Resolutions: Five ultra-realistic goals you can reasonably achieve in 2022
From supporting local distillers and distillers of color to stopping yourself from treating your whiskey like expensive sneakers, I promise these resolutions will be easy to keep.
I am not that good at making resolutions ahead of a new calendar year. I am even worse at keeping my promise to make good on said resolutions. If you’re reading this and you are good at these things, please share your wisdom with your boy.
Trust, I know the things I can and should improve on for the benefit of my life. Here are several:
Get more sleep … but, I have a three-month-old child. Le sigh.
Lose some weight … I’ve been husky my whole life, and now I have a three-month-old child? Le sigh.
Read more books … I’ve got 22 books on my “to be read” list, but between my day job (which requires a lot of reading), lack of sleep and the aforementioned three-month-old child? Le sigh.
Save more money … do you know how much daycare costs in Los Angeles? Le sigh.
Drink more water … kinda goes against the purpose of this newsletter, right? (Kidding)
Point is, our dedication to our lifestyles is more determinant of the success of our resolutions than anything else on the board. More sleep probably ain’t happening for me in 2022. Neither is the books or the money. We’ll see about the rest.
So let’s take on these resolutions with mindfulness towards marginal improvement. All of the goals I’ll discuss here are focused on things I already do. I imagine if you’re an enthusiast of brown liquor like me, these things are already in your wheelhouse. All I’m asking you to do is to consider expanding your horizons just a bit.
ONE: Buy more spirits, wine and beer made by distillers of color.
This is a good example of buying something you’d already buy, but deviating from your usual standard fare. Easy examples of this are:
Buying Uncle Nearest 1884 ($48) instead of George Dickel or Heaven’s Door when you’re in the mood for Tennessee whiskey.
Buying Brough Brothers Small Batch ($28) instead of Evan Williams Small Batch or Elijah Craig Small Batch for bourbon. (If you were paying attention to the season and series finale of Insecure, you saw this bottle on Issa’s bar.)
McBride Sisters instead of Chandon ($25) or Veuve Cliquot for sparkling brut rose.
Loft & Bear ($38) versus Tito’s or Ketel One for vodka.
Ten To One White Rum ($28) compared to Wray and Nephew, and Ten To One Dark Rum ($44) compared to Appleton Estate.
I promise you, you will buy these staple spirits sometime in the next year. As you’ll notice by the prices listed, none of these options will break your bank. And you’ll be giving a (non-celebrity owned) distiller of color a chance in an industry that’s been highly exploitative to non-whites.
TWO: Try and buy local.
When my wife and I were living in South Los Angeles, we regularly frequented El Segundo — a quiet neighborhood in LA with chill restaurants, laid-back bars and a beach that’s a quick walk away. However, on one date night in particular, my wife found a fun speakeasy sipping room at R6 Distillery, a bustling local bottler of fine whiskeys, bourbons, ryes and vodkas. My favorite was their R6 Blue Corn Bourbon ($50) which blew me away with the sweet vanilla notes and chocolatey finish.
The thing about R6 is I felt like it was my own little secret within LA. I stumbled across it aimlessly, and yet I yearned for the opportunity to take my buddies in there so they could be similarly impressed. Plus, you could see your dollars immediately being put to work in the distillery behind the tasting room.
For every R6 in California, there’s Hochatown in Oklahoma, Treaty Oak in Texas, Old Fourth in Georgia and Hillrock in New York. People are making good juice all across the country and beyond, and the good stuff can be made in places outside of Kentucky. Give them a shot.
THREE: Splurge.
I usually don’t spend more than $50-$60 on a bottle, mostly because I’m still not THAT sophisticated as a sipper, in my opinion. And yet, the more I’ve become an enthusiast, the more aware I am of the opinion’s reviews on bottles I might not normally try. In 2022, I’m committing to breaking the $100 mark on a few bottles. Why? Well, I did get another promotion at the day gig (celebrate your boy please!) and I want to know if the hype is deserved for certain bottles.
For example, I think Whistlepig is one of the best distillers in the world, and all of their juice is extra amazing. However, their stuff ain’t cheap. Their 12 year Old World Select Rye goes for about $130, but there are few things I’ve sipped that are better and you know what? I deserve.
Part of my encouragement in splurging is to buy something that you’d love to have for celebrating yourself and others. If you can, splurge for the holidays and pour something that isn’t the usual and watch your family members look at you in awe for what you pulled out. There will always be plenty of Jameson, Hennessy and Bulleit at the gathering…pull out some Bib and Tucker, Saint Cloud or Shibui 10 Year and enjoy the hell out of it.
FOUR: Make more cocktails (and experiment)
I talked about our house cocktail, a riff on an Oaxacan Old Fashioned that I slightly bungled due to lack of ingredients to end up with something deliciously our own. It’s become a constant request when people swing by the crib and it’s something I’ve become proud of.
It was hard for me to get into cocktail making at first because I’d look at some of the recipes and they’d feel daunting AF. Egg whites? Chartreuse? Creme de cacao? What are these ingredients?
I’m working on a future post on how to effectively build your bar, but the best way I’ve stumbled into it is finding cocktails that meet two criteria — 1) is delicious, and 2) not complicated to make.
Here’s three that you can make quickly with just a few ingredients:
Paper Plane: 1 oz. of bourbon, 1 oz. of amaro, 1 oz. of Campari, 1 oz. of lemon juice — shake with ice, strain into a glass. (Shoutout to Samara of Black Bourbon Society for putting me on)
Smokey Fox River: 2 oz. Laphroaig (or any peaty scotch), 0.25 oz. creme de cacao, 5 dashes Angostura bitters — shake with ice, strain into a glass. (This is my personal preference because I love smoke. If you’re not a fan of peat/smoke, use bourbon)
Boulevardier: 1.25 oz bourbon or rye, 1 oz. Campari, 1 oz. sweet vermouth, garnish with an orange twist — stir with ice, strain into a glass with fresh ice.
FIVE: Drink your good stuff.
I’ve come to realize that my sensibilities towards whiskey are similar to that of sneakers. Earlier, we talked about splurging on a bottle, but I also know that I deserve a pricier sneaker than what I usually pay for these days. I’m no longer a hypebeast when it comes to kicks, as I’m not waiting in line, praying that the SNKRS app gods bless me with a pair via the lottery or overpaying for a pair to a reseller. Nope, nope and nope. If I can’t buy it online or in the store and it’s more than $100 or so, it ain’t for me. But….I might buy myself a pair of these in April. Wish me luck.
Here’s the thing. If I get those Jordans, I’m wearing the hell out of them. On a date with bae, on one of the four times I might actually go to the office, on a coffee chat with an old friend…they’re getting worn.
The thing that I always struggled with were people that would deadstock (buy shoes and sit on them for years and never wear them) or buy a great pair of kicks and only wear them once or twice a year. I remember that I used to do that with my kicks as a teenager or in my early 20s, and then I’d finally wear them and then I’d be paranoid as hell that someone would step on them or I’d be a klutz and scuff them while tripping on the curb.
The reality is that those super nice kicks were the only nice kicks in my closet. I couldn’t afford to mess those up, because I wasn’t sure when I’d be getting another really nice pair.
I believe this comparison works well with those really nice, top-shelf bottles you have on your bar right now.
I’m not saying go to your bar and quickly finish off your Johnnie Walker Blue, but I think waiting until the perfect moment to drink something really good, actually makes it harder for you to enjoy that premium being placed on the spirit. Share your good stuff like Lagavulin 16 with friends you actually like. Maybe consider upgrading your old-fashioned with Baker’s 7 one time. Have some Kaiyo Cask Strength whisky when you come home from work. When it’s actually time to enjoy the good stuff, drink the good stuff.
If you’re enjoying this newsletter and know other enthusiasts of whiskey, cocktails and appreciators of black creatives, consider sharing this with them. Because I have an insatiable curiosity about all things brown liquor. From the distillation process to the regionality of various spirits, from the unlimited ways to cocktail to how drinks with friends can make one’s day, and how these experiences have had a profound impact on my life. Thank you for your consideration.