You can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.

The damage wrought by January’s wildfires in the Los Angeles area almost defies comprehension. More than 50,000 acres burned. More than 16,000 structures destroyed. Tens of thousands homeless.

I’m talking about the likes of E.H. Taylor, Weller, and especially Pappy Van Winkle. The last of those is so beloved and hard to get that it sells on the secondary market for thousands of dollars.

If you don’t remember much from the children’s fairytale Rip Van Winkle, it’s the one where to avoid his wife’s nagging, the main character takes a drink from a stranger and then sleeps ...