Welcome to the Whisk(e)y Warrior Award!
On the first of every month, someone is awarded the prodigious title of Whisk(e)y Warrior. A question and answer interview is conducted with the valiant warrior, and then distributed to the world! What is a Whisk(e)y Warrior? Find out more by clicking here.
And now, we proudly present your Whisk(e)y Warrior.
He’s a super human whiskey hero. His abilities include the power to withstand cask strength whiskey, neat. The ability to K.O. whiskey stigmas. And the super hosting skill to form a whiskey meetup. He is…
Metahuman Dave, Whisk(e)y Warrior!
Interview:
Zac: Tell me a little bit about yourself, where did you grow up, and where are you living now?
Dave: I was born and raised in New York. I’m from Long Island NY. My wife and I are actually from Long Island and in 2010 is when we moved out here to San Diego.
Zac: What do you do for work?
Dave: I actually repaired car rims back in the day, that’s what I did in NY and that’s what helped me move out here. I got a job while we were on vacation, but eventually, my wife and I ended up opening a gym which we call Metahuman Fitness. Hence why I’m a metahuman being.
Zac: Oh ok, I was wondering where the “metahuman” came from. That’s awesome.
Dave: So we’re comic book geeks, she’s Wonder Woman and she calls me Superman. We kept the gym a very nerdy geeky comic book feel. Earlier this year we closed the commercial gym and we have a handful of clients that we still work with and she has an online class that she teaches.
Zac: How did you get into whiskey?
Dave: Moving from NY to San Diego, San Diego is the craft beer capital of the world. It’s crazy how many breweries are out here. So, we would do the brewery thing all the time going to different places, trying different beers and eventually I just got beered out. So, I moved on to whiskey, and it was actually Johnny Walker Black and it just started snowballing from there.
Zac: What made you transition into sharing whiskey with others?
Dave: We would do all these potlucks at my gym and, you know, just one more way to make the community tight, we used to bring in beer. We’d bring in different craft breweries and stuff like that. When I stopped drinking beer I would still bring it for everyone else but I would be drinking Scotch. And a lot of my members are a lot younger than me and so I’d get responses like, “What are you, my grandfather? Who drinks scotch?” And you know I would try to educate them like, “No no no, this is not an old man’s drink.” I started thinking I got to show these guys that there’s a whole world out there and so during the potlucks, I would start introducing people to different whiskies each time.
Zac: That’s really cool that you’ve been trying to overturn that stigma.
Dave: That’s kind of always been the motivation, to make whiskey fun. Introduce people to new things and to get them to try new things and eliminate the stigma of whiskey is either for snobby people or for old men.
Zac: So I’ve been watching your YouTube whiskey reviews and I appreciate that it’s not just two whiskey experts talking. I love that people who are new to whiskey are represented. That’s really valuable.
Dave: Mike is the true definition of a newbie. So, when we do whiskey reviews it is honestly a newbie who has never drank whiskey. He doesn’t drink very often. Usually, the only time he’s drinking is with me when we’re doing these reviews.
Zac: So far, what have been the rewards?
Dave: It’s the little things like one of the things I’m more proud of than anything so far is the fact that I started up a whiskey meetup group here in my hometown. We meet up once a month and we all bring at least one bottle so it’s a way to introduce people to new drinks. The people that I’ve met have been so amazingly kind that, yeah, we gain new friendships out of this thing because I knew zero of the people before. It’s always cool when we’re there and the guys come up to me and thank me for starting this up. I would say that is rewarding, to be thanked for starting this thing that I actually look forward to. That one meetup a month is like the one day a month that I look forward to more than anything else.
Zac: Nice. That’s what this whole thing is about. The culture of bringing people together.
Dave: One of the guys I’d like to give a shoutout to is Scott from the group cause he was the first one that immediately offered to let us meet up at his house. He’s got a beautiful home and he’s the first one that we did have our meetups at. I give props to Scott cause he’s been an integral part of the group.
Zac: If you were interviewing me, what’s one question you’d like to ask?
Dave: What’s your take on secondary?
Zac: I’m not interested in it. I mean, if we can set aside all the legal issues and the risk involved in just participating in that, let’s just set that whole thing aside. To me, what maybe started out as true whiskey aficionados trading amongst each other, really turned into price gouging. Now it’s a lot of people who don’t even like whiskey but just saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. I have no interest in supporting it.
Zac: What advice would you give new whiskey drinkers?
Dave: Go out to just trying new things. Being willing to try new whiskies with no expectations.
Zac: What’s your top three best value whiskeys?
Dave: Compass Box Glassgow Edition, Laphroaig 10 (Trader Joe's sells it for $41 here), and Black Feather Bourbon.
Zac: Dave, thank you so much for everything you’re doing to make whiskey fun and approachable. And double thanks for your fight against negative stigmas and snobbery.
If you’d like to connect with Metahuman Dave, you can find him everywhere whether you prefer to watch, listen, or read. His YouTube channel is Brolic Whiskey. On Instagram @metahumandave. Facebook @BrolicWhiskey. Read the Brolic Whiskey blog here. And listen to the Brolic Whiskey podcast on iTunes here, and on Spotify here.
The next award will be released October 1st. We’ll see you then, and remember to nominate your favorite Whisk(e)y Warriors by clicking here!
— Zac Smith