To 2020
Raising a glass and then another. And probably another.
Shaken or stirred, the perfect cocktail is a symphony. An orchestral harmony of distilled liquor, sweet, bitter, or sour mixers, and finished with a garnish. It’s enough to arouse giddy excitement in the best of us, and also the worst.
There are many ways a cocktail comes together.
It could be via the punchy, tangy bite of a Margarita, spicy or otherwise, the clean potency of a martini, the balanced bitterness of a Negroni, or the foreboding swills of a Hanky Panky—a new favorite of mine thanks to lockdown-induced boredom—which marries equal parts gin with sweet vermouth and is capped with two dashes of Fernet Branca.
Of course, there are countless other cocktails, too. Of fruity, smoky, bitter, sweet, and flowery origins. Some are spicy, others mellow. Some make the hairs on your neck stick up, others make shoulders sink or your face melt.
Whatever shape your medicine takes, know that you’ve earned it this year.
2020 has been many things to many people, and lampooning it is too easy. Or maybe it’s too hard. Where does one start? There are too many tragedies, triumphs, tribulations, and seismic events to process, let alone write about.
But some words I heard uttered the other day down by the local dive shop sum up the general feeling of 2020 about as well as anyone could.
Everyone’s tired. And everyone’s tired of being tired.
Tired of being tired.
Ain’t that the truth.
I’m also tired of the ‘unprecedented times’ Corporate America keeps preaching about. The challenging and uncertain times, too. Yep, we get it.
I’m tired of the obsession with celebrity and attention and the constant desire to monetize them.
I’m tired of the idea that big brands are in this together with us, to see us through and be there when we need it most, as long as our wallets are there, too.
I’m tired of the divisive politics that flames hate and erodes the sameness in people; the essential commonalities that bring us together. The posturing and politicking of government suits who claim to serve the best interests of the people when really it’s the best interest of the donors.
I’m tired of the family-comes-first preaching from employers, that rings true until family time gets in the way of another 6:00 pm video call.
I’m tired of the distrust of science and the growing resentment of doctors, physicians, scientists, researchers, and other modern-day saviors. I’m tired of the ridiculous idea that all these people are somehow involved in a global conspiracy for mass vaccinations, squeezing their deep-state agenda through hypodermic needles into the fleshy arms of innocent people.
By the way, if that is the case and COVID-19 is just one big conspiracy and the hundreds of thousands of people all over the world working in government, science, and healthcare are all in on it, then I need to know how to gain that kind of stakeholder buy-in. Because I can’t get a tweet approved without 47 suggested edits and approvals. I can’t fathom what it takes to gain consensus for a worldwide plot to shut down economies and harm and kill millions of people. It must be some deck the deep state is working with.
The absurdity of it all.
You can probably pick up on the disdain here and that brings me back to cocktails—the premier coping mechanism for my discontentment.
I prefer my cocktails heavy on the liquor and light on the sweetness. I like to taste the intoxication. It softens those sharp edges a little more effectively and balances out the acidity of life a little more eloquently.
As 2020 reaches its crescendo, I hope you find your solace. Whether it’s at the bottom of a cocktail glass or not is up to you. I’ll be working on a rye Manhattan, maybe two, and raising my glass to a brighter new year.
Cheers to good health and kindness.
And thanks for reading.
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*chef’s kiss*
Allan