W is for Bourbon

It didn't take long for the Irish in me to show it's true appreciation for triple distilled corn, barley, and rye (or wheat but we'll get to that later). Only 26 years. There is a somewhat romantic story to my discovery of bourbon, but the shortened version will suffice for now: I moved to America. OK, so that's not all that it took; prior to America there was a road trip around Ireland, and once in America there was the lure of a golden plaque upon completion of a now infamous Georgetown bar challenge: drink the entire bourbon selection at Old Glory (some 92-100 bourbon's) in under a year. I did it in 2 months.

I'll be the first to admit that all this started as a fun adventure driven in part by my sense of adventure, in part my boyfriend's incessantly loveable quest for expertise in everything, and in part procrastination. What better way to put off those final term papers than to drink 100 bourbons? Helping us along the way were a liquor store where we've become part of the wallpaper, a Bourbon entrepeneur famed in DC and Kentucky (but not in between), and a Bourbon ignorant bartender at a New Orleans themed restaurant that will remain nameless for reasons that will become obvious in due course.

Challenge nearing completion, said boyfriend and I packed up the car and headed for Kentucky. Just us, a tent, 15 hours of NPR podcasts, and the prospect of an entire state dedicated to the production of bourbon. One could say the rest is history; truth be told history is still in the making and my love affair with bourbon has only just begun...