Return Smakk

After a 90 day sabbatical due to the birth of Smakkette, Smakk has decided it's time for a return to the blogiverse. I'm sure many of you expect me to ramble on the greatness and joys of my recent fatherhood especially knowing that I do have the cutest spawn ever, I have instead decided to return to my roots to speak of another issue of deep personal importance to me - The Captain.

Though I have greatly reduced my time on the stormy seas and confined my sails to mostly the weekends now, I did have a great crisis last weekend that caused my ship to run aground. Last Sunday evening, (yes, Sunday evening is still part of the weekend despite the ongoing argument over this with the Bunny) I had the thrill of opening a fresh new handle of Captain that I had wisely purchased the previous day to stick it to those bible thumping arcane blue laws. I poured a nice little half & half Captain & diet to kick start the evening and take that glorious first sip.

That's when the end of the world came crashing down. After 20 years of carefully refining my palette to that sweet, sweet elixir....I knew something was totally amiss. This did not taste like my Captain & diet. There was a definite new flavor of vanilla and/or almonds mixing in there. I even convinced the Bunny to take a swig and confirm my suspicions. She too tasted the abnormality. That's when the panic set in and questions bombarded my head:

Had they changed the Captain formula?
Was the liquor store selling a knock off in Captain packaging?
Do I contact the Captain's headquarters informing of a product tampering incident?
Was my liver conspiring with my taste buds in some desperate attempt of survival?

So I forced down my drink, threw out the ice and made a fresh pour in my cup hoping for a miracle. No such miracle came and the vanilla almond taste was still in tact. Disgusted with the whole situation, I poured out the remainder of the drink and went straight to bed at 9pm in an awful state of sobriety.

So last night (yes, Thursday is also considered the "pre-weekend" thus can qualify), I decided I would give it one more shot. With very little hope, I clinked in my ice, poured in the "Captain" & topped off the cup with diet. One tentative sip and bingo...all tasted normal and the world was right again.

So after great thought of into "The Mystery of the Corrupted Sunday Sail" (soon to be released in paperback), I discovered one factor I had not taken into consideration that night. Even when I made the second pour and changed out the ice, I still used the same cup. In thinking back more, that vanilla almond flavor also tasted a little like soap residue. Dishwasher 1 - Smakk 0. I plan to overload that bitch tonight with no pre-wash help from the sink...