Justin Hammack
Hello stranger, I’m Justin Hammack, co-founder, web developer, ux/ui designer, director of marketing, technical videographer, digital toolsmith, financial manager, systems administrator, business strategist, entrepreneur, office assistant, bartender, meal runner, janitor, and kitten herder. Basically, I don’t really do much around here, I just laze around in sweat pants and pretend to look busy.
Developer? Isn’t this a blog?
You’re right, it is a blog! However, I spend most of my time working on our upcoming online wine courses (which does require real coding). Luckily I have two fantastic personal assistants who are always willing to offer a helping paw.
Speaking of which, they wanted to let you know we’re close to releasing the wine courses and if you want to test it for free, be sure to sign up.
Why Wine Folly?
Wine is a complex and vicarious beverage. Every bottle of wine is a time capsule containing a blend of history, geography, chemistry, prestige, and agriculture. With how elegant the product is, somehow, most of this is lost on an antiquated industry saturated with producers forced to push out contrived mass-manufactured wine to stay competitive. Marketers continue this vicious cycle by preying on uninformed consumers, choking them with arbitrary ratings and driving them to make purchases based on fear. (Creating repercussions at all levels.)
All of these things make me frustrated and angry! Hopefully, Wine Folly can start the process to erode these problems. Which is why we don’t rate wines, we educate and showcase producers that are making the wine world better. From premium wines to everyday drinking wines, if one consumer can confidently make an informed decision based on their own preferences, then we’ve won. We’ve created a crack in the infrastructure and laid the foundation for a wine drinking revolution.
Wine and video games?
Yeah!! This is a complex topic! Just like every wine has a personality, so does every video game. It’s important to be aware of these personalities if you hope to create a synergy. For example, if you’re playing an intense, violent action game, you’d want a wine to match the mood. For example, imagine trying to drink riesling while running around with a mini-gun, it just doesn’t make sense. However, a grenache, now we’re talking, that would pair well with a hat trick kill streak!
That’s just scratching the surface… Beyond just style, there is alcohol level, drinkability, acids/tannins, and price which come into play. Hopefully I’ll have time to do a full article on the topic, including suggestions for different game genres and styles of wine. (Assuming we have some gamers out there?)
What are your current wine passions?
I recently had a falling out with wine, or at least I thought it was a falling out. White wines, bleh. Red wines, meh. Nothing was getting me excited. There were a few exceptions, expensive, semi-exotic, specific varietals and producers could bring a smile to my face, but it wasn’t sustainable.
Underdogs of Wine
Then one day while mixing a manhattan it hit me. I’m into the underdogs. Digestif’s, vermouths, fortified wines, and sparkling wines. (Ok, so sparkling wines aren’t underdogs, but it’s also not a typical go-to wine.) Yup, I was drinking vermouth with italian soda and loving it. Sipping sherry at night while watching a movie. Having a pre-dinner digestif. Yum.
Thanx for reading my self-indulgent brick of text, even if you just skimmed it and looked at the kitten picture!
p.s. Does cognac count as a passion?