Just back from a work retreat, and my head is swimming with ideas. A proper post later this week.
Monthly Archives: June 2014
Terse Tuesday 5
I feel very privileged to have two families that make me feel loved and wanted: the family into which I was born, and the one into which I married.
Photo Friday
I’m working on a couple longer posts right now, but in the meantime, here’s a peek at some of the whiskies currently on my bar cart:
In case you can’t see, in behind the scotches and the local whisky are Bushmills Single Malt 10 Years, The Tyrconnell Single Malt, The Wild Geese Irish Soldiers and Heroes Rare Irish Whiskey, Jameson Select Reserve, Green Spot Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, and Bushmills Black Bush. Not pictured: Redbreast 12 Year. That I have a bottle of that in the house goes without saying.
Obviously, my collection is heavily weighted toward the Irish whiskies (and will continue to be), but I’m looking to add a few bourbons (namely, the Hudson Baby Bourbon and my much-loved Woodford Reserve) and another Canadian whisky. And, of course, I’m always open to suggestions.
As an aside, if you click on the Green Spot and Redbreast links above, you’ll find some lovely, short whiskey-nerd documentaries. Highly recommended!
Terse Tuesday 4
Toronto is for tourists in summer, when each weekend arrives with another street festival and road closure. But in forcing us off our well-trodden routes, these festivals give us Torontonians the opportunity to be tourists ourselves, and that’s something to be embraced, not lamented.
They’re crafty
Ah, those cunning marketers!
While browsing one of my favourite online women’s magazines, Ireland’s IMAGE, I came across a post on a recent marketing campaign supporting Jameson Select Reserve Black Barrel. With the whiskey’s iconic barrels and the artistry of master cooper Ger Buckley as inspiration, four Irish artisans created pieces celebrating both the Jameson brand and their own artistic heritage.
The pieces–a leather apron, a trestle table, a holster bag, and a tweed cap–are lovely in themselves, but what really struck me were the resulting ad spots highlighting these partnerships. There’s a romantic, almost sensual, quality to them, but they still seem quite masculine. (Maybe the company’s decision to go with male artisans has coloured my perception? I wonder what partnerships with female artisans would have produced?) I couldn’t help but be taken in by these ads. The pride in Irish craftsmanship and tradition feels genuine to me, and confidence is so very attractive. I may now have to buy a bottle of Select Reserve for my collection.
So well done, marketers. Or as they say in Ireland, fair play to you.
Terse Tuesday 3
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
– T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, Section V
Tomorrow is the last class of the last course in my corporate communications program. I’m ready.
Wanderlust 