Pick-A-Day

Archives

Whatchamacallit 133: Tidewalker Whiskey

Tidewalker Whiskey

I bought this bottle of whiskey last August in Portland, Maine.

Portland, Maine, was the second of three stops I made in New England: the first was Western Massachusetts to see a high school friend; the third Boston to meet other friends.

I chose Portland because I’d never been there – I’ve been to (and love) its western eponym.

My plan was to explore the city, watch some baseball, and eat lots of lobster rolls.

Unfortunately, this part of my trip was marred by the fact that I arrived in town with an utterly massive cold, maybe even the flu. I’d been fine in Western Massachusetts, but when I got on the bus to Portland, I thought to myself, “I’m not feeling so great.” By the time I got to the hotel, I got a box that was waiting for me, took my suitcase, and went straight into my room and even faster into bed.

I did venture out that afternoon, going to a nearby Rite-Aid that was days away from being rebranded Walgreens. As a result, I got to enjoy store-brand drugs that eased my pain at 50% off their regular price. I also went to the Portland Food Co-op next door, where I watched an attractive young man who was visiting the area buy a nice variety of foods that he was clearly going to cook for dinner: had I not been incredibly sick and unable to talk, I would have asked him about it – instead I paid for my pre-made sandwich and a variety of other healthy snacks before walking back to my hotel and going to back to bed.

I wonder how I would handle this kind of illness in the Covid-19 era.

By the next morning, I wasn’t feeling spritely, but I also was not feeling awful – rather, I had a rude awakening when the fire alarm went off – so I grabbed some clothes, descended the stairs, and watched Portland’s finest make sure that the errant waffle iron hadn’t set the building ablaze.

Well into my era of buying local whisk(e)y wherever I travel, I’d already planned my big Portland, Maine, whiskey purchase: Tidewalker – distilled in Portland by New England Distilling; LLC. This is a bottle of Batch 13.

I do not know how much I paid for this bottle, but I can tell you that it does have a “ME/VT 15¢ DEPOSIT” – as clearly stated on the back of the bottle. One wonders how frequently the empties are returned.

This is one that I am looking forward to opening – I hope that one is able to taste the coast. That said, there do not seem to be any accessible reviews of the product. All I can find is the distillery’s own description:

Tidewalker is an old Maine term for logs that made it all the way down river and bobbed around in the inter-tidal zone wreaking a little navigational havoc; a fitting name for a bourbon whiskey distilled on the coast of Maine. Tidewalker is made from corn, local barley, caramel malt and a generous portion of wheat. It’s a crisp bourbon with flavors of corn, maple syrup and toasted pecan, transitioning to cocoa and dried apricot.

Prost!


During the Covid-19 crisis, I am going to try and make a point of writing a blog post about an object in my home.

We’ll see how long this lasts.

Comments are closed.