The Unexpected Reconnection: Lockdowns and Liquor Stores Then came 2020. COVID shut the world down, but whiskey never stopped flowing. Liquor stores remained open, bartenders became YouTube influencers, and suddenly, we all found ourselves making cocktails at home. At first, whiskey was just another ingredient—mixed, masked, blended into creations that took the edge off of being stuck inside. But over time, something changed. The mixers got lighter, the whiskey became the star, and curiosity took over. One night, sitting on the deck with my wife, I decided to put this curiosity to the test. I picked up three bottles—Bulleit, Woodford Reserve Malt, and Four Roses Small Batch—and asked the question: Do these actually taste different?
The answer, of course, was yes. And just like that, whiskey had me.
From Two Bottles to a 150-Bottle Collection What started as a casual curiosity quickly turned into an obsession. I read everything I could find on whiskey—history, production, tasting techniques, the science behind the spirit. I went from keeping a couple of bottles around to a collection of over 150—enough to pour a 2-ounce dram every night for five years and still not run out. (Yes, I did the math.)
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