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OESF… ect?
Hey Free Rangers,
Well, it’s just over a week before the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and I can confirm that the whiskey still works. Between the inequities of the Electoral College, rampant Gerrymandering, voter suppression at the state and federal levels, foreign meddling, and domestic meddling, I’ll be very surprised if this goes well at all. I hope that my instincts are incorrect, but does anybody remember the Brooks Brothers Riot of 2000, which forced the end of ballot tabulation that handed Bush the least convincing “victory” in the history of American politics? Khaki-clad political operatives stormed a south Florida election office (while professional dirty trickster Roger Stone observed from a parked car down the street), giving the Supreme Court the time to kill the re-count from above. Three lawyers involved in the legal battle to steal that election were John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, and bible literalist, Amy Coney Barrett. They subverted American democracy, and Republicans rewarded them with lifetime appointments to the highest court in our land, where they can further infringe on your voting rights (as well as on your healthcare, and women’s reproductive freedom). Real news. If I could make this shit up, I’d be a better writer, and you’d be asking me to sign my new book, instead of what to drink with tonight’s shrimp scampi (Garnier Chablis, Rebholz Dry Riesling, or A&P Villaine Aligoté).
Speaking of amoral idiots, it really takes a special type to pick a fight- repeatedly- with shop clerks (even Derek!), claim that she was “yelled at twice before”, but still wanted to “give us another chance”. Really wish she hadn’t. Unfortunately, we’re the closest game to her front door, and even though she has no respect for us, our business, or our posted signage and pandemic guidelines, she can’t be bothered to walk further to a lesser shop, and ruin their day instead. This time, she walks in as before with a stroller, doesn’t address anyone, stops directly inside the front door, blocking both the entrance and the fridge. I know what’s going on, but I try to reason with her (again!), and explain that we’re happy to help with whatever she’s looking for, but to please come into the shop, and stop opening the fridge repeatedly. I am able to coax her away (by a foot or two), and I answer some oddly aggressive questions that she poses, each while waving a bottle in the air. And I get her a cold bottle of a chardonnay, upon which she settles (even though it’s 3:30pm and she already said that it’s for dinner). Her tone is sharp, and general kinesis is high. Derek and I genuinely can’t tell if she’s agitated, or if this is just who she is. On the way out, she says that she’s been yelled at here twice before, but decided to give us another chance. My initial response is to open up the vocal chords to 11 and unleash a stream of high decibel consciousness at her, but a guy my size actually yelling at somebody in my shop isn’t a great look, even if that person is delusional, obtrusive, and is already accusing me of that crime. But apologies to anybody else I may have been snippy with the rest of that day (Saturday?). Sometimes it’s hard being on the front lines of daily life for the better part of a year long pandemic (with no end in sight).
But back to the whiskey. One of the greatest scores we’ve yet achieved in our single barrel whiskey program, was last year’s Four Roses Private Select OESF 10 Year Bourbon. Every time we’ve tasted a set of barrel samples from any source, there’s always been at least one or two that are simply not worthy of our shelf. The only counterexample I have, is from my visit with the legendary (and sadly passed) Al Young at Four Roses. I learned an amazing amount from that fine gentleman in one delightful summer afternoon.
He had pre-selected 8 barrels to taste for my selection, and every last one was a true rockstar we would have been proud to put our name on. The one we selected, which was our fastest selling barrel of all-time, I genuinely believe was one of the every best American Whiskeys released that year, by anyone. So when the Plague hit, and we were informed by all but Heaven Hill (Elijah Craig) that we would not be able to taste the samples, the only option became taking a full barrel of whiskey that somebody selected for us, or not get any at all, we told all but Four Roses, “No thanks.” Since OESF is consistently my favorite of their 10 recipes (based on mash bill and yeast), we said we’d take a Private Select barrel of their choosing, as long as it is OESF and at least 10 years old. So, our Four Roses Free Range OESF 12yr Bourbon just walked through the door, and it’s another classic, this one clocking in at 122.4 proof! Our barrel yielded 102 bottles, and you better believe I’m keeping a couple cases for myself, which doesn’t leave a whole lot left for the rest of the world (or at least the New York world, as we can’t ship liquor out of the state). These will go quickly, but I wanted to give you all first crack, at the lowest price we’ll offer on this one.
Who’s in?!
Four Roses Free Range OESF 12yr
sale: SOLD OUT! retail: $119
*** Limit 3 bottles per customer ***
** This week only, as supplies last! *** No other discounts apply.*
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
Back together again, for the first time…
Howdy Free Rangers,
Since the onset of the zombie apocalypse, when in-store tastings instantly became a thing of the past, we’ve been pondering other kinds of events, and promotions; hence the weekly e-mail sales. But I don’t Zoom well. I’m not even good on the phone. And setting aside an hour during prime sales floor time, toward such an endeavor, seems like a recipe for disaster. And since it remains illegal for retailers to pour anything outside the physical confines of their licensed addresses, we really haven’t come up with much else. It’s all we can do to maintain proper order when more than 4 people are trying to get into the shop at once. Speaking of which, we know that waiting outside the shop to get in is no fun, and we do our best to hurry through the “just looking” folks who ignore the sign on the front door, specifically asking them not to do this. As always, your patience and support is greatly appreciated. But if you come across a gaggle of tourists in here, taking up as much space as possible, and clearly not buying anything, please feel free to yell at them, if you get to them before I do. It takes a village to shame its idiot(s).
We now take you back to the last of the golden age of Manhattan’s East Village. Tonic was the best little music venue in New York, and just a skip down Rivington was a fabulous little Italian joint with a small number of tables, a long line outside, and a deep selection of properly aged Italian wine. ‘inoteca be thy name, and I loved that little spot. Many nights when the wait for a table was over an hour, a solo flier could still sneak into one of the tall stools at the back bar, where you’d sit in nose-shot of the day’s cheese selections. It was a wonderful little corner of calm amongst the chaotic throb of that rhythmic neighborhood, to enjoy some bruschetta and a seventeen year old Valpolicella. While ‘inoteca has been gone from Rivington for some time, there is now a Brooklyn-based ‘inoteca pop-up offering family style multi course Italian meals for pick-up or delivery in two sizes, on Wednesdays, at the moment (à la carte items are also available). Check out the details here: ‘inoteca pop-up. We’ve also put together a page of wine pairings, if you’d like to have them delivered with your dinner: Free Range ‘inoteca wine pairings.
Now, for your weekly flash sale… It seems not terribly long ago that we offered a sale on Suntory Yamazaki 12yr– the most classic of all Japanese Whisky- but it was one of our most popular, and more cases than we’ve seen in years just walked through the door (and I had already hoarded up a good bit). So, we’ve got 3 cases of Yamazaki 12 to sell at our lowest price of the year on this classic single malt whiskey.
(!) CLICK HERE to add Yamazaki 12 to your cart w/ coupon code (!)
Yamazaki 12
sale: $115 retail: $135
*** This week only, as supplies last! ***
* No other discounts apply.
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
What day is this… man?
“We may be living in Hell World,
but no one said the comedy was bad.”
– Michael Brooks
Hey Free Rangers,
A bit of chaos this week. The numbers were great, and too much business is a dubious thing about which to complain, but there was also a significant uptick in people ignoring our signage, and coming in 3 or 4 people at a time (often to buy one bottle). As we’ve been keeping it to 4 people or less for social distancing, it doesn’t take much for a line to form, and for crowd control to become an issue. I am well aware that 99.9% of people who do this kind of thing are not any of you faithful regulars (and/or e-mail readers) that keep us going, but I rarely actually get a chance to properly bitch at the people causing the issues, while said chaos is underway, so thanks for letting me vent. Conversely, I don’t blame you, if you’ve already skipped ahead to the sale at the bottom.
It would definitely help if any of you who know ahead of time what you’re seeking would purchase online for pick-up: www.FreeRangeBrooklyn.com. And huge thanks to those of you who continue to go this route. We’ve gotten much more efficient with picking and packing time, though deliveries don’t always go out as quickly as we’d like- especially on weekends. Sorry about that, and thank you all for your continued support and patience. 8 months into this pandemic, there is still no cohesive national response or policy, and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, regardless of what the Orange Orangutan in the Oval (and all form of online idiot) has to say. We are all very much still in it together.
It always amazes me how much outside life alters the wine world. And while it’s easy to see and quantify how a popular film like Sideways can increase the perception and consumption of Pinot Noir (and brutally slander Merlot), completely unrelated events can also have outsized effect. While I don’t have numbers to back it up, I feel that Ponzi Vineyards took a perceptual hit when Madoff’s unconscionable shenanigans, widely shorthanded as a Ponzi scheme, put a new dark spotlight on the name, regardless of the quality and sustainability of the wines. The name of Charles Ponzi is synonymous with money draining scams, and has been since the ‘20s, but this caused new focus on the old term via this widely publicized newer thief. The Ponzis of Vineyard fame are not related to the infamous Charles. Sadly, Comedy Central has Drunk History episodes locked down, such that I couldn’t link the applicable scene. Real news.
Regardless of the reason, Ponzi’s Reserve Chardonnay has been consistently discounted in our market for such a period of time, that for multiple vintages we’ve been selling it for about fifteen bucks less than the vineyard charges on site (and on website). This is an absolutely exemplary American Chard that is the perfect antidote for people who think they hate Chardonnay, because they’ve only had Kendall-Jackson (which tastes like a buttered 2×4, smothered in a sauce of balsa wood and Werther’s Originals), and we’ve been ecstatic to be able to offer it at $30 per bottle.
Very recently, the same local distributor put closeout pricing on some of Ponzi’s rarest single vineyard wines, and I’m almost embarrassed to admit how little we paid for all remaining Ponzi Chard Aurora Vineyard 2014 in New York. Good Chard ages quite well, and 2014 was a particularly long lived vintage across the board for Willamette, OR. If you’d like to buy some of this same wine from the two most recent vintages, Ponzi has them on their website for $65 per bottle (and worth every penny). However, we have the absolutely delicious 2014 on the shelf at $44, and this week, we can offer it to you at $35/btl, or a 6-pack at $29/btl plus a FREE tote and FREE bonus bottle from my personal collection (which could be literally anything)!
(!) CLICK HERE to access the hidden sale page (!)
Ponzi Chard Aurora Vineyard 2014
sale: $35 retail: $44
6-pack Ponzi Chard Aurora Vineyard 2014 + FREE BOTTLE from my personal collection (+ free wine tote)!
sale: $174 ($29/btl) retail: $264
*** This week only, as supplies last! ***
* No other discounts apply.
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
… And I feel fine.
Hello Free Rangers,
Cops continue to meet protests against their unregulated lawless violence with more unregulated lawless violence, and chemical weapons banned by the Geneva Convention. The main structures of our government and democracy have been irrevocably deliberately eroded, and thousands of career non-partisan public servants have been pushed out, being replaced by unqualified partisan operatives, or by no one at all. Our President and Attorney General are openly speaking about how they mean to subvert the upcoming election, with or without the help of hostile foreign powers. Securities markets continue to flirt with record highs, while more and more Americans tumble into poverty. The global pandemic only seems to be still raging in a few places, but our country is one. The American judiciary is overrun with bible literalists who will be adjudicating to the benefit of faceless corporations, and a bastardized imagining of Jesus, as long as most of us shall live.
Yup, Free Rangers, it really is that bad out there. Western capitalist democracy is in real trouble, largely because of the unchecked capitalism, and the single-minded determination of the religious right. I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit scared, and am kind of kicking myself for not selling this joint early in the year, so I could vote early, and be far away for the inevitable dustup. But we’re still here on Atlantic Ave, slinging booze, gearing up, and hunkering down for gifting season, assuming that’s a thing that still happens this year. #2020 Regardless, I can confirm that the whiskey still works.
In wine, whiskey, or any other category of tasty intoxicant, there is no substitute for palate experience, especially comparative tasting. I have learned an amazing amount about the variations to be found in the glass, do to tiny variations of what takes place in barrel (true, not all wine & spirits involve barrel aging). One of my greatest revelations of the last decade was that the age of the whiskey barrel has less to do with the flavor of the finished bourbon, than the floor of the rickhouse. After our tasting with Heaven Hill to choose our second Elijah Craig Barrel, we noticed that all of our favorites were from the 5th and 6th floors, regardless of warehouses or age of the barrel; always the top two floors. The higher the floor, the closer to the ceiling, the greater the heat and pressure changes (daily and seasonally) of the barrel, and the quicker and/or more vigorous the aging of the spirit inside. Air flow within each warehouse is also a huge factor, which is why the barrels that end up being selected for Heaven Hill’s very darkest, richest, and most exclusive Bourbon (William Heavenhill), always come from the same locations in the same warehouses.
It’s often tempting to simply pick the oldest barrel offered, as the higher the age statement, the more we can charge, but we generally go for the best/most intriguing barrel (or two) of the bunch. And the last two times we tasted Elijah Craig barrel samples, the best/most interesting barrels were the 8 year(s). For the first time ever, we have two exceptional single barrels, of the same age, bottled in the same year, on the shelf simultaneously. The barrel that arrived earlier this year is an Elijah Craig 8 year Bourbon from the 5th floor of Warehouse N, while the barrel that just arrived is an Elijah Craig 8 year Bourbon from the 6th floor of Warehouse X.
I hesitate to give too many tasting notes, as coming up with one’s own is half the fun, but both Derek and I find the Warehouse N to be lighter and more yellow visually, and have more prevalent dry, woody, and yeasty characteristics, with a slightly softer finish. The Warehouse X bottling comes off as more fruit forward, with cherry notes up front, and a spicier, bolder finish, with a touch more bite. For the price of 2 bottles of the regular Elijah Craig small batch (one of the best values in world whiskey), you can grab a tasting pair of our two Elijah Craig 8yr Single Barrels.
(!) CLICK HERE to access the hidden sale page (!)
Elijah Craig Free Range 8yr Bourbon 2-pack
sale: $58 retail: $72
*** This week only, as supplies last! ***
* No other discounts apply.
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
winegeist 