So, my new Glencairn glasses arrived this morning, and I thought I'd break 'em in with something a little special. I popped into my second-choice liquor store (the one with the ten to twenty dollar markups over what I usually pay) and whaddaya know, hiding in the back of one shelf was a dusty, beatup box containing a bottle of 21 year old, blended Japanese whisky.

Now, Japanese malt whisky is basically Scotch, and Scotch is a very complex drink -- the color, body, aroma, taste, and aftertaste of your dram are the elements by which you judge a good Scotch from a great one, and Japanese whisky not only meets Scotch on its own terms, it brings its own strengths, namely the flavors imparted by aging the spirit in native mizunara oak, lending it a fruitiness and spiciness quite different from that imparted by western oak.

Anyway, this bottle I found was a whisky I'd heard of, but never seen before. Japanese whisky is pricey, but hell, I was ready to splurge a little; my hubby and I would both enjoy it. I brought it up to the counter for a price check, smiling.

It was over $1,200.

For one bottle.

"Oh god," I said. "It was a nice thought." I had to wonder, did these guys keep that bottle on hand just to fuck with customers and see how they'd react? Who knows?

I schlepped over to my first-choice liquor store and bought a bottle of Yoichi single malt. Smoky, funky, not a whisky to be taken lightly, but tasty as hell. And considerably less than twelve hundred dollars a bottle. Not bad for a consolation prize.

It broke in my Glencairn glasses just fine.