"Ah, is it supposed to be like this? Isn't whiskey supposed to stop developing once it's bottled? A fifty-year-old whiskey bottled forty years ago would only have ten years of aging, right?" The Devilish Lolita voiced her small concern, as the upcoming moment was her last chance for a stunning breakthrough; she couldn't afford to waste it.
"Limited edition."
"Limited edition, eh, what Summer said seems to make sense! Okay, Artie will listen to Summer then!" But Artie Vaughn quickly controlled her emotions: "Summer, you'd better come find Artie quickly. If you don't come soon, Artie might just swoop down on the handsome guy."
A month ago, Summer Fairmont inherited more than six hundred barrels of raw whiskey.
Under the right storage conditions, each barrel can fill about 160 bottles.
If all the whiskey inherited by Summer Fairmont were bottled, the number would exceed 100,000 bottles.
But bottling whiskey is a very professional process; it even gives rise to the profession of independent bottlers.
The aging of whiskey is a very complex process. Many whiskeys, due to excessive alcohol evaporation or various other issues, need blending during bottling.
The bottle of whiskey Artie brought back to the country was from a barrel of whiskey brewed fifty years ago, opened by Artie and Summer Fairmont.
But what they did was definitely not the best outcome for that barrel of whiskey.
Whiskey and baijiu are both grain-distilled spirits, yet they are very different.
Besides the most known aspect, where whiskey is fermented with yeast and Chinese baijiu is fermented with Qu, there's also the final bottling and blending process.
Whiskey blends many different distilleries' products together to achieve the best expressive effect.
But no famous baijiu brand would blend products from other distilleries to make their liquor taste better.
For example, mixing the sauce-flavored Aurora Wine with the strong-scented Blue River Liquor to create a blend with sauce and strong fragrance.
This example is not saying Chinese baijiu doesn't have blended types, like Baiyunbian is a typical representative with sauce and strong fragrance.
But Baiyunbian is crafted by the distillery itself, not a new liquor named by mixing Aurora Wine and Blue River Liquor together.
This is not the Winters' way.
But in whiskey, blending with other distilleries' products, even those from vanished distilleries, to achieve their desired final expression is considered very sophisticated.
In addition to blending with other distilleries' products, whiskey also emphasizes the blending of its own years' products.
For example, the currently popular single malt whiskey, "single" does not mean the same malt, but refers to blending different years of single malt whiskey from the same distillery.
The age labeled on the bottle is the youngest whiskey in the blend.
Admittedly, whiskey today has also started the trend of single cask aged whiskey.
But that requires that the single cask itself is very impressive and has aged to the best bottling "age."
If one casually picks an unblended, oak-cask-aged fifty-year whiskey, it may not be suitable for direct bottling.
Obsessed with drinking the strongest spirits and living the coolest life, Summer Fairmont loves whiskeys like the Robin, with an alcohol content above 57.7%, or even like Aberlour and Glenfarclas 105 with over 60%.
Summer Fairmont even enjoys drinking 63% Booker's and 72% George T. Stagg whiskey, which are not what the average person could merrily "enjoy."
The majority drinks whiskey around 40% ABV.
From the few calls Artie made to her, Summer Fairmont could guess that The Pouting Siren's return for a tasting event was not going smoothly.
Therefore, rather than choosing based on her personal preference, Summer Fairmont preferred to trust the brewer's personally bottled limited edition forty years ago.
If Artie called about something else, Summer Fairmont believed that Artie's brother, who adored her to the core, would surely help solve it.
But liking a boy is mostly something that needs friends.
Two years ago, Artie made a promise with Summer Fairmont that if she liked a boy, she would definitely tell Summer right away to help check him out.
Summer Fairmont responded with a blank-faced "Got it."
When she agreed at the time, Summer Fairmont didn't think this would turn into a cross-national, cross-continental promise.
But a promise exists for people to fulfill.
Having promised Artie, it must be executed without compromise.
Otherwise, Summer Fairmont was very aware of the situation she would face next.
Once, Summer Fairmont forgot to bring an electric bottle opener on the way to Artie's house, and The Pouting Siren inundated her with over 1800 times of year-round nonstop coquettish complaints for 365 days.
Even averaging it, it surpassed 4.9315 times a day.
Artie highly values the tiny promises between her and Summer Fairmont, and she never treats such small matters with a "goldfish memory."
Artie demands this of Summer Fairmont and herself; this small stubbornness makes Summer Fairmont relish it despite being complained to over 1800 times.
In Artie, there is a purity and recklessness that Summer Fairmont longs for but never had.
Based on the past, which remains vivid in her memory.
Summer Fairmont said nothing and just started packing her bags.
Besides the promise, it's also because Artie returned to the country for her own matter.
Summer Fairmont is quite unfamiliar with Celestar.
She is not like Artie, who has a brother who would expend all efforts domestically for her perpetual happiness and peace.
What Summer Fairmont has is the sole ray of light piercing into her heart after eighteen years of darkness, which she holds onto with all her might.
She must say goodbye to her past life.
She must reconcile with her past self.