I didn't drink alcohol for 2020 and now I want to talk about it in a long twitter thread that should probably just be a blog post, but here goes:

(I get into topics like alcohol abuse, mental illness, homphobia, and parental death, just fyi)

Some background first: every year I do some kind of restriction. Last year I only re-read books, another year I didn’t buy any clothes. My dad is catholic and even though I hate the religion, something about the ‘fasting’ elements of lent and advent stuck with me.

I enjoy cutting myself off from things to create space in unexpected places. It's where Innovation and creativity flourish. I did some of my best work for Momofuku Nishi, and @davidchang told me I had to create an Italian cocktail program, but nothing could come from Italy.

My family also loved wine and used connoisseurship to cast consumption in a virtuous light. Opening that 4th bottle of Chateauneuf-de-Pape was *educational*

My mom once yelled at a wine steward for not letting my then-17-year-old brother have a glass of wine with our dinner.

Wine is great though! Beer, spirits, etc. They’re all fascinating things to study on many levels. (Hello I wrote a whole cocktail book)

Plus, they’re fun to drink and usually taste delicious and accompanied most major rituals in my life: birthday, Christmas, weddings, funerals…