Not Another Whisky Blog

One Year Later…

2025 bore witness to a cataclysmic event for a small community. No, I’m not talking about Chiefs fans, The Louvre security team, Jake Paul followers, or even that CEO caught having an affair at a Coldplay concert. I’m talking about the small group of friends, neighbors, and like-minded geeks who patronized and supported McCallum & Sons Whisky Company.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of closing the shop, and life for this ex-entrepreneur looks a whole lot different. While some of the stressors and less glamorous aspects of running a business are not missed, what does occupy my mind quite often are the people who supported me and the business along the way. Where are these thousands of people, I wonder? Where are they shopping? Where are they buying their booze? Are they even still drinking whiskey? Do they miss the shop? Or are they realizing that there were always other great places to purchase booze without having to deal with downtown Tacoma parking and my erratic operating hours?

There’s a lot to unpack about the fast and furious lifespan of McCallum & Sons Whisky Company. Maybe over time I’ll come around to conducting a full and true postmortem. If not, at the very least, examining and writing about some of the best and worst parts of owning a business, along with some lessons learned.

For right now though, over a full year since my last post on this blog and on the one-year anniversary of closing the shop, I just needed to sit and put some thoughts on the page. Taking the first step toward something you backed away from is difficult.