(Or, “Why I don’t post more about it.”)

When I came up with “Libation Lounge” for the name of this blog, I carefully chose a handle robust enough to encompass all forms of adult beverages—including spirits, cocktails, and … wine.

Every time I add a post to the Libation Lounge, though, I’m acutely aware that I’ve said precious little about wine other than one rather eggheady, historical post early on. 

To be clear, I like wine. I study wine. I drink a lot of wine. My friends and I drink wine—boys and girls. Sometimes I drink too much wine. (If this sounds familiar, it should, except that I’m pretty sure I know how much is too much wine.) 

I’m as opinionated about wine as I am about spirits, cocktails, politics, and the sadly decaying state of men’s fashion. If a friend asks, I can explain a little about this or that or the other wine, and I do well enough at helping people choose wines at Pinnacle Wine & Liquor. And I love working with my friends in the winery world down at Hermann J. Wiemer and Standing Stone Vineyards; I’ll be going back to work there for two days a month this summer, and I’m very excited about that. 

But I am surrounded by people in Rochester and online who know way more than I do about wine. I don’t have enough digits on my hands and feet to count my friends and colleagues who are *actual* wine experts, and I love them all, so I make no pretenses. I’ll leave tasting notes to them. 

I intend to post more on wine and related topics on this blog, but I’ll confine most of my posts to light fare such as wines and wine experiences that I’ve liked—hits and misses, if you will…likes and dislikes—and tools that help me enjoy wine more. I am fascinated by the business side of the wine and spirits industries, from production through to retailing, and especially the history of it all. I’ll take occasional looks at industry topics around wine as well as spirits—sustainability, for example, and the emerging business of retailing cannabis (even though I’ve never inhaled and never will). 

But I’ll continue my primary focus and deeper dives on spirits and cocktails. I’m no high-flying bartender, but spirits are my stronger suit, and it seems like spirits educators are a rarer bird than wine educators around here. As they’d have said back in business school, spirits and cocktail education is my greatest value add. 

Informally, from my work in retail and pouring tastings of spirits, I’ve observed that most spirits drinkers are creatures of habit, as I was for more years than I care to admit; same booze (gin for me), same cocktail every night (a dry Martini). My personal mission here is to encourage anyone interested in breaking that habit and exploring new adult beverage experiences.

So, on we go.