September 23, 2005
Last summer I was pointed toward a new-old small-batch bourbon known as Old Pogue. It marks the Pogue family's recent attempt to get Old Distillery No. 3 back into working order. Prohibition decimated their quality and brand as it did to many fine bourbons.
Anyway, the new Old Pogue, which is X years old is really quite remarkable. Rather than simply occupying spaces on the smooth-woody, mellow-harsh spectra, it has some peculiar but not unpleasant notes of its own; a certain accent of something almost like mint. My father says he is not sure he would like to drink it regularly, even though he doesn't dislike it. I think I just might want to.
I believe it is only available in D.C., New York, and bourbon country (Kentucky and Indiana), but if you're in one of those places, and interested in experimenting, it is worth an investigation.
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While I am impatiently waiting for the next volume in David Currie's Constitution in Congress series (Descent Into The Maelstrom) to come out, it occurred to me that there were other Currie texts I could use to hold myself over. (I have already read all of his articles that have not been superseded by books.)
For example, The Constitution in The Supreme Court: The First Hundred Years. The book is what it sounds like-- an amazingly readable and largely complete tour through a century of constitutional decisions. The lessons are that John Marshall had a lot more lousy opinions than you would think, and Taney had a few more good ones; Waite was a surprisingly competent Chief Justice, and the dormant commerce clause appears to have simply baffled the entire bench to no end.
Given that I read Currie's Congress books first, it is strange to imagine that this Supreme Court history helped make his name. It is fascinating stuff, but even the likes of Miller, Waite, and Curtis pale in comparison to Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, or even George Badger. A government of laws and not of men, and all that, I guess.
[50 Book Challenge]
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