Beef and pork are both full of carbon, so a relativistic collision might make enough heat and pressure to form diamonds? The problem would be keeping them from splattering outward… gotta keep that pressure up if you're wanna make bling. Go even closer to the speed of light, though, you'd probably end up with a…

I agree with you about the young genevers. Some (I got a bottle from Amsterdam in a gorgeous Delft bottle) don't even use a full malt base, and skew so light on the botanicals, and so heavy on the neutral grain spirits, that they seem almost like scented vodka.

Barrel-aged gins are one thing — and I agree that they're appearing more often, with folks either very into it (yay, more wood!) or not (boo, more wood?) — but I called out Barrel-Aged Bols as a paragon of what genever should be. Like @lapalazala:disqus says below… more like a whiskey (with a malt barley base) than…

Yeah, the whole category of "mock foods" — both war-era recipes of necessity and modern substitutes that are vegan-friendly, gluten-free, etc. — is very fascinating. There is flavor, chemistry, texture… a lot at play. The mock duck you mention though,… yeesh. That one I'd have to see to believe.

The "Gallic" typo is an embarrassing — perhaps, "galling"? — error. That I can fix.

I don't know about the Basil Hayden / Old Granddad connection, but I heartily second the call for drinking Bottled-in-Bond. They're great values and some — like my favorite, Henry McKenna 10-year — can be really complex.

Ahh… I see the confusion in the way I wrote it. What I meant was *modern* brands made with rye tend to to have a little less edge than the *historic* brands made with rye. Like, Bulleit and Woodford are an easier introduction, I think, than Jim Beam and Wild Turkey 101. I agree with you, though, that in general…