by EllenJ » Thu Oct 06, 2011 6:43 pm
Farmall,
Your story reminds me of one of my own favorites...
Like you, I acquired a bottle of bourbon whose year of origin corresponded to my own. My wife and I have a pretty large collection of American whiskey, mostly opened and available for tasting, and it was my intention to keep this particular bottle (which happened to be a very unusual and rare example, not a common brand, and in pristine and unopened condition) forever, as far as I was concerned. My idea was that I would never taste this whiskey, at least directly. I wanted my closest friends to open and enjoy it at my wake when I pass to that great saloon in the sky.
I bought the bottle in a sale on eBay.
It arrive a week or so later, in perfect condition.
My lovely wife looked at the bottle of perfectly clear, polished bourbon from the mid 1940s and asked, "When can we open and taste it?"
"We can't" I reminded her. "This needs to be set aside until after I'm no longer here in the flesh. I want this to be opened at my wake, and I'll join y'all in spirit, so to speak"
"Oh," said she, and placed the bottle back onto the shelf... with a lingering glance as she turned back to other things.
But her attention never really strayed far from that lovely bottle of bourbon, and over the next few days, she seemed to be ever more interested in it.
Finally, she came to me, bottle in hand, and asked me... "I'm sorry, John. I just keep forgetting... just WHAT was it you said I have to do in order to get a taste of this whiskey?"
... I want you to know that bourbon was totally delicious. We still have some of it left, in case you ever get a chance to visit.
Oh, and yes, I found an example of another (more commonly found) bourbon from the same year and we ARE saving that one for "later".