Dorrance Creek Camp

Hello Friends,
It looks like we got the roof boards on the shed just in time for Winter AND that the rest of the project is likely stalled until Spring.
I hope that you're enjoying Winter 2024 in Michigan too.

Hello Campers!

Can you believe it? It's the Opening Day of Michigan's firearm deer season. Many people wait all year for this day. It's like Christmas and the first day of Summer Vacation rolled into one. As you know I am a huge fan of Deer Camp. I'm not much of a hunter but I love Deer Camp. This year I got a couple shots off a 12 Point. (Picture attached). Deer Camp AND 12 Point? My kind of opening day. (no actual deer were hurt in the making of this post)

In other news - NEW MERCH at Camp!! T-Shirts, Sweatshirts and a boujee camo vest that would look killer at the end of season wild game dinner, "goin' it alone" at the camp euchre table or even at the parts counter of the local auto salvage yard. The T-shirts and sweatshirts have the same cool back printing and the same embroidered front logo. The sweatshirts are perfect for fall campfires and the t-shirts for summer walks in the woods. Both are perfect for lounging around camp or your house if you're not at camp. But, then again, why wouldn't you be at camp because you know, it's just better at camp.

Hello Campers!
It has been a minute since our last post. I was following our friends at One Bourbon and recently they did a barrel pick from New Riff Distillery in Newport KY. A few of us got together earlier this summer and picked our own barrel from New Riff! I guess they will let just anybody pick a barrel of bourbon... You can read all about our experience at a new page that we've created. Sundays Are For Bourbon

We're also moving some of our whiskey related content to the new page. There will always be some whiskey content on the Dorrance Creek Camp page but if you're following Dorrance Creek Camp just for the whiskey content you can find all that and more here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550629864128

Sundays Are For Bourbon What is it about Sundays that make it perfect for sipping bourbon?

Heads Up!
In case you have nothing to do in the wee hours of this coming Friday morning - you can meet some nice people at Meijers in Rockford, Cascade or at Knapp's Corners. Judging from some of the lines that I've waited in for allocated store picks this line will probably start around midnight on Thursday. A barrel holds approximately 240 bottles and there is one barrel between 3 stores. Now THAT's a story problem I can relate to...

Barrel Drop ‼️ There is going to be a stampede ( see what we did there?) Our long awaited Blanton’s Store Pick is being released this coming Friday (6/30) at 7am. This barrel is only available at Knapp’s Corner, Rockford and Cascade. Because of the anticipated turn out for this bottle, we will have to limit the release to only one bottle per person. We are sure some of you are planning to show up early, so please be respectful of one another in line and enjoy the experience. We are excited for you all to try this one, and we can assure you this is a delicious barrel. Fire Up, this one is going to be fun!

Letters From Camp 06082023

Hello Campers,

Looking back it has been a few months since my last post. Much has happened since then and this post is likely long enough to make your summer reading list.

A few weeks back I had another work trip to Texas. This time it was Austin for a week. I don’t know when business hotels changed – and maybe it’s just in the best interest of keeping Austin weird – but my hotel was something of a surprise to me. I’m all about industrial chic. I like stainless steel and exposed pipes but the Aloft Hotel in Austin was almost post-apocalyptic. There was no check in desk. Instead, there was a metrosexual hipster with a George Hamilton tan, a man bun and a chrome sport coat with a black t-shirt and gold chains standing behind a yard sale table with a tablet. The freeform sculpture that served as a backdrop behind the table matched George Hamilton’s chrome sport coat. The lobby looked like the hotel wasn’t completely finished yet. What appeared to be a 'reception area under construction' was indeed the vibe and aesthetic that Aloft by Marriott was going for. Oh well, it was a long flight and the bar was still open and fortunately so was the kitchen. As I sat in what felt like The Mos Eisley Cantina I had a quite passable chicken caesar ( ) and a double Tito’s and soda before retiring to my room next to the ice machine resigned to the idea that I am just another old dude in a hipster hotel.

My room was a cross between an Ikea display and the bathroom from the 1993 film Demolition Man. While there were no actual shells next to the toilet there was a huge glass shower and an accent wall in both the scaled down bathroom and the scaled down bedroom. I’m as much for conservation as the next guy. I can accept low flow shower heads, h**p sheets and bamboo toilet paper for a short stay. Everything in my room – starting with the room itself – was scaled down to about 85% of what you would find in ordinary hotels. The scale of the room was slightly offputting and a little claustrophobic. I was Gulliver and this was Lilliput. I asked the “concierge” about getting an iron and an ironing board to press the wrinkles from my hastily packed clothes and he told me that “no one irons anymore" and that "I had a steamer in my room”. A steamer is fine for rice and broccoli and chrome sport coats but I had cotton shirts and I wanted an iron. I didn’t get my iron but it really didn’t matter as wrinkles are in vogue in hipster hotels and I found that, if I hung my shirts in the vicinity of the shower and ran the environmentally friendly low flow shower's hot water long enough, the wrinkles would come out of my cotton shirts. I guess the steamer idea had merit.

My days, that week, were spent at the Tesla GigaFactory aptly named because the place was HUGE. As a result of the sheer size of the building, everyone parks at outlots and shuttles in. Tesla employee lots are near the factory, contractor lots are not. Because I was a supplier to Tesla and not a Tesla employee, I had to board the contractor bus at its point of origin several miles away from the factory. At 6AM on a Monday morning at one of the largest construction sites in Texas the contractor’s gravel and dusty parking lot, carved out of the Texas sagebrush, can be a real treat for an amateur sociologist observing the human condition. I parked my rental car among the hundreds of other cars and trucks in the contractor parking lot (no Tesla’s though, go figure) and I made my way to the fenceline and the entry turnstiles. I walked past the groups of contractors getting in one last cigarette before entering the smoke free campus and the small enclave of Mexican women in their Plymouth minivans selling early morning home made tacos to contractors for their "bus breakfast" or their mid morning snack. I was reminded of the day workers that I saw in Mexico City on a trip some time ago. I passed through the turnstiles like I was entering some demonic Disneyland and waited in line for the beat-up shuttle buses that would take me to Tesla’s Gigafactory. Granted, I have been spoiled as I worked through the ranks of my career. I have gotten used to flying in to meet with a customer, park close to the entrance near the flagpoles in the visitor’s lot and meet in a conference room to discuss whatever business was at hand. The remote Tesla contractor’s entrance was completely different. The security officers were cloistered in their air conditioned shipping container offices powered by diesel generators and the contractors were dressed in dirty high visibility vests and hardhats loosely queuing up to get through the turnstiles or wait for the shuttle bus. There was no shade, no structure to fend off the elements. Not even a hastily constructed blue tarp. Just a dusty gravel lot and some construction cones to delineate the contractor bus lane and the off boarding area from the on boarding area. Once aboard the early morning bus there was a little chatter in Spanish between groups of workers but it was mostly quiet as the dawn broke on this beautiful Texas Monday morning. The sun wasn’t high in the sky yet so the temps seemed crisp in the low 60’s, not the high 80’s and low 90 afternoon temps and high humidity that were being predicted by the local weather forecasters. Even though it was Monday morning the bus already smelled like old work clothes, stale ci******es and dinner and drinks from the night before. This was truly a humbling experience for me as I became just another contractor on a raggedy shuttle bus on a Texas construction site. We hear all the time about “American Exceptionalism”. I think that “exceptionalism” can be found on the contractor shuttle in central Texas before the temps reach stifling conditions. Every morning before the sun comes up these people kiss their families good bye, don their reflective vests and hardhats and pass through turnstiles to board raggedy buses to work hard in the heat just to do it again the next day and the next.

The 8AM contractor’s bus is a completely different ride. I had a chance to ride them all while I was at Tesla. Tech workers, not construction workers, ride the 8AM bus. It is more about cables and connectors than wrenches and rebar. 8AM contractors queue up as they wait for the bus. 6AM contractors are much less organized. 6AM contractors mull around talking and chatting until the bus arrives then they crowd the door and board en masse. 8AM contractors wear logo polos and skinny jeans sporting backpacks with both shoulder straps cinched down tight. 6AM contractors wear t-shirts and work boots and carry a cooler. If they have a backpack it is usually slung over one shoulder. 8AM contractors are quiet and engrossed in their phones with little conversation and smell like department store cologne. 6AM contractors are chatty and convivial, joking and teasing one another and smell like old work clothes. Both groups of folks ride the same raggedy buses.

Tesla’s employee buses are black and sleek and run on a schedule. They look more like the black limo style buses that rent to weddings or retirees on wine adventures. They are operated by a contracting company called Entertainment One Transportation. Contractor buses are old white raggedy Ford buses that are only one step above being an inner city Baptist church bus or a northern Michigan canoe livery bus. The old Fords look like something you’d see in a movie about prison transport in a third world country. Contractor buses are operated by a company called Plant Transport and there is no set schedule. Apparently, there is a shortage of bus drivers for these jobs and the scant few buses that are in operation run when and if they can. There may be a 5 minute wait to catch a contractor bus or there may be a 30 minute wait to catch a contractor bus. No one knows. We do know, however, that another clean and shiny Tesla employee bus will be at the pickup area on the 15 minute mark, the 30 minute mark, the 45 minute mark and on the hour – like clockwork. For the entire week I was fascinated by the workings of Elon’s economy.

Austin didn’t disappoint after my work day was done at the Tesla GigaFactory. I was able to peruse a party store or two looking for whiskies to cross off my list. I’ve stopped hunting for Buffalo Trace products – EH Taylor, Elmer T Lee, Blanton’s, even Eagle Rare because you seldom find that stuff in the wild anymore. I was able to find some cool stuff in Austin and, wouldn’t you know, I did find an EH Taylor in the wild and snapped it up for MSRP. I guess Buffalo Trace products are like love - you find it when you aren't looking. I also found a couple Smokewagons, which aren’t necessarily rare, they're just not sold in Michigan. I found a 14 year old Tin Cup that is incredible and a Penelope Toasted that is so freaking hot that I think it could double as Mephistopheles' mouthwash. I’m hoping that the Penelope mellows out.

Supporting the idea of keeping Austin weird I found myself on Congress Ave one evening. In front of a boot store there were these two guys (hipsters I fear) wearing hipster type hats and sitting on camp stools crouched over ancient typewriters perched on small garage sale end tables. “Hey Man”, one of them drawled in my direction as I walked by, “You look like you need some po'try”. I turned to him and said “You know what, I DO need some po'try. How does it work?” He told me that I give him a word or a topic and a few minutes later he gives me poetry. Then I give him money. How much money depends on how much the poetry speaks to me. I asked if he could do a haiku or a limerick or whether the verse would be in iambic pentameter or some other cadence. He told me he didn’t do limericks and he was plain in his truth when he said; "My s**t don’t rhyme". So I thought to myself "this would be a cerebral poem" – prose, if you will – thoughtful, ironic, maybe even inspirational. I had high hopes. I told him my topic: “Sunday’s are for Bourbon” (this will be important in a few weeks) and with fingers flying and a look of focused determination on his face he cranked up the staccato clickety clack of the typewriter. A couple minutes later I had my poem – typed on a piece of brown kraft paper from an old grocery bag – he had my 10 bucks and I had buyer’s remorse to the tune of about 7 bucks too much. The po'try that was supposed to speak to me only whispered and I had paid for a shout. I did, however, buy an old typewriter when I got home because I thought the idea of itinerant poetry was pretty cool. My typewriter came with manual spellcheck. All in all it was an interesting Texas trip filled with new experiences for me and a painstakingly long story for you. I checked and if you've made it this far in this post it will count as part of your summer reading list. Simply show your 350 word book report (typed on a manual Royal of course) of this post to your local library and they will give you mad props.

I hope that your summer is off to a great start. I hope that you have big adventures and experiences planned for this summer and that you are so anxious for those plans to materialize that you can hardly stand yourself. There is some cool stuff coming to camp in the next few weeks – so much so that I can hardly stand myself – so stay tuned!

You know, though, no matter how cool it gets, or where you are or what you’re doing or whether you can hardly stand yourself or others can hardly stand you – it’s always better at camp.

Letters From Camp – 04242023 – Hang on gang – it’s going to be a long one…

Hello Campers,

Wednesday Whiskey League is over, and my team jersey is in the laundry hamper, retired for the season. Whiskey League was fun and something different to do during dark winter. We had a few laughs with some new friends and some old friends, learned some valuable things about tasting whiskey, tried some new whiskeys, some good whiskeys, and some not so good whiskeys. There was only one that I dumped out and that was a heavily peated whiskey from Detroit's Two James Distillery. It tasted, to me, like railroad ties and creosote but some people dig those high peat whiskies.. My two favorite nights were New Riff night and High West Wednesday. High West because they brought along some exceptional whiskey (I’m a BIG fan of Mid-Winter Night’s Dram) and New Riff because there were no surprises – just good whiskey. The biggest disappointment for me was Bardstown Distillery. I was hoping to try more of the Bardstown Origin series whiskeys. I’ve tried a couple on my own and I like them very much. Instead, Bardstown rolled out their new Green River whiskey – not endorsed by Credence Clearwater Revival. It was cool that Whiskey League got to try Green River before it was rolled out to the rest of the state of Michigan. Bardstown is known for their blending prowess and recently bought the Green River Distillery – one of the oldest distilleries in Kentucky. Green River is supposed to be more of a value whiskey than Bardstown with a retail price target around $35. Green River comes in a unique horseshoe shaped bottle with an embossed horseshoe on the bottom. Green River, to me, is a 15 dollar bourbon in a 20 dollar bottle.

It’s probably no surprise that I’m a sucker for gadgets and gizmos when it comes to alcohol marketing – like Green River’s unique horseshoe bottle design. Back in the day I drank Falstaff beer not because it was cheap – which it was – or because it was good – which it wasn’t – but because printed on the inside liner of the bottle caps were “Concentration” style puzzles. These were simple puzzles that led you to a common word or a phrase that you had to figure out using the images found under the cap. The TV show “Concentration” was the precursor to Pictionary and Falstaff bottle caps were the precursor to drunk Pictionary. Like drunk Pictionary, the more you drank the easier the puzzles became and the better your problem-solving skills developed. Falstaff puzzles were fun and almost worth the hangover. Unfortunately, Falstaff is no longer with us.
In the late 80’s Miller High Life had a “Bottom Bottle Opener” an ingenious bottle design with an impression molded into the bottom of the bottle that allowed you to twist off the cap of one Miller High Life bottle using the bottom of another Miller High Life bottle. Who would have foreseen that when you apply enough torque to remove a metal cap with a glass impression that shards of glass would chip off the bottom of the glass bottle when the two bottles weren’t lined up properly creating a safety hazard. Because of that small oversight, the Bottom Bottle Opener didn’t last very long in the marketplace. Just long enough for me to fall for it.
Creative marketing isn’t limited to the US. Some time ago in a land far, far away I was picking up some beers during a camping trip to northern Ontario and the Beer Store in Great Bend Ontario had Molson Canadian “Cold Shots” (8oz slim cans at 6% abv) on display. I picked up a two-four for the trip and the lady behind the counter said: “I knew that you were an American the minute you picked up those cans. You Americans will buy anything crazy”. I couldn’t argue with that.
Whiskey has its share of crazy marketing gimmicks too. Oak and Eden’s “In Spire” series comes with a toasted wood “spire” in each bottle. The intent is to enhance the whiskey with additional toasted wood flavor. Of course, I bought a bottle. I like it well enough but it’s a little proofy for me. I don’t know how much additional flavor the wood added. I mentioned the Green River horseshoe bottle a few paragraphs back (has it been that long?). The embossed horseshoe on the bottom of the bottle can be used as a target/goal for a game of quarters. The opening is just large enough to let a quarter slip by. I don’t know who has to drink the shot at the end of the round – the winner or the loser.

I mentioned at the beginning of this tome that we tried some good whiskey and some not so good whiskey during Wednesday Whiskey League. There is an easy way to tell the difference between good whiskey and not so good whiskey. Good whiskey is whiskey that you like regardless of the price or what others think. Not so good whiskey is whiskey that you don’t like regardless of the cost or what others think. Good whiskey doesn’t have to be expensive if you like it. Bad whiskey is sometimes expensive if you don’t like it. During Whiskey League our host, One Bourbon, came out with their barrel pick of Jack Daniels on Jack Daniels night. The Jack Daniels representative had a few different tastings, and wouldn’t you know it, the best – in the overall opinion of our table – was the Sinatra edition Jack Daniels which was a limited release and expensive ($175 a bottle MSRP). The worst – in the majority opinion of our table – was the One Bourbon barrel pick which some described as “earthy” while others described its taste as “garden soil” or just plain "dirt". I liked it well enough to buy a bottle even though I was chided and chastised by everyone else at our table. I got the earthiness of the whiskey, and, to me, it tasted like red beets and borscht which are favorite flavors of mine. Bad whiskey vs good whiskey is a matter of perspective and personal taste and NOT a matter of cost or public opinion.

In this month’s issue of “Garden and Gun” magazine (yes, it’s a real publication), one of my favorite Southern authors, Rick Bragg, writes about his early experience with bad whiskey. Bragg is not, contrary to the reputation of Southern writers, a whiskey “enthusiast”. Bragg writes about his first encounter with whiskey while having car trouble on an Alabama backroad. He was picked up from the side of the road by an old guy in an old truck who drove him to an auto parts store – I will let Rick Bragg tell the story:
“The old man pulled a bottle out from under his seat and handed it to me. I unscrewed the cap on the bottle and took a slash… I still can’t really describe it, how it seared and abraded my throat. I imagined broken glass in a puddle of burning gasoline. But I did not cough and sputter like they do in the movies. Steam did not pour out of my ears like in the cartoons. I just thanked the old man, hoarsely and wiped away a tear. He took a slash himself and, as the miles passed beneath us, poured out his wisdom on inexpensive alcohol. “See son, your cheap liquor won’t hurt a man’s insides, because it’s weaker than that fancy whiskey, like that Jack Daniels or that Kentucky bourbon. That’ll burn a hole right through you. If cheap liquor could kill a man” he said, “there wouldn’t be any poor men to walk on God’s green earth. It would just be Lutherans, teetotalers and rich men, and what a sorry place that would be.” I told him the truth; I never had tasted any good liquor. He told me, in his long life, he never had either”.
Good whiskey vs bad whiskey is all a matter of perspective and personal taste.

Whiskey League may be over (for now), but I vow to stay in shape with regular whiskey workouts before Whiskey League starts up again in the Fall. Though there may be plenty of good whiskey and, according to Bragg, even more bad whiskey in this world rest assured that there is only one last best place on earth to drink it and that is at camp. Why? Because no matter where you are, or what you’re drinking, it’s always better at camp.

Letters from Camp 03192023

Hello Campers!

It looks like the Winter hiatus is finally over at The Last Best Place on Earth and the Spring camp task list is getting longer. I'm not quite ready to let go of Winter just yet but I can't let the camp chores pile up. I have 3 weeks left in my Wednesday night league activities and I was hoping that Winter would last as long as my Wednesday night league. I've been in a lot of leagues over the years; pool leagues, euchre leagues, softball leagues an archery league and even Walther League (that one is for my Lutheran friends). Most of those leagues were just a drinking opportunity thinly veiled as a sporting event. This year I'm in a league more suited for my skills and abilities - it's Wednesday Night Whiskey League at One Bourbon in Grand Rapids. There is no pretense to Wednesday Night Whiskey League - it is all about the drinking and tasting of whiskey - no sports to get in the way. Well, it's about the whiskey AND the menu at One Bourbon which is excellent by the way. My friend Jason and I are in the Wednesday Night Whiskey League along with various friends who drop in on guest passes. We've met some new friends, Chelsea, Patti and Chris who we like to sit with at One Bourbon. They are a lot of fun. The League is demanding, sure, but we do our best to pull our weight and not let the team down.

Speaking of whiskey, New Holland released their 2023 lineup of toasted barrel bourbons yesterday. There are 4 offerings this year and I am told that people were lined up to get a bottle and that the lines were pretty long. I picked up my bottle Sunday morning when New Holland opened and yes, I missed church to do it. Bad me.

After reading all of the posts on the Southwest Michigan Bourbon Hunters page I chose Barrel A, nicknamed "The Woodshop". The Woodshop comes in at 110.8 proof (a little proofy for me) with tasting notes of freshly sawn lumber, brown sugar, sawdust and cinnamon. Using techniques that I learned in Whisky League over the past few weeks (adding a little water, nosing the glass from top to bottom and side to side) I found The Woodshop barrel to be really good. I can smell the freshly sawn lumber in the nose and I can taste the brown sugar notes. It's a good bourbon and I will have to snag another limited release bottle before they are all gone. Is it worth 85 bucks? Even though it's hard for me to part with 85 bucks for a bottle of whiskey, I think - for me - this one is worth the money. It was definitely the right whiskey to accompany my camp lunch today (shout out to the Ludington Meat Company for the porterhouse) and I think that it would stand up to a cigar if I were so inclined.

I hope that all is well in your world as we transition from Winter to Spring this week and that this week brings you the hope and promise of Spring. Keep in mind that even with all of the Spring chores piling up that will have to get done - no matter where you are - it's still better at camp!

https://www.facebook.com/onebourbongr/

As my friends were eating like Scottish peasants at their Burn's Night dinner on Wednesday with their Scotch Haggis pies filled with offal and innards and their Scotch eggs and tatties I was feasting like a king in an actual castle! The royal fare would haunt me later with a much needed (and anticipated) rest upon the throne befitting a king of my stature....

Letters From Camp 04242022 (late to post – but not TOO late to post)

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we have a full tank of gas, a half pack of ci******es, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses… “ Elwood Blues

Friday was a dreary day – gray, cold and wet. It was nearing 5 o'clock at the end of a long day on the j-o-b and any outdoor after work activities were simply not going to happen due to the weather. Clearly it was the perfect opportunity for a spontaneous, last minute after work booze cruise to Indiana. Michigan City is only an hour and a half away from my home in Holland and Indiana usually has a greater variety of bourbon and whiskey than Michigan. I didn’t find anything particularly noteworthy in my trip to Indiana but I did find a couple of interesting offerings that I haven’t seen yet in Michigan.

Two of my finds on this trip were rye whiskies. If you’ve read some of my other posts on this page you know that I have developed an affinity for rye whiskies. Jefferson’s Ocean Rye and Alberta Distillers Dark Batch Rye were among my Friday scores and they couldn’t have been more different. Alberta Distillers is a Canadian distillery that claims to be the number 1 producer of rye whisky in North America and has been making rye whisky since 1946. Jefferson’s Ocean Rye is a product of Kentucky where Jefferson’s has been making whiskey since 1997. Jefferson’s Ocean gets loaded on a ship where it spends several months at sea. The continual sloshing from the waves ensures greater contact between the charred barrel and the whiskey. Is it a gimmick? Who knows? Jefferson’s Ocean Rye is elegant and sophisticated – a smooth drinker with a slightly floral finish. Alberta Distiller’s bold and rugged Dark Batch is uncharacteristically full flavored for a Canadian whisky. Jefferson’s Ocean Rye is yachting, wind breakers and deck shoes. Alberta Dark Batch is tree felling (lumber jacking?), flannel and the Canadian north. I liked them both for their different and unique personalities. Jefferson’s Ocean is a summer rye. Alberta Dark Batch is a late autumn rye.

Alchemy or Chemistry?

There is a difference between chemistry and alchemy. Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter and the way they interact, combine and change. Alchemy is said to be a blend of science, faith, mythology, magic, spirituality and the interaction of cosmic forces. Alchemy is fine wine – juice gently pressed from grapes grown in Mother Earth and introduced to yeast – a living creature whose only purpose is to turn the grape juice softly alcoholic. This magic elixir is then casked in barrels made of slow growth oak to extract the essence and the soul of these majestic trees. The wood is meticulously carved into staves by skilled guildsmen and lightly toasted to coax out the flavors hidden in the wood. These hand crafted vessels are filled with wine and then laid to rest in caves back in the bosom of Mother Earth. All of this elemental interaction marries with time and temperature culminating in a pleasingly alcoholic beverage enjoyed by friends and family and used to celebrate special occasions. Wine is alchemy. Chemistry is grape Kool Aid – citric acid, maltodextrin, calcium phosphate, artificial grape flavoring, red dye number 40 and blue dye number 1 AND made in a lab or factory.
Kool Aid is Kemistry.

Alchemy is Jefferson’s Ocean Rye. No two batches are exactly the same – similar but not the same. The sea provides the motion necessary to ensure maximum contact between the spirit and the barrel. The distillate is made better by the wood and the ocean and the time at which the distillate is magically transformed into Jefferson’s Ocean Rye. Jefferson’s Ocean Rye is clearly a product of alchemy. Alberta Dark Batch Rye may contain an element of chemistry. Canadian whiskies aren’t bound by the same rules and restrictions as American bourbons and whiskeys. Canadian distillers can add caramel colour (see what I did there) to change the appearance of their whisky (again with the Canadian spelling). In the US, additives to whiskey like caramel coloring must be identified and in bourbon – no additional color or flavor is allowed. I cannot find anything that lists the additives in Alberta Dark Batch Rye. It just seemed darker than any rye on my shelf so I was suspicious. I liked it – it is probably the most flavourful (OK, enough with the Canadian spelling) and robust Canadian whisky on my shelf. It is a good rye for 40 bucks and if you see one, pick it up, you likely wouldn’t be disappointed – if you like rye whiskeys. The Jefferson’s Ocean Rye was almost twice the cost (what’s the price? 40 twice) and in my opinion – it is worth that too. These two were very different drinkers – one wasn’t better or worse – just different.

The weather is changing fast and that means spending more time outdoors at camp and, quite frankly, I can’t think of a better place to be. Why? Because it’s always better at camp.