Cheers!

I've started drinking my coffee black, more as a means to make my wife happy than anything else (don't ask). What I've found is that I actually prefer it that way.

I had no idea what I was missing - the aroma, the taste - until I abandoned all of the additives and just experienced the coffee.

I'm become very particular about it as well. I used to be happy to just walk into any ol' place because I was relatively certain I'd get the same faux-vanilla- or faux-hazelnut-flavored drink regardless of where I was.

Now I'm developing an internal list of preferences. QuikTrip - passable. Starbucks - okay but bitter, but then again I've always patronized them for the ambiance and cute baristas, and that won't change. McDonald's - food is still crap, but surprisingly good coffee.

Because I'm impatient, I always add (depending upon the size of the travel mug) an ice cube or three so I don't have to wait to drink it.

And that brings me to scotch, in a way.

I began to wonder, as I approach my silver anniversary in four months, what else have I been missing out on?

I've always been a light social drinker - beer, wine, an occasional Bailey's - but have always, with the exception of the rare rum-and-Diet-Coke, avoided the harder stuff. But, what if...?

So I came home from work one day last week, dropped a couple of ice cubes (see how it came around?) into a stem-less wine glass, and poured some scotch from our modest liquor cabinet into the glass.

Of course, it wasn't quite all that spontaneous. I had done a little research beforehand. The websites devoted to how to select, partake of, and appreciate all the various libations is legion - my iPhone Safari cache is evidence of that.

And I am well on my way to becoming the same sort of scotch snob that I've become regarding coffee - not quite a know-it-all, but certainly careening towards unbearably pompous.

I've got my eye on a $55 bottle of 15 year old scotch that I will buy as soon as I get the go-ahead from my wife.

Until then, I will continue to endure her snarky comments about my new passion (oh, poor me!) until she finds something else to ride me about. Ironically, another benefit of the scotch...

In the meantime - cheers to both my coffee-loving and scotch-loving friends!