Today began with an overwhelming sense of relief and determination to help affect the necessary change to heal from the past four years of turmoil. My partner, my family, my friends, and I have lived in fear and incredulity at the lack of humanity and sense of community demonstrated by the departed administration, their sycophants, and their believers. I do not agree whole heartedly with everything the incoming administration has planned and I look upon them with a heavily critical eye. I do believe they can help lead us forward out of the morass and perhaps begin the necessary humanization and reconciliation so long ignored by those departed.

Tonight we toast with the lovely Straight Triticale whiskey by Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol, CA. I was lucky enough to pick this up on an industry tour with friends from East Bay Spice Company and Fort Green. It was made as a one-off experiment using triticale, which is a wheat/rye hybrid first developed in the late 19th century blending the yield and quality of wheat with the soil and disease tolerance of rye. The whiskey was aged in new, charred American oak barrels for 38 months and was bottled at 99 proof. On the nose it has notes of sandalwood, apricot, honeysuckle, and apple. The palate is ripe with toffee, pepper, and brown butter then finishes with pistachio and a hint of caramelized pineapple. A lovely and distinctly individual toast for an inauguration day unlike any I’ve experienced. We will definitely be following this up with some local bubbles (a post for another day).

Salud!