It's Just a Guide, or Ode to a Blackberry

It's just a Guide.  It's important to remember that a maraschino cherry is only a guide -- it's not gospel.  Tonight I boldly dropped a blackberry into my Whiskey Sour, passing right over maraschino cherries in the refrigerator door, and lightning has not struck me dead, although the Crown Royal might. 

The other day a friend (you know who you are!) described having a vat of Crown Royal in her cabinet and a hankering for a Whiskey Sour, so she asked for Guide guidance.  I sent her the recipe and she described the resultant drink  as wanting; sipping this one I have the same reaction.  Perhaps the problem is that most of us, in our whiskey sour days, drank mediocre whiskey and used a sour mix, probably powdered (that's how I mixed my mom's), and so that's how our taste buds have been trained.  This one, with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar, to say nothing of the Crown, is different and, I'll admit, growing on me. 

We actually have two stashes of Crown in our home -- one in a nightstand drawer (do the math), and the other in a flask that I have kept over the years exclusively for trips to the McNay.  Who can imagine why, so many years ago, the McNay Art Museum seemed a place to sip Crown from a flask.  I like the way the security guards take notice; my take is that at first glance they suspect I have a camera (oh no!), and then relax when they see it's only a flask.  I like that in a security guard. 

I love the McNay, and one of my favorite early memories of San Antonio 20 years ago was learning that it was within walking distance of my home, and free.   How things have changed.