Drinking Liquor for Schoolboys

First posted by Men's Journal, Dec. 2009 issue. Written by Wayne Curtis


"Right Now: Go to your liquor cabinet and select one bottle- a darker spirit, like a bourbon or an aged rum.  Pour a couple of fingers into a rocks glass. Add one ice cube. Sip.
     What do you taste? Think back to when you first watched football as a kid. You saw a mass of large men running crazily into one another. Then you gradually came to understand how each of those men had a very specific role, and how well they worked together determined the teams success.  So it is with spirits. In bourbon you're tasting corn, a bit of the barrel, charred wood. You're also tasting the passage of time. Listen to what it tells you. 
     Now you can think about mixing in something else. Good cocktails are built upon the essence of the spirit, respectfully adding other elements (bitters, fruit, mixers) that accent rather than hide. There's name for those who think the purpose of a cocktail is to mask the taste of liquor: schoolboys.
     A real cocktail- the sort that men drink- embraces the whole spirit. Now go make one."




Read more in the December issue of Men's Journal.