Stranahan's Snowflake 2017

We did our regular run up to Denver on December 1st for the Stranahan's Snowflake release. For the uninitiated: The head distiller at Stranahan's Rocky Mountain Whiskey in Denver, Colorado makes a special blend that is released once a year. It's usually the first Friday in December, and yes, it's chilly. To get a bottle of this release of a whiskey that starts out as regular Strannies and ends up as something especially delicious and rare, one has to camp out overnight on the sidewalk surrounding the distillery. The folks that were first in line started out on Wednesday morning at 5 AM. I think that's a little nuts, and we go most years arriving on Friday afternoon/evening. This year we got there at 4 :30 PM. The line was much longer this early in the evening than years previous:

So we set up our chairs, fluffed out our sleeping bags and settled in to drink and visit with our neighbors for the night.

It's always nice to get to know the folks around you a bit. Friday night's group included the regular grouping of interesting and wonderful folks. Immediately "up" line from us was Kevin, who offered to make us coffee in the morning and collected pizza orders for delivery later on. Also "up" line was Andrew who brought his doggy, Layla. The dog was a delight who sat on our blankies to get her tired old feet off the concrete. Right next to us was Rachael (whom we all called DC). Rachael had flown in from Washington DC that afternoon, using her fiancees flight miles to trip out and get a couple bottles of Snowflake for their wedding. The wedding will be on Mount Evans later this year and her fellow who LOVES Stranahan's whiskey. (Rachael however kinda hates whiskey). She flew out immediately after collecting her bottles and dropping them off to be engraved in the morning. Next to DC was a group of friends that had flown in from both Portland and Kansas City (figure out that connection and you're doing better than I am). There were 5 of them and all were friendly and nice.

So we spent the evening drinking, eating the pizza that Kevin ordered, and catching occasional cat naps between the blaring of the train horn as it rumbled by about a quarter mile away. It ran at least every hour, but it felt like much more. :D. There were folks playing guitars, people talking and visiting, folks with outdoor camp fires, one tent had a whole bar in it. It's a nice chilly party full of folks with the shared interest in getting a once in a life time bottle of a very special whiskey.

In the morning, around 6 AM, they start handing out tickets.

Each person in line can get two tickets. The ticket gets you one bottle of $100 rare whiskey. I actually dropped one of mine in line, and a really nice fellow handed it back to me. (hey, I'd been up all night drinking, I was a bit out of it).

Stranahan's is making more of a party atmosphere out of the release and they're doing a really good job of it. Once (and within an hour before) the tickets are handed out folks start packing up. This makes the line MUCH shorter as some folks will take up 20 or 30 feet of sidewalk with their tents and such. And no one cares a whole lot where they are in line once they have their tickets. We moved from the alley that's about a 1/2 mile from the entrance door to about 100 yards away long before the doors opened at 8 AM. Folks are still talking and visiting in the line, there's occasionally a warming stove scattered here and there and that's a good thing because once you've packed up your feet start really freezing while you wait the hour or two to get in the door.

Then the doors open! They check ID's as you enter (21 and over only in the line). Then the line snakes throughout the distillery so that we can all warm up a bit. There's a band playing, folks dancing, an online bar set up and the mood is pretty jovial. This year they handed out a signed release poster

Also on line, a little shot of the new regular flavor of Stranahan's was available. It's a sherry cask offering and while I liked it? I think it's a little pricey for what you get. It was nice to get a taste and that added to the party flavor. All the employees are all excited, wearing their Snowflake wear, smiling, interacting with the crowd and so obviously excited that I really think they love this day. As you walk through the line there are two casks to sign, these will hold a new Snowflake offering. We've signed several casks over the years.

The Snowflake goes through a 5 year aging process: 2 years in new oak casks with a #3 char, then moves on to various other caskings. This years release went through several rum casks, a port cask, oh hell take a look:

The line moves somewhat slowly, but more quickly than one would think 700+ folks could move through a building. The music, dancing, drinking and visiting help pass the time for the whole bunch who spent the night drinking, smoking, talking and laughing.

Then you pass through the door to where the whiskey is!!!!!!! A nice, happy fellow tears the stub from your tickets (you get to keep the tickets) and you move forward. Three nice, happy folks grab your bottles for you and add tasting notes, tags, individual bags and you can even have them put in a box for transport. We got our 4 bottles and chose a box, there's less chance of me dropping a box when I'm tired and a little hung over. Then you wander past the merchandise counter where you can choose to purchase your own Snowflake wear and head up to the checkout line. That moves fast and efficiently and the folks there are nice and happy too. :D

There's your bottle of Once In A Lifetime Snowflake in your hand.

You can choose to have Rob Detrich (Whiskey Rob) sign the bottle by standing in the line for that. It also moves pretty fast, we opted to not do that on release day. Crys might get it done on Monday when we go back to town for some other stuff. We've done it in the past, to tell the truth the whiskey tastes the same with our without the extra signature. That and we figured the release posted was good enough in that vein.

After that we wandered to the car, got everything settled a bit and drove to Breakfast King to meet Pablo for a bite before the ride home. The ride home is 4 hours, and it feels like a bit of a trial after the long night before. We made the drive just fine, Crys got some sleep along the way and it was  nice unencumbered drive as concerns traffic and such. We got home in a smidge under the 4 hours and unloaded the car with the help of our friend Marian who watches the house and kitties while we're out of town.

Then it was on to TASTING! You don't get to try the Snowflake before buying. It's a risk and always a good one.

We loved it. I'm a rum fan and while the rum taste isn't overpowering, it is present and adds notes I like. Crys and Marian also loved the sample we took from our little bottle of joy. All the bottles are numbered and while we'll drink and share a bit, there's always one we hold back. This year it is bottle 420, for obvious reasons. Most often our bottles are under 100 in the numbering range, but due to this years large crowd we were further back. Funny, the whiskey tastes the same, no matter the number on the bottle.

That's our little, excessive purchase, story for the year. This year it's a reward for my Florida trip putting up powerlines after hurricane Irma and for Crys doing everything at home while I was gone.

Thanks Whiskey Rob, for another wonderful offering, we'll treasure and enjoy it. Remembering all the while that even if it's a once in a lifetime release? Life was meant to be lives, lessons are made to be learned, joys are meant to be celebrated and whiskey is meant to be drunk!

Changing our name, Since nothing evaporates bullshit like the light of truth.

We're going to change the name of our blog.

This morning my dear sweet wife, Crys, showed me an article about the use of the word Gypsy.

https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/gypsy 

It's a well written article about the use of the word, it's reference to a maligned ethnic group and has prompted us to no longer use a word that causes people distress, especially since that was never our intent. 

This is where I'm going to do the right thing. It's also half my blog, and I'm going to go off for a moment. Then I'm going to do the right thing. 

I'm a 57 year old white man. I grew up a poor, sometimes hungry, redneck, blue collar, ignorant kid surrounded by my african american playmates. I didn't know I was poor till I got older. I didn't know there was a difference between my self and my playmates until I went to school. We were all poor kids, playing in the dirt and the woods and the only difference was who came up with the best idea of what to do that day outside (because you didn't dare go back in the house until dark). 

As I got older I learned that I was privileged. I learned it was my job to hand back the power and privilege I was awarded due to a skin color that I had no more hand in choosing than my playmates did with theirs. 

I've tried to do that every day of my life. 

With maligned and mistreated folks who are a different color, gender, religion (OK still have a little trouble with the whole talking snake thing but I try), belief system etc. 

I'm not arguing that I didn't benefit from white male privilege, I will submit that it was a little hard to see when there were programs and help for every other group and I got told to shut up and go to work at shit jobs to get by while getting kicked in the teeth by the folks I was trying to be a good person for, and do the right thing. Scratch that. I didn't do it for any other reason than it was the right fucking thing. 

I'm still doing it. This morning the blog title caught me by surprise and I'm going to explain why, once again, being shown my ignorance made me mad. 

In short? I'm tired. I'm tired of finding out I had identified with a group that wasn't the male white one and then finding out that having willing ostracized myself from "my" white male group because I found it's actions generally repulsive I wasn't allowed to belong to any of the other groups because when they look at me they see white male privilege. 

And I'm saying it here because it's half my damned page and I can say what I want to. When I go out in the world and show my face I'll act right, responsible, happy to once again have handed over something I identified with, felt a resonance to, deeply had taken to be a part of who I am and inside? I've lost something else. I've been told I'm a terrible white man, and while I'm expected to remove myself from causing others pain from words or deeds? No matter how much I do it I'll never be welcomed into those groups. 

Why did I identify with the term Gypsy? We named the blog that because the life Crys and I lead brought us to being ostracized from our homes, a great deal of our friends, the dominant religious and moral/ethical approach as much of the rest of the country we live in. We felt we'd found a place to finally put down some roots on our terms and relax. 

It's still that. And I regret, once again, having my ignorance shown the light of truth and not being able to willingly stay in the ignorance. And part of me fucking totally completely hates every single god damned second of it. I'm tired. And it'll never get better no matter how much I do. Because there will always be one more thing I haven't found out yet. Yes, it's because I'm white and privileged. (HA) And I'll keep doing the right thing. God damn it. Because the crazy white racist woman that raised me somehow taught me that we're all the same, and I should always do the right thing because, "two wrongs don't make a right". 

Now, to change the name to something I hopefully won't have to change again, make a post about the great day we had yesterday and move on.