Brown Is The New Clear: Traditionally Clear Spirits Get Barrel Aged

Yep, that’s gin — The Botanist barrel-rested gin, that is, in a Martinez cocktail. (Photo courtesy Remy Cointreau)

One surefire way to annoy a freelance writer is to ask when an article is going to run. The answer is, always has been, and always will be, “I don’t know” (unless, as with Forbes, you upload the articles yourself). More often than not, the only reason I know an article has been published is when a publicist or someone from a spirits brand writes to thank me for including their booze therein. I don’t know why it’s not policy for editors to tell writers when their pieces have gone live on the Internet or made it into print — I guess they have enough on their plates as it is.

Which brings me to an article I wrote for Whisky Advocate a few months ago about traditionally clear spirits that are increasingly getting barrel-aged before bottling. I sent it off, got asked for a couple of details I’d forgotten to include, responded with the info, and then completely forgot about it until the other day, when I wrote to my editor asking what had happened to it. Turns out it was published online… more than two months ago. Whoopsie! Now, when it went live I was just returning from a weekend in Paris where I’d seen Taylor Swift’s concert with my daughter, so my eye wasn’t quite on the ball. But still, you’d think I’d have figured it out someplace, from someone, at some point. Apparently not.

Fortunately, it’s not a time-sensitive article, so let’s just pretend it’s just run, shall we? Enjoy my BRAND NEW piece for the fine humans at Whisky Advocate, hot off the pixelated presses! Link is -> HERE <-.