Paul Clarke’s Latest Column for Proof

Everybody’s favorite spirits critic puts it nicely at the NYT:

[I'm neither] disingenuously oblivious [n]or unappreciative of alcohol’s chemical side. When I sit at a local bar and sip a Last Word or a Toronto Cocktail, I enjoy the slow suffusion of warmth and the language-loosening properties of drink that enable a preternaturally shy person like me to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. But to end the observation there, myopically viewing alcohol’s effect as the be-all and end-all reason for drinking, or to see an inevitable progression from one or two drinks to nine or ten, misses the point of a good drink as entirely as those who down quarts of frozen margaritas during an epic Vegas bender.

I drink because I like it, and for reasons that usually place “effect” a step or three down the list. I love the spicy sweetness of whiskey and I’m a total sucker for the herbal ballet of a good vermouth; when tasting well-made spirits and cocktails composed from them, I can admire the skill of a talented distiller, along with that of a bartender who understands what they have. While plenty of spirits and cocktails are so artlessly made as to make me consider early retirement, there are great new things being done by bartenders and distillers, making this an exciting time to be a drinker.

posted: 09 February 5
under: Open Folio