Drinking to Average

I've heard alcohol described as "an affordable luxury," and I think that's a great description.  Even a bottle of booze that costs 300 bucks is easier to get your hands on than say, a yacht, or a fancy vacation.  Still, most of us are on a budget, and can't just buy any bottle that grabs our eye.  My solution?  Drinking to average.  The best way I can explain it is simply by telling you about a recent restocking of my liquor cabinet.

I was pouring a taste of bourbon one night and realized that, while my current collection has some stellar entries--Pappy 15, William Larue Weller, Aberlour A'bundh--I was a little light in "everyday" whiskies.  As much as I complain about the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, their Fine Wine and Good Spirits shop is a great place for this type of need.  They have a half decent selection of bourbon, and their sale prices are great.  I scanned the shelves and saw that Booker's, from the Jim Beam Small Batch Collection, was 5 bucks off.  $42 for Booker's is a solid price, but still a bit more than I wanted to spend on everyday stuff.  Another sale item was Benchmark, Buffalo Trace's budget bourbon (comes in a plastic container).  I've had it before and while it's not memorable, it straddles the line of inoffensive/pleasant quite nicely, and will be great for filling my decanter.  It was $18.99 with a $3 mail in rebate, final price $15.99 for 1.75 ml.  That's more than two bottles of bourbon.  I grabbed it, along with the Booker's, and a bottle of my standby house bourbon, Buffalo Trace, at $21.99.  A total of about $80 for more than 4 bottles of bourbon.  That puts the average bottle at sub $20.  Now, on any given Tuesday night, I will have a choice of three bourbons, and won't feel guilty if I do choose the Booker's.  I will also preserve my higher end and harder to find whiskies. 

And that's drinking to average.