I recently acquired a very interesting whisky, Laphroaig Quarter Cask. It is now available locally at a profoundly low price, if one indulges oneself to think in dollars: 180,000 LL, so less than $25. Much could be, and certainly has been, written about it, its relatives, and many other spiritual endeavors. What struck me was the parade of flavors, and how each time I try it, it is a different parade. From this, I finally begin to appreciate the vast (vaster than empires, and more slow), and sometimes peculiar, lexicon employed to describe whiskies. Wine’s vocabulary pales, and beer’s passes unnoticed. Being unable to compete with the masters on the subject of whisky, instead, I am inspired to describe Lebanon as if it were a whisky, with the progression over the last 25 years or so.

NOSE: Luxury, ostentation, over-confidence, greed, conspicuous consumption, living beyond one’s means, expensive SUV, trophy wife, private school, high-interest rate, boom economy, construction cranes, Cuban cigar and shish kebab grilling over oak-charcoal (initial smoke), wedding fireworks, bribed bureaucrat, domestic servants, import-export, notes of mountain cedar, foreign travel, expensive Swiss watch, traffic jams, wild herbs, and beach club, seafood, and bikini (initial maritime associations).

TASTE: Political unrest, car-bombs, riots and assassinations, conspiracy theories, house fires and burning tires (continued smokiness), roadblocks, flares, honk parades, skirmishes, RPGs, ammonium nitrate, uncollected garbage, corrupt politicians, dirty money, graft, nepotism, spoiled children, counterfeit goods, Ponzi schemes, unpaid workers, screeching scooter brake pads, and debt

FINISH: Smoking rubble and cigarette butts (smoky finish), broken glass, abandoned property, beggars, sunken ships and life-vests and rotting fish (again maritime associations), capital controls, riots, economic collapse, devastation, police brutality, empty streets, wrack and ruin, refugees, global warming, deforestation, bankruptcy, abject poverty, car accidents and train wrecks, bitter hunger, emigration, boot-heels, untreated sewage, and diesel fuel.