Bourbon & Chocolate

There's a little neighborhood deli near my office, where I often pick up breakfast on those hurried mornings. This place is organized chaos and not sure how long the process would take, I'd only order a small coffee and a blueberry muffin. Don't worry, I've since branched out. However, the sweet woman who runs the register and gets my coffee insists that I have a muffin too. It's just within the last week that she's given up on the muffin.

Ok, today you get a bit of a bonus. What can I say a lot is happening at our house?

I know tomorrow is May 5 otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo. However, in this house, it's even bigger.  It's the Race for the Roses, aka the Kentucky Derby. Since I was a little girl, I have been in love with horses. My mom would buy me books about the evolution of the horse and how it made its way to North America not to mention picture books of horses. If there was a book about horses, I had to have it in my library. I had the plastic play horses as well as my Little Ponies. If memory serves me right, before New Kids on the Block covered my wall, there was posters of beautiful thoroughbreds and ballerinas plastered on my wall. It didn't matter. All I wanted was a horse to call my own. Well, that never technically happened, but that hasn't stopped me from admiring them and occasionally placing a bet or two on them. Perhaps, I'll even convince Keith to go horseback ridding with me in Rock Creek.

When I was in Kentucky for the first time, I could have cared a less about the bourbon. I was on a mission to see the races. As much as I would like to see Kansas play in the NCAA Finals in person or watch the Packers play in a Super Bowl live, it would be even better to be present at the Kentucky Derby - the best two minutes in sports.

Keith and I have...well, let's be honest, I have prepared for the Derby. We have an official bottle of Woodford Reserve, the mint, and even tiny julep cups. Trust me I didn't realize they were teeny, tiny when I ordered them. Regardless, we are ready. Now if only, I had found myself a gorgeous hat. I guess there's always next year. Anyways, I'm sure I have the priorities covered as far as Keith is concerned.

Now, I'm just ready for the main event. Maybe, just maybe I'll enjoy a margarita and some guacamole after the race. I mean. It is Cinco de Mayo after all.

via Joss & Main

When I started drinking bourbon a few years ago, I drank the stuff that is widely available like Maker's Mark, Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey and a few others you are probably familiar with.  Those brands aren't bad; I still enjoy them from time to time.  But like any hobby, there's a lot more to bourbon than that.  Serious bourbon enthusiasts chase after certain bottles and brands that have become very difficult to find.  As I moved from the easy to find stuff to the harder to find brands, I sought out some advice from my bourbon message board as to how to find these brands.  The consensus was to make acquaintances (friends even) with the owner of your favorite liquor store.

My store is Harry's Reserve in SE Washington, DC. I've been going in a couple times a week for about a year now, often when the store is not so busy.  (I work nearby, so sometimes I go into to peruse during my lunch break.) And the thing is, the year-long relationship building worked.  The owner alerted me when he got his allotment of Pappy van Winkle, which was a huge score.  And last Friday I went in after work, completely not planning on buying anything, when the owner tapped me on the arm and said, "I've got a bottle you might be interested in."  And sure enough it was a bottle of William Larue Weller from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.  It's a fantastic bourbon that's fairly hard to find in DC.   So I said, "I'll take it."  I don't know how he got that bottle, but I'm damn glad he did.