I am interested in alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it is something that occupies my waking mind to the detriment of anything else. I’m just generally fascinated by it, I love reading about drinks that I will never enjoy in much the same way as I read about cars that I’ll never drive, restaurants I’ll never eat in, and places that I’ll never visit.
Wine, spirits, and beer have for eons made the world a more interesting place. The stories behind them, the stories told because of them, and the events that they have influenced have shaped our lives in innumerable ways.
Many of the greatest artists, writers, leaders, and villains are known for their tipples of choice, or the volumes that they imbibe(d). Try to imagine van Gogh without absinthe, Churchill without his prescription, or Dean Martin without a whiskey. Fictional characters can often be recognised by their beverage of preference. If a stranger in a book walks into a bar and orders a Vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred, it’s probably James Bond, and as life likes to imitate art, if a person in the real world does the same, then they a) have most likely seen more than one James Bond movie, and b) are an insufferable bore who you instinctively will try to avoid. How you react to the well-spoken, but poorly dressed gentleman who orders two large gins, two pints of cider, ice in the cider in either a fictional or real-world scenario is entirely up to you.
