The Best Old Fashioned (Old Willy)

October 3, 2021

I love me so me wine and love me some beer, but I’ve been especially into bourbon for a while. As a result my preferred cocktail has been an Old Fashioned for a number of years.

After years of tinkering, it’s not an “official” Old Fashioned anymore. If you want to get technical, other than bourbon none of the ingredients match the original recipe, but most drinkers I’ve shared it with have found it to be a worthy addition to their catalog of favorites.

I know this is a dumb place to put it, but I figured I’d throw it out there to help spread the good cheer:

Old Willy:

• 130g Bourbon (about 4 1/2 oz)
• 15g Agave syrup (about 1 tablespoon)
• 3 dashes Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• 2 Luxardo Cherries (because you’re special and deserve more than one)

Pour everything but the cherries into your glass, stir until the agave is completely dissolved. Add the cherries (with a little syrup if desired), THEN add a single large ice cube. Stir to chill and serve.

For the bourbon, I typically use Bulleit Rye or Buffalo Trace for a “basic” smooth version, and something like Elijah Craig for a bit more spice. If you want to be an apostate and piss it away, Blanton’s is also very good.

For the orange bitters, you can obviously substitute an actual orange spritz & peel, but I don’t always have that handy – thus the orange bitters became a substitute. It also makes the drink a little smoother.

Advertisement

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish!

April 28, 2018

To all my online friends and customers:

It’s been a great ride and I’ve enjoyed it tremendously, but it’s time for this Piranha to swim off into the sunset.

Not everyone gets to leverage their hobby into a profession, but I did for well over a decade and had a great time. Not only did I make a decent living, hire some absolutely wonderful employees, and design some pretty neat uniforms and t-shirts, I got to have quality time with my family – especially as my boys grew up.

I’ve had the privilege of sponsoring people, events and podcasts (looking especially at YOU Karate Café ) – that gave me an excuse to talk with people whose work I enjoyed and help them back a little bit.

Overall I’ve had a chance to meet and work with some wonderful people that will no doubt remain friends for a long time.

Unfortunately the last few years have seen tougher competition and tighter margins. However the biggest challenge turned out to be Chinese counterfeit products. Over a year of legal battles and countless hours of “having dialogs” with Amazon, it has become obvious that you can’t fight a dragon that moves like the wind… and is a zaabillion times your size. And the time and money spent in the fight was… well at least it helped pay for some nice furniture at the legal office… and I hear my attorney is getting a new boat too… 😉

If you want to read one of the better explanations about counterfeit products, read this as we’re definitely not the only ones impacted and the Atlantic just did an “expose” article on it too.

But all good things must end and now so too shall Piranha Gear…

I found a couple of charities to give away most of the remaining inventory. And pleasantly they were actual “non-profit” kinds of stuff like Guardian Gym (teaching kids martial arts in Oakland CA) or Grateful Garments (providing clothes to victims of sexual assaults when leaving the hospital).  Or even something like a BJJ school at a Uganda orphanage. Kind of like this one…

So that turned out pretty cool!  😉

Perhaps the best thing is that I will NEVER have to go back to those old stupid foot pads that Century Martial Arts foisted on us for decades!!! Paint covered, foam crap that always twisted up under the ball of your foot. I’ve got my stash now HAHAHAH! Take that Century!

My employees are all setup and found good places (they were super troopers) and negotiations with the landlord went WAY better than I expected (they were super cool about it – or I would have been in for some serious hurt).

As for me, the owner, I was approached with “an offer I couldn’t refuse” and rather than go through the work of trying to sell the company and then try to look for something next year, I’ve begun work at the new position and I’m looking forward to the challenge. If for some reason you need to reach me, the only active email address is “Closed2018” with the domain name after it: @PiranhaGear.com

So while the water in the tank is still sweet, this Piranha is done swimming… So long and thanks for all the fish!

Best regards,

Bill Herndon

Stress – a Better way to Deal with it!

Of all the blog posts I did over the years… if I am only going to transfer ONE to this site – this is the one. Of all the hundreds of posts I ever did, this is THE ONE that I think can make a difference in most people’s lives.  Enjoy:

One of the greatest advantages in combat or highly stressful situations is to have a “calm mind.” A nice thing if you can pull it off, but for most people giving a presentation or taking a “big test” can cause a lot of stress.

The traditional way of dealing with this has been to train or practice a lot, visualize the worst-case scenario, and of course “thinking calming thoughts.” Even the Samurai used these techniques.

I just read an article published by the American Psychological Association that runs very counter to that opinion. Suggesting that trying to get to a “calm state of mind” and then failing will only cause MORE anxiety.

Harvard University recently did several studies and had participants giving speeches, doing math problems, and singing karaoke. They told the subjects to say or think either “I am excited” or “I am calm” (or be in one of the pathetic control groups).

While the “I am calm” people did better than the control groups, the “I am excited” people did noticeably better!

Apparently our body is easy to fool into thinking the “anxiety” is really just “excitement”. Golf, sparring, public speaking, etc. can all benefit from this!

Being totally low key and never being stressed over anything makes it impossible for me to try this… ; ) But I would love to hear from people that DID try it to see how it works for you!