Mexico and Jack Daniels

Late in the year of 2004, a few buddies and I had gotten together and decided to do a special trip down to Rocky Point. We decided it would be in January, and it was going to be a “Guys Only” trip considering we would go down once or twice of the year with the wives/girlfriends. Sounds cool! Guys only, in Rocky Point, for a good three day weekend.

Well, Friday morning started off well, and we car-pooled on down to the border. We always stop to get a few items from the Duty-Free store there, like smokes, and hard alcohol. I was debating on buying a bottle of Gentleman Jack, or to go with Crown Royal. Prices were good (and tax free) coming to about $28 for a bottle, when normally it would be well over $30 back home. As I was mulling over the dilemma of which would be better for the weekend, Don points out to a display case.

“Why not get that Jack, Ralph?” I turned to look and my jaw drops. There was a HUGE bottle of Jack Daniels sitting there. A sign on the bottle said $51. I looked at Don, and he starts laughing. I take a closer look, and realize that has got to be the buy of the day. A 3 liter bottle of Jack for $51. Now the normal “big” bottle in the stores runs around $40 - $45, and it is only 1.75 liters. I am getting 1.25 liters more for about $6 more. Do the math. It’s a good buy. I took the bottle to the counter.

All the boys were giving me some grief about buying the biggest bottle of Jack the world has probably seen, but I grin and think … mmm, gonna taste good. Meanwhile we move on down the road.

As soon as we get settled into the condo, I got that bottle opened and start pouring. Normally I drink a Jack with a Budweiser chaser, but being in Mexico, and the way we buy beer there, it was usually a Corona, or Pacifico instead of Bud. We had other stuff too, depending where we were at. I know I had some Sol and Dos Equis as well.

Well, the weekend went along, and I am drunk the whole time. I always tend to drink a lot when I am vacationing. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes bad.

Good: Mellowing in a chair out on the patio looking out on the ocean enjoying the buzz.
Bad: being so drunk when you lay on your back to give the dancer a dollar from your mouth, and your friends spin you like a turtle while trying to help you off the stage. Don’t Laugh! It happened – not that trip, but still.

As my friends will tell you, probably just about all of them, cannot keep up with me when drinking. For some stupid reason, I get a thrill out of that, but that is just wrong. However, there were many times someone would be up in the wee hours of the morning, and see me half asleep on the patio with cup and bottle in hands.

This particular trip, I think we all found out who is able to sleep with whom at night. I had warned all before the trip, but some people just have to be convinced, and Bo was the one who won that trip. I snore. Let me rephrase that. I snore – LOUDLY. Every time I went to bed that weekend, Bo was up and moving, no matter the time. Heck Saturday night he slept on the tile outside the bedroom door. It made a good laugh for most of the guys, and I just grinned and said “I told you so.”

So, come Sunday morning, I get on up out of bed and stumble towards the patio. Most of the guys are up and moving already, and one of them points out the bottle of Jack sitting on the counter. Now it had sat on the counter as open for anyone since Friday when we arrived.

“Hey Ralph. You gotta drink the rest of the bottle.” I glance over at the bottle. Damn! There is only about 3 inches of Jack left in it. I shook my head.

I groggily said,”Nope. Ain’t gonna happen. Did anyone else drink any of it this weekend?”

I believe only 2 or maybe 3 said they had had the equivalent of a shot of Jack earlier in the weekend, but no more. So I think to myself, I drank damn near that whole bottle. I sat there and thought about it for a few minutes, thinking maybe I should finish it off. My stomach kept saying no way.

I ended up bringing the rest of it home and actually finishing it about three weeks later. I held on to the bottle until it was decided that it did not need to be displayed where everyone coming into the house could see it. I still wonder on occasion, do they have bigger bottles, or is the next size a keg? How long would it take to drink a keg….