I never thought that we would need a day to celebrate alcohol. That’s like having a party to commemorate partying. No w ait, it’s actually worse. But it sure does seem to take redundancy to a whole new level, or should that be a new endless cycle?
But given how we as humans don't understand moderation, and especially in the case of alcohol, it’s either absolute abstinence or senseless skulling that we seem to indulge in. At any point in your social circle there will always be one guy who is recovering from a night of mad drinking and has thus momentarily gone off the stuff, and for every such guy there will be two drinking fast and furious so as to ensure that the party average for alcohol consumption doesn’t drop.
Sigh. What a wasteful way to not enjoy life. There was a gentleman who once told me that the only thing he ever learned at hospitality school was to make the ladies laugh and how to hold his alcohol, for once you had these two cornered, you were more socially in demand than a celebrity. And yet, today, such is the situation that we need special days to celebrate alcohols, just to bring some civility and historic significance to what others think is just another route to ‘getting giddy with it’.
This Sunday past, we celebrated National Bourbon Day (in the US) and World Gin Day (well, as the name suggests, worldwide). Funny how both fall on the same day, given how different the two beverages are, as are the typical consumers for each. Gin has been around for longer; in fact, in 18th century England, gin was never taxed and hence was cheaper than beer and always safer than the water. It was also as addictive as crack (not really, but still pretty addictive) and as many a family lost their young scions to the scourge of gin, the beverage came to be notoriously known as Mother’s Ruin. It found favour again during the prohibition when bartenders picked up as a favourite mixer and it wasn’t till James Bond came and ruined it all with his insipid vodka-Martinis that gin saw a downfall.
The Indian connection for gin started back in the day when British military posted in India faced a bigger problem from the mosquitoes than mutiny. Prescribed to consume quinine as a preventive measure, they found that adding soda and gin to the vile stuff made it quite a delight to drink. Thus was born Gin Tonic (or G+T) and it lives on to this day. In fact, gin has seen quite the revival recently and is now back on the bar rail, once again the mixologists favourite cocktail base.
Bourbon, by contrast, has only seen a rise so far. Sure it is still considered secondary to single malts but be informed that bourbon must be aged in brand new charred oak barrels, and once they have imparted the butterscotch-tropical fruit notes to the whiskey, they are shipped over to Scotland to age all the single malt you can imagine! In other words, if there were no bourbon, there would be a lot less single malt as well.
The reason why malt lovers don’t take easily to bourbon is because, unlike malt, bourbons aren't so aged. In fact, there is practically no ageing guideline or rule for bourbons. Straight bourbons are aged a minimum of three years but compare that to an average single malts’ 10 years and you can see why the scoff remains. Add to this the fact that single malt can only be produced in Scotland whereas Bourbon can come from anywhere in the United States and you have more platform for snobbery.
All said and done, in cocktails, bourbons perform phenomenally well: from Manhattans to Whisky Sours and Old Fashioneds, you can make them with scotch, but their true flavour and expression only come with a bourbon. They may not be winning accolades like the Japanese just did, but in the world of spirits, they have a defined niche carved out, one that nobody else can fill.
So now that we have celebrated two of our children, maybe we should try and put something similar in place for the kinder back home. Even though I hate the stuff, how about a national Feni Day? Or maybe a day to celebrate Indian wines? Or else, we can institute a dark rum day, even though most of India basically thinks Old Monk to be a synonym for that category? Wherever and whatever we plan, the idea could be to propagate knowledge and civility of consumption over some orgy of drunken stupor and potential misdemeanours.
But given how strict our laws are, both central and state, it could be some years before we can find a common platform to truly be albeit celebrate a beverage nationally. Till then, let’s find other international excuses (and days) to try new stuff and broaden our horizons.
Magandeep Singh is India's first sommelier, food, wine and travel writer and TV show host. His passions include studying languages and choking the saxophone. In his free time he works.
