Oh, it's not about underage sex today. There's a clear answer for that.

Have you bought any imported wine or alcohol recently?


I was at the local packie yesterday. I decided that I needed some gin, and also realized that I hadn't had any brandy in the house in a while. (I've got some Applejack right now, which is our unofficial Masonic drink.)

I was after some "Aviation" Gin, which is my current favourite - but curiously, the shelves were mostly empty at the store. This has been pretty constant all year, as there has been an ongoing strike in New York City involving some 600 truckdrivers that has had a spillover effect in New England. In any case, no Aviation was to be had - and the rest of the selections were either ultra-high-end or rotgut. I was able to find a bottle of my #2, which is Bombay Dry Gin (not Sapphire, curiously) which is imported from England.

Despite the threadbare shelves, it was actually on sale for roughly the normal price here - about $23 for 750 ml.

But let's move on to the brandy aisle. It was emptier than the Gin aisle. But they had my favourite - Italian "Stock 84". It's probably not on anybody's radar, but I like that one. As I often note, "I like expensive Scotch and cheap Brandy". It's normally about $10, as it's considered 'bottom-shelf' in these parts. Not yesterday - it was listed at $18 for the bottle, and I'll be the first to tell you - it's not worth that much.

So are there tariffs or not? One of the made-up deadlines was supposed to be August 1. But in my research today, it seems to indicate that a deal was reached, and the universal tariff on EU goods was capped at just 15%, with a potential carve-out for wine and liquor sales. (Please note, the Fox link is intentional, as I supposed they would actually have the most accurate reporting on their hero in this regard.)



Another, perhaps more accurate source indicates a tariff of 50% on all EU goods at this time. So, my mileage did actually vary in this instance.

Then there's cigars. Most of my preferred brands come from the Dominican Republic, which now has a 10% tariff. My main source, LJ Peretti in Boston, is a mega-shop with more than a century in business, so their prices haven't reflected the increase that I could tell.

But come on, cigars? There's only one manufacturer of note in the US - that would be Drew Estate, a brand I do not like. There are still machine-made cigars that you know. Brands like Backwoods, Black & Mild and Phillies, but no serious cigar afficionado is smoking those regularly. Is he really trying to resurrect a non-existent manufacturing sect by getting cigars made in a America? Sorry, the best ones never were.

In any case - like all directives from Cloud-Cuckoo Land, it's hard to say what is real and what isn't. Who are you going to believe anyway, Fux Gnus, or your own lyin' eyes??