Tequila!

Last night I met this man:

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That dashing fellow is Clayton Szczech. He’s the brain and brawn behind Experience Tequila. Szczech hosts tequila tastings around our fair city. He also organizes and leads ridiculously affordable tours to the heart of the tequila producing lands in… Lemme see here… Tequila, Jalisco, which totally makes sense

Clayton kindly brought eight bottles of Tequila to my house and preceded to drop his knowledge. He talked at length about history, distilling methods, and the characters behind this fantastic spirit. We sampled. We were not spitting. I got a bit drunk.

What Any of This Has to Do With Your Future Plans for Inebriation! After the Jump!

I have about an hour and a half of tape recorded during the tasting, much of it totally cogent, that slowly becomes a rambling bullshit session (on my part, Szczech is a professional through and through). Though it's both entertaining and informative, I’ll spare you the transcript.

I will say, instead, that Szczech is engaging, charming, tells a good story, and has an astounding collection of tequila (which may account for the charm). He’s throwing a tasting this Sunday at Casa del Matador [1438 NW 23rd] at 4:30 pm. The cost is $25 for food and drink worth twice that amount and reservation are required.

I’ll likely spend that much drinking shitty blended margaritas by myself tonight. It's too late for me, but you still have time to make a better choice.

Aquavit!

Between Noon and 4 pm tomorrow House Spirits [2025 SE 7th Ave] will be holding an open house to celebrate the release of the third spirit in their Apothecary arsenal. On hand will be samples of Gammal Krogstad Aquavit, (Krogstad Aquavit aged in French white oak pinot barrels) and Norwegian nibbles. Bottles of the limited edition booze will be on hand for purchase.

Afterward, head down to the Savoy [2500 SE Clinton] with the House Spirits crew for cocktail hour from 4 pm to 6 pm where special Krogstad Gammal cocktail will be available at $7 a pop.

Beer!

Don’t forget this weekend’s Oktoberfests at Oaks Park and Gustav’s. Beer, kraut, sausage, oompah, thrilling rides, roller-skating, that duck polka dance probably at some point… Do I need to go on?