I think we'll be okay.

Cheers!

I don't believe lancero shaped cigars are appreciated enough. The slender cigars average 7 - 7.5 inches in length, and a 38 ring gauge is typical. They do require a bit of extra attention when smoking to keep the burn going, at the same time striving to not heat up the cigar by puffing too frequently. They also require skilled rollers to produce a balanced and well-constructed cigar. As such, they are typically more expensive than their more standard sized counterparts. 

One of my favorites smokes in the classy vitola, is the Artesano del Tobacco Viva La Vida. The Nicaraguan puro is rolled in the AJ Fernando factory. It features a Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro 2000 wrapper, a Nicaraguan Corojo 99 binder, and a  Nicaraguan Criollo 98 filler. The full bodied cigar features notes of pepper, leather, chocolate and cream. It's truly an enjoyable smoke. The lancero vitola of Viva La Vida is a Luxury Cigar Club exclusive. 

This cigar was paired with Larceny Barrel Proof bourbon Larceny Barrel. This bottle is Batch B522, released May 2022. It is an "allocated" bourbon in Virginia but I was fortunate enough to hit a store at the right time to purchase it in September 2022. The bourbon comes in at 123.8 proof. This sipper brings notes of brown sugar, cinnamon, with some readiness. It's a moderately warm finish as the pepper and spice comes to the forefront in the finish.

This stick was the last of a five pack I purchased in May 2022. I'll be looking to order more soon.

Cheers!

I first mused about the shenanigans or incompetence, take your pick, at the Virginia ABC here. Now it seems VA ABC is also quite adept at digging itself into a hole. On May 23, this was posted on the Virginia ABC Twitter feed.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

Cheers!

This is a coffee mug I've had for many years. The writing was starting to fade, but it felt good in the hand. It will be missed. However, coffee mugs seem to accumulate over the years, so there are plenty more waiting in the wings.

Cheers!

Other than the occasional local IDPA match, recent experience at the MD State Championship notwithstanding, I've been sorely lacking in my time spent at the range simply practicing. The matches, while fun, provide just 50 - 60 rounds downrange, and nothing in the way of repeated drills. Shooting is a perishable skill and I've lamented the lack of consistency I've developed. Reviewing my journal, it revealed I have not been to the range to practice since May of 2021. Shame on me.

As warmer weather settles in, I have vowed to change that. I've blocked time on my calendar to hopefully allow more trips to the local range. That activity kicked off this week. Loading the car took extra time due to cleaning the spider webs and nests from the range supply box that had sat untouched for so long. I took both the Full Size and Compact SIG P320 guns to work with. I've shot the Compact exclusively in matches since early 2021. 

A Long Missed View

The search for hard-to-find bourbon in Virginia is a challenge. The State controls the sale of distilled beverages through their own distribution system and retail stores, known as the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (VA ABC). It's a huge money making scheme, that at the same time creates a manipulated supply and demand for sought after spirits. It's a system any Marxist government would be proud of. For more than a decade there have been pushes to privatize sales of alcohol, which are met with strong resistance from the "revenuers." 

About a year ago, Virginia began supposedly randomizing the distribution of certain spirits, mostly bourbon, to its stores. The stores sit on the stock of "allocated" beverages until, supposedly without any advance notice, until the State decrees certain stores are "authorized to sell any limited availability products in stock." Emails and social media posts are sent out and enthusiasts rush to the listed stores. (Example notification here.) Most of the spirits are limited to three or six bottles of a variety in any given store, and the specific products made available is varied and unknown until one arrives at the store.

The system is not without issues. There have been incidents when an included store actually had no allocated stock to sell. I've arrived at my nearby store in as little as 17 minutes after the announcement, only to see lines out the door and the shelves picked bare of the most sought after spirits. Even if there is a selection left, purchases are limited to one bottle per customer per day from all the limited availability products offered in any location.

The State also runs periodic lotteries for the allocated bourbons. A selection of the allocated beverages is made available through a lottery, in which the winners are given the opportunity to purchased the selected bottle. The listed items may have available quantities from two to several hundred. Entries received for each product are typically upward of 25,000. Not great odds. 

It as been rumored that in April 2022 lottery, ALL of the winners had last names starting with the letter A, or the entrant has inserted a space before their last name. That leads one to believe that the lotteries have long been handled incompetently and unprofessionally. Suspicions around the lottery were heightened this week, in what VA ABC described as a "statistically abnormal" occurrence when a few lucky folks won multiple bottles.

I was surprised last week to read in a Virginia bourbon enthusiasts Facebook group a post from someone claiming to show his lottery winnings of three of the four bottles. I was naturally skeptical, until I saw more discussions on Facebook and Reddit, and subsequent media release by the agency.

The "statistically abnormal results" are revealed by VA ABC here, 

"Two entrants won all four products; 50 entrants won three products; and 229 entrants won two products. There were 978 total winners for 1,313 available products. The lottery was conducted April 19-23. Winners and non-winners of the lottery were notified on May 12. Virginia ABC is honoring the results and selling the products in line with the lottery terms and conditions."

 . . . 

"George T. Stagg Bourbon – 37,485 entries and awarded 770 bottles = 1 in 48.68 chance of winning

"Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye – 35,828 entries and awarded 286 bottles = 1 in 125.27 chance of winning

"William Larue Weller Bourbon – 37,416 entries and awarded 209 bottles = 1 in 179.02 chance of winning

"Sazerac Rye 18 Year Old – 35,492 entries and awarded 48 bottles = 1 in 739.41 chance of winning"

To describe one person winning all four as "statistically abnormal" is a stretch. Two people winning all four is goes beyond that. VA ABC says "Everyone who enters during the 3-day period has an equal chance of being selected. Odds depend on the number of entries received and the number of bottles available." Obviously that statement is blatantly false, without apology. The VA ABC statement says the normal process was used for the drawing. If that was the case, this would be a normal occurrence. Social media posts described the selection process to be one of manual sorting, review, and lots of cutting and pasting in Excel. Not something one would expect from a well-funded state agency. Or maybe, exactly what one would expect.

I do not doubt that advance word of the random store drops is made available in some cases to friends and family, maybe even for profit. The unusual lottery results in May could be a matter of incompetence and lack of oversight, or some as yet undiscovered corruption. In any event, the Virginia ABC is struggling to prove both competence and integrity. The state should stop issuing noncommittal and meaningless statements, and replace the system and the people behind it. Or better yet, respect private enterprise and get out of the alcohol distribution business.

Cheers!

There's an update with more head shaking absurdity here.

 Quafftide: Noun. Time for a drink, especially an alcoholic one. Circa 1582. 

Source: Words and Phrases from the Past.

Cheers!

Most of these are from Tuckahoe Creek Park on 5/20. The feeder shots are from the backyard.

More and larger photos.