In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty…
Genesis (the book of the Bible not the rock band)
In the beginning? Well, there are numerous legends, tall tales and far-fetched fables about who (in the beginning) created bourbon. Regardless of who started it, my beginnings in bourbon can only be traced back to six or seven years ago. Before then my bourbon cabinet was “formless and empty”. It’s only been in the past three or four years that my bourbon stash has been fruitful and multiplied.
A year ago in February I decided the best way to celebrate my birthday was to invite a few friends over and open a newly-acquired bottle of Elijah Craig 18. I don’t know where an EC18 ranks in your collection, but it was pretty near the top of mine and I couldn’t think of a better time to open it than with the best of company.
As we talked of legends, tall tales and far-fetched fables about each other, we sipped away about half of the delicious whiskey in that bottle. Before calling it a night, we might have sampled a bit of Blanton’s and a splash of Booker’s, too. The guys enjoyed and appreciated the bourbon, but everyone seemed to also enjoy just being together. Even though we didn’t have Birthday Bourbon, this birthday bourbon tasting was a great way to celebrate.
For a group of guys, however, what else would you do? Have your buddies over for birthday cake? Most normal people like cake, but are we drinking Capri Sun and playing pin-the-tail on the donkey, too? Probably not. Getting together to watch a ball game is always fun, but the focus is always on the game and not the fellowship. You could go watch a movie, but unless it’s “Die Hard 8” or “Rocky 47” or the highly-anticipated “Die Hard vs. Rocky”, then going to the movies just seems a little too date night-ish. Now you could talk me into a steakhouse and a really nice, medium-rare rib eye but, other than that, getting together to share some bourbon with friends is tough to beat. Of course, any rib eye would likely be paired with a double pour of Kentucky Spirit anyway.
After everyone left and I was putting away glasses and bottles, I thought about how well the evening went. It wasn’t just drinking good bourbon. It was a few hours of laughs and conversation with friends that I just haven’t seen as often as I should.
So, the very obvious thought occurred to me: we should do this more often. And so, we did.
The next blog post will be about the first meeting of The Bourbon Fellowship. Many of the future posts will be about our group which will, hopefully, give you some ideas on what to do in your own group.
Kevin
The Bourbon Fellowship / Bourbon Turntable 