Spirits aren't seasonal in the same way as tomatoes and strawberries, but drinkers tend to craft their own rules about which liquor's right for which time of year. And for many drinkers, October's the month to transition between their summer and winter selections.
My friend Bill Addison (a familiar name around Dallas) this week tweeted the cool weather was putting him in the mood for bourbon. I work on exactly the opposite schedule: I associate bourbon with mint juleps and garden parties and porch-sitting. I usually have my last bourbon on Election Night, a holiday that deserves to be celebrated with an American spirit. But starting the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November, I switch to Scotch.
To be fair, any brown liquor makes sense in the winter. My restricting bourbon to the summer is an idiosyncratic decision that's not backed by any rationale but force of habit. Bourbon would warm me up as well as Scotch, and non-whiskey drinkers would probably have trouble distinguishing between the two spirits. But the yearly switchover is as meaningful to me as falling leaves and changing clocks.
Do you have a seasonal spirits tradition? What's your winter drink? And are you reaching for it yet?
