Drink

DEFIANT drinking

by DAVID BURRIS

II DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT WHISKEY, BUT I KNOW ONE THING: IT IS good. Whiskey has inspired writers, musicians, and artists to strive for greatness. It has kept bridegrooms even-keeled before the altar. It has brought soldiers strength as they’ve faced the horrors of the battlefi eld. It has helped mankind battle the dis-ease of everyday living. It has made my belly warm at football games. ese are all good things. e whiskey I am writing about here, North Carolina’s own Defi ant American Single Malt Whisky, is a very, very good thing. It has a uniquely defi ned character and yet is still a whiskey of wide-ranging possibility. It’s also a product of North Carolina, which for me, being an unapologetically proud Tarheel, is a very good thing. I’d like to point out that this fi ne Tarheel hootch is spelled “whisky” rather than “whiskey.” As far as my research goes, it seems to be the fi rst American whiskey spelled without the “e” – as both the Scotch and Canadian varieties are spelled. Defi ant indeed. No surprise om a whisky distilled here in the Tarheel state, born om our stubborn and defi ant nature. is fi ne hootch has kept me company during an odd year in my life – many strange moments along many strange trails. I’ve circumvented the globe twice already, and my big takeaway so far is that I could use a nap. A slightly less profound takeaway: When I roam, I like to have something om home to provide a bit of a touchstone. Defi ant Whisky has done the job. ree instances follow:

#1 RALEIGH, N.C. Straight from the bottle My fi rst movie, e World Made Straight, hit theaters on January 9. It was uncharted territory. It was nerve-wracking. e anxiety that was arabesque-ing its way around my noggin was only relieved by the cold fear that machete-ed its way into my gut. e premiere shindig was in Raleigh at the N.C. Museum of History. On the one hand, it was something I was excited about, because so many iends and family would be there. On the other hand, it was something I was anxious about, because so many iends and family would be there. ere would be classmates om Chapel Hill, Broughton, Martin, Lacy. ere would be iends of my parents om First Baptist Church and Meredith

College. There would be former bandmates. There would be ex-girlfriends.

Before the screening, I posted up in the lobby to say “hey” and thank people for coming. From across the room my friend, publicist, and one-woman-support system Michelle Yelton clocked that my head was swimming (the backstroke, she later told me). She pulled me aside and handed me a handsome bottle that I’d never seen before – a bottle of Defiant American Single Malt Whisky – and told me to “go put it in my car” – code for “go outside and take a cheeky pull off of this thing… and I mean NOW.” So I did.

Straight from the bottle, the reassuring, smoky bite of this fine whisky calmed me down and made me very warm inside. With clear eyes I looked more closely at the label – distilled by the Blue Ridge Distilling Co. of Golden Valley, N.C., only a few miles from the setting and filming location of my movie: a pleasing bit of serendipity… Good. #2 BANGKOK, THAILAND With two cubes of ice

About two weeks later, I touched down in Bangkok to begin developing an upcoming film project. I brought a bottle of Defiant, my new favorite North Carolina whisky, with me. A wee bit of home in a mad city of warm, lovely, layered chaos. Bangkok is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s longest city name:

Krungthep Mahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathani Buriromudomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amonphimon Awatansathit Sakkathattiya Witsanu Kamprasit.

“The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of god Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnu.”

It’s quite a town. Among other things, a town built by Vishnu, apparently, the creator and destroyer of all existences: Clearly, a town perfect for whisky.

The complex layers of Defiant Whisky meshed splendidly with the complex layers of Bangkok. I took to having a glass with two cubes of ice after those spectacularly spicy Thai meals. A perfect after-dinner drink for the City of Angels… Good.

#3: VENICE BEACH, CALIFORNIA In an Old Fashioned

“What could possibly go wrong with an Old Fashioned?,” said actor Jim Backus (Mr. Howell from Gilligan’s Island) in the film It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Answer: nothing.

Back in Venice Beach (where my house is only a short hop from the “Big » continued on p.127