

Our bottle was Barrel 2765, Dated 3-1-91.

Elvis would drink this.

Color:  A deep orange-amber.  A very inviting color.

Nose:  Hints of vanilla, a lot of maple syrup, and a tiny amount of perhaps citrus – it is elusive. Also a bit of what I can best describe as airplane glue – ketones.

Taste:  Some pepper, caramel and oak.  It has a bit of jasmine to it.  Yes, jasmine I said.  A little bit of water brings out more of the sweetness, it is fairly dry if you do not open it up with water.  Some bite at first, overall it is smooth and relaxed.  One of us also got coconut.

Finish:  A medium to long finish, I get tobacco on the finish.   LL Mike got a long, smooth finish.  The Palate got looooong spice.

Overall, this is a very good bourbon.  Well worth having in your cabinet.  It is a single barrel and based on reviews I have seen and other impressions people have told me about I think that there is probably a fair variance between batches.  That being said, I have not heard much bad about it at all.  I would definitely pick up a bottle if you can.  You should find bottles in the $40 to $50 dollar range.  If you can find it under $40.00, consider that a bargain.

As I opened with – This is not the best bourbon I have ever had, but it is certainly up there.  In my minds eye, this bourbon is the one a bar that has dogs playing poker would have as their best bourbon in the house.

Final notes:

This is billed as the oldest single barrel bourbon in the world.  According to the distillers, over half the barrel is lost to the “Angel’s Share” during the aging process.

It is bottled at 90 Proof and produced by Heaven Hill Distillers, Bardstown, Kentucky.

The Bourbon is named for the Rev. Elijah Craig, the man who discovered the method of making true Kentucky Bourbon when he stored his wares in barrels that had been charred in a fire.  Rev. Elijah Craig also built Kentucky’s first fulling mill, its first paper mill, its first reopwalk, and the first lumber and gristmill at Georgetown.

My house if I had $100,000,000 and a deathwish.

The complete top 5 was:
1. Bud Light
2. Coors Light
3. Budweiser
4. Miller Light
5. Natural Light

It seems that Coors Light (when you include Puerto Rico sales) increased….

Oh, thank the Lord for Peter Griffin. What was I thinking? Who cares and who drinks these beers anyway? I know that you can drink a billion of them without getting drunk or full, but water works the same way, and costs even less (Water, currently under $10.00 per case). Granted, I have consumed my fair share at times (see my related post – “Bud Light – My Involuntary Review”) but really, if you have to drink beer, drink good beer. I mostly drink hard liquor, brown thank you, and wine, but will occasionally drink the Sierra Nevada of the moment or a Bass Ale, or a Guinness. Anyway, to end my post I re-post one of my very favorite posters ever. I laugh every time I see it.

Damn lightweight weasel.

Vodka must be lower calorie than I thought.

At the same time the story about why the title has changed a number of times.  Sometimes the title is too long, sometimes too controversial, sometimes they just want to appeal to a broader audience.  Here is a great quote by Chelsea herself – Fast forward a month, and spin had set in. The real reason for the name change, Handler now insists, is deference to the diverse tastes of potential viewers:  ”Not everybody likes vodka, unbeknownst to me,” is the star’s newest explanation.

I love that.  Maybe instead of dropping vodka entirely, just change it to “booze.”  That has broad appeal.  Everyone likes some type of booze except Mormons and such, and I doubt they are a big target market for a show that NBC describes her as a”sexually dynamic advanced drinker,” who is jailed for a DUI in the first episode.

There is not too much to rant about here except this is emblamatic of how society can’t seem to wrap itself around the idea that it is okay to mention that people drink alcohol.  Nothing wrong with that.  Just don’t be a Chelsea.  (Although she does have a certain obvious appeal).

It turns out that I live in California, the most effed up, brink of disaster, no-one-can-be-stupider, state – but in terms of alcohol, not bad. Bars open at 6:00 a.m., close at 2:00 a.m. (not sure why we need that four hours of closure). Liquor taxes are high, but not the highest. You can buy liquor all over the place. Grocery stores, liquor stores, drug stores – the state does not have a monopoly on it. (We used to have the “Fair Trade” laws that kept liquor as a coveted monopoly, kind of like taxi medallions, but they got rid of those a long time ago, back before we became a nanny state). So, pretty enlightened.

Turns out, also, that Washington State is trying to be dumber than California, but the forces of good are fighting back. However, the laws of unintended consequences show how this very battle may have some serious casualties – small, independent Washington Distillers. What can you do to help? First, read the article in Pegu Blog. Then, as Doug says, patronize the small distillers in Washington HEAVILY during the next six months. (Remember, liquor does not go bad) And, call your state Representative if you live in Washington, or if you just want to pretend you live in Washington. DO IT!

Who drank till he ruined his kidney.

It shriveled and shrank,

As he sat there and drank,

But he had a good time at it, didn’t he?

Oh yeah!!!

Taking a sip and a sniff it came to me – not overwhelming, mild, it is not overly alcoholic tasting. I think that like most Irish whiskeys it is fairly sweet. The most definite flavor profile was that it was like a very good chocolate to me – there was the mouthfeel on the back of the tongue and a lingering taste of a fine chocolate. It is definitely a dessert or appetizer whiskey. Very mild, it would go tremendously for dessert with a cheese plate. Probably the most genuine chocolate flavor I have ever gotten from a liquor. Not the fake chocolate taste, but instead a true taste like a really good piece of chocolate – the same finish. Not the crappy aimed at kids chocolate, but the really good stuff. Try this, buy this. Perhaps my favorite Irish Whiskey so far.

-The Palate-