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The late author Harlan Ellison, a brilliant writer, friend and quasi-mentor of mine, was devoted to the proper use of language. As a writer and lover of the language he would often correct people who misspoke, those using words or phrases in the wrong way - usually involving his distaste for anyone using the word "like" as a pause, or "awesome" for anything that really, on the face of it, was not. "The universe is awesome. The Grand Canyon is awesome," he would observe, "your cheeseburger is not." And one of his biggest pet peeves was the phrase "Eat your cake and have it too." All too often it is reversed and people will be heard to say "Have your cake and eat it too." Harlan would point out that there's really no trick to having a cake and then eating it. The real trick is to eat your cake and yet still have it. Hence "Eat your cake and have it too." So. Why am I referencing this? What possible co...

Much is made of the lists generated by online and in print spirits reviewers. Oftentimes the very top echelon of reviewers - everyone from professional writers such as Jim Murray, Stephen Beal and Fred Minnick, to publications like Wine Enthusiast and Whiskey Advocate - love to publish their very own list of standout bottles from around the world. "Bob Smith's Top Ten Tequilas for 2020!" And that's great. Everyone should have a list of what is considered to be the standard bearers of the industry. Special bottles of bourbon, or scotch, or rums, gins and tequilas, etc. All fine and good. But what I have seen and heard for myself is that too many consumers will jump on bandwagons simply because someone else says "this is the best." They'll immediately run out and try to find a bottle of the stuff, regardless of what anybody else might say on the subject. Many of the unicorns - particularly in bourbons - have become to simply because someone say...