Bourbon Trends: Annoyed Much?
Are you easily annoyed, or do you just take things in stride? Whether people admit it or not, I must believe that most everyone has a trigger point / topic that annoys them. There are so many great things about our bourbon world, and they are well documented via blogs, social media posts, written articles, etc. Today we are going to look at the other side of the bourbon world and review some trends that many find annoying. Let’s see if any of these topics trigger you.
Chug Videos
I find that these are the very example of a love / hate type of topic. Believe it or not, there are Facebook groups dedicated to this very thing: posting videos of adults chugging whiskey for other adults to like and comment on how awesome they are. I am the biggest proponent of “it is your money, do what you want to with the whiskey you buy”. If it makes you feel good to chug a bottle of whiskey (very expensive in some cases) then go for it. To me, it is yet another example of the “hey look at me” world we live in. Bottoms up!
Tater
In the real world, that is a slang term for a potato. In the bourbon community, it is a beloved term by some, but by most it is not a term of endearment. Although there is not an official bourbon terminology book (at least that I know of), the generally used definition of a tater is someone that is the ultimate bourbon fool. It is a term used to make fun of bourbon fans who pay top dollar for FOMO sticker pics, chase high dollar Pappy, and buy bottles like Blanton’s for $89.00 in an attempt to flip them on the secondary market for $120. The term tater is mostly used as a catch-all term anytime someone online wants to ridicule someone else for something they do or say in the bourbon community. Of all the terms related to bourbon, I hate this one the most. In my opinion, the most “tater’ thing that someone can do is use this term.
Brand-Wagoners
No, that is not a typo and yes, I just made up a word. A brand-wagoner is someone who spends every waking moment on social media, begging for the attention from a specific brand or distillery, probably in hopes to be the next insta-famous ambassador. For one person, that strategy has worked wonderfully. For most people, they just come off as trying too hard to garner attention. I get it, we all have our favorite bourbons, brands, distilleries, and bourbon personalities but to focus only on one seems a bit obsessive to me. How many times per day can one-person re-tweet / repost other people sharing something online about the one item that person is obsessed with? It is almost as pathetic as the people who post selfies non-stop, sharing how glorious their beard is. I think obsession in general is not a very good thing, but it for sure is a thing in our bourbon world.
Tasting Notes
Part of the rebirth of bourbon over the past 15 years is in part to the national attention given to the industry through writers and awards. Pappy Van Winkle gained its glory due to incredible tasting evaluation scores and the rest is history. Now that we are a much more educated bourbon community, I find the need for in depth tasting notes to be annoying and not needed. Yes, bourbon tasting is necessary at the production and quality control level. I find it is valuable when groups are selecting single barrels as more than often, the pick the group chooses is named after some of the prominent tasting notes. Do we really need bourbon people giving their tasting notes through a blog, 60 second review (how in depth can you even taste through a bourbon in 60 seconds?), or podcast and videos? I admit, a couple of years ago I was guilty of this. What I quickly found out is that most people don’t give a damn what notes other people can pull from a whiskey. Most people only care to hear general tasting notes. I think it is value add for reviewers to give the public an idea of what to expect by giving generalized notes they get on a whiskey. To taste a whiskey and state is has caramel, spice, earthy, etc. notes is value add and acceptable. To break the whiskey down and suggest than an average bourbon drinker can taste notes like marzipan, bubble gum, brisket, etc. is just plain crazy. I think that deep down, these people secretly wish they were sommeliers in the wine industry. Ultimately, no one cares.
What annoys you about the bourbon industry? Many are probably going to say writers or this article and that is fair. At the end of the day, there is nothing wrong with you if you find things annoying. Not everything in life is happy go lucky and it does your soul good to voice those things that annoy you. So get it off your chest and grab a dram.
Cheers!
