Can there be too much of a good thing?

[xiphias]

Current schwag count includes about twenty books, twenty nip bottles (50 ml) of alcohol, three bottles of bitters (more about that in a moment), three tee-shirts, a half-dozen cocktail shakers, a clock/tip jar, a couple jiggers and seven speed pourers, a vegetable peeler (from the "garnishes" panel), about a half dozen glasses of various sorts -- martini, shot, whatever, spices of all sorts, a jar of hibiscus flowers in syrup, and who knows what-all else.

We have to get this stuff home. Not entirely clear yet how that's going to happen, except that we're not flying back carry-on-only.

For decades, the only company making bitters on anything even approaching a wide scale was Angustora. Peychaud's was still, technically, making some, but it wasn't sold outside of New Orleans, and not that much in the city, either. Fee Brothers had an orange bitters, but almost nobody knew about it.

Now, of course, there are other companies -- Bitter Truth, Bittermans, and a few others, and they're much, much more available.

So, I was at a panel on bitters, and struck up a conversation with the guy next to me. Turns out his name is Joe Fee. He's a youngish guy, really tall, and geeky-cute. He also has a company called Fee Brothers. Yeah, Fee Brothers, which has been around since 1864, is still owned by a Fee.

I really like him. And not just because he handed me a bottle of a product they don't have out yet -- rhubarb bitters. Also a bottle of their limited edition whiskey barrel bitters.

Anyway, before another panel, I was just chatting to the person next to me about that, and the person sitting behind me overheard, and she was a representative from Angustora. So she gave me a bottle of a new product THEY'RE rolling out -- they're finally coming out with an orange bitters of their own. So I got three bottles of bitters more than I used to.

Comments

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Sheesh. That's MUCH better than the loot from sysadmin conferences. (Although there was somebody at the LISA in New Orleans serving hurricanes on the show floor. Oddly enough, I don't remember the company, just the booze. I guess you have to be careful with that kind of thing...)

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Are any of them, besides Stirling, making a blood orange bitters?

[madcaptenor.livejournal.com]

well, you could take the 50 ml bottles on the plane; they're small enough.

(except they probably don't allow alcohol in carry-ons. I don't know; I haven't flown in a while.)

[redbird]

They did last year, after the no-more-than-three-ounces-per-container rule came into effect; on the other hand, "they" was Air Canada, and it's possible the US rules are slightly different on this. (The only difference I'm aware of is that if you're flying out of a Canadian airport, the limit is 100 mL or 100 g, which is slightly more than the 3 ounces the US gives you. But I'm no expert on this.)

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Shipping a box home is probably the safest thing.

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Probably true, find a box and ship it UPS.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Alcohol in carry-on is fine -- but 20 bottles won't fit into a single transparent ziplock bag, which is the other criterion.

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

I agree with those above who suggest shipping it. I know of lots of cases where people get cool stuff in their checked bags stolen by the TSA inspectors, and I'd have to guess that nip bottles and such would be very tempting. Heck, my dad even had a nice watch stolen by the people inspecting his carry-on. They're counting on the probability that you won't notice until much later and too far away to do much about it.