Special…But Not Too Special
If you want to go out for drinks this Christmas season, and there’s a special place you’re thinking of, one you only go for special occasions, once or twice a year…you’ve got to ask yourself a question. Why do you think it’s going to be open?
We talked about this in Episode 55. I was at Pine Grove Hall, a nice restaurant about half an hour from us, and drinking some finely crafted and beautifully balanced cocktails. They included a range of relatively rare and expensive spirits, various housemade tinctures and elixirs, and exceptional garnishes; most memorably the pickled pine cones.
And I said to you, on the podcast, that we should talk about the cost, because it’s important at times like these, though maybe not the way you think it is. I’m not here to tell you ‘Wow, this place is pricey!’
No, drinking at Pine Grove Hall is by no means cheap. But neither is it outrageously expensive. And so I want to emphasize something that the bartender said, somewhat reluctantly, but with truth: “If you want your favorite bars to be there, you need to be able to financially support them.”
What does that mean? Well, it means that like public radio or like your local coffee shop, they need your full-time support. Not just when you want them for a splurge, but more often than that. He’s not saying that you shouldn’t go unless you can afford to go every week, some kind of ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it’ snobbery. No, he’s saying that if you want a place to be available regularly, you have to go there regularly. It’s not some weird solipsism where the place waits in suspended animation, waiting for you to come back. They’ve got to make drinks and cook meals every week, and every week you don’t go in, that’s less of a chance it will be there when you want to.
That goes for a lot of things: your favorite breweries, condiments, butcher shops, cheeses, candies. If you want them to be there for Christmas splurges, for instance, you need to strongly consider making them a more regular stop. As a good friend of mine, Matt Guyer, says, “I don’t have a Hershey bar every day of the week. I have a piece of really good chocolate once a week.”
Having the good stuff, having a really good cocktail, available when you want it, needs some effort and expense on your part. Buying local, buying special, is…well, it’s a commitment. I can’t lie. It costs more, and God knows, everything does lately. Local often means no economies of scale, no shortcuts, and that commitment is real, and has a literal price.
But I think, I’ve found, that paying that price, making that commitment, makes my life better in a number of ways. And it isn’t always more expensive, either. Sometimes it’s surprisingly affordable, and you’ll wonder why you pay top dollar for something that’s not really as good, or as sustainable, or as special.
I just bought a wine rack for my wife, directly from the small business in Vermont that makes them, a family business with under 40 employees. Buying it direct cost less than buying it from Amazon, and more of the money goes to the people who actually make it. (And yes, when you buy my books directly from me…more of the money goes to the person who writes them!)
I like that. My commitment in this case was taking the time to seek out how to buy direct, and the reward was both monetary and ethical.
I encourage you to explore your commitment to supporting local businesses. I encourage you to take a look at the list of local retailers we’ve got going for central Pennsylvania over in the Podcast blog, and to build your own index of local retailers, artisans, restaurants, and, of course, brewers, distillers, cider makers and wineries.
Now go out there and try things, while they’re still there. Make the commitment.