Life Of an Old Man

Some of you may be aware that recently, this Old Rambling Man turned another year older. It was an auspicious event, when of those birth year anniversaries that are divisible by 5 or -0-. So, a couple of thoughts on aging.

1. It beats the alternative, yes getting older is better than thinking ... oh he would have been 525 years old today.

2. All your jokes about getting older. Well, think about this young whipper snappers, age is relative. When I was your age, my age was near very old. Today, my age is the time when you can begin to enjoy yourself. You get grandchildren which are the best, you can ignore who you want and you can spend all your time embarrassing your children.

3. People ask you if you feel older. No, today is just about the same as yesterday. I did not want to walk around the block yesterday and surprising, I do not want to really walk around the block today.

4. What was #4.

5. People give you better liquor as presents. I am now the proud owner of a bottle that I only have to get those special people who like a tar, fishy, excessively peaty tasting liquid here to drink with me. I mean how can you not like something with this description:

Appearance: Full, rich amber.Nose: Big and rounded. At first, richly sweet: soft toffee, crème brulée, dried fig. Just keeps growing in the glass. Behind, fragrant natural oils, beeswax, polished oak furniture. Then, citrussy wood smoke with freshly ground peppercorns, burnt sugar, treacle toffee. Becomes increasingly maritime: wet-suit, iodine. Then exotic, concentrated, musky. With water, not so heavy, herbal, with more tar, like a herb-based cough medicine.
Palate: Great maturity. Wonderful thick mouth feel at full strength: fine structure, with enormous authority. Oily. Nutty. Sesame oil? Sweet and rich, with a fascinating battle between sweet and salty underneath and rich, peppery, wood smoke. Stem ginger. Hugely complex and deep. With water, smoother, sweeter (dried fruit) saltier (brine) and smokier (smoked beef). Silky yet firm.
Finish: Dark, richly smoky and urbane, long into the night. Complex mix of pepper, rancio, peat and new leather.


6. Earlier on you got to embarrass your kids only to their local friends. Now with the internet, you can embarrass them in front of the entire world. Well, maybe that is not a good think but it is interesting to imagine.

7. Your gut is now not such a big thing, all you have to do is hang around guts who have been working on theirs for longer.