Illness in the household sadly keeps me indoors this Pynchon in Public night. Normally it should go without saying I would be out flaunting posthorns and flashing bootleg “The Small Rain” editions on the streets, which streets I’ve no doubt this evening are thronged again with acolytes of our favourite postmodernist. Failing that though, we can at least crack some fancy tequila.

Expensive booze is best of course when someone else is paying. Frank Traverse and his Irish revolutionary friend Wolfe Tone O’Rooney luck out in this respect one night when Dwayne Provecho shows up at their standard haunt in Doña Cecilia, Mexico “acting like he owned the place,” (p. 642). They aren’t exactly delighted to see him, but Frank makes the most of things:

“Say, Mañuela, this prosperous-lookin gent would like to buy us cervezas Bohemias all around, with maybe some Cuervo Extra to go with that, doubles if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Sounds good,” Dwayne bringing out a flashroll of American you could’ve wallpapered the place with, and peeling off a sawbuck. “Business is just bountiful. How’s it with you fellas?”

Against the Day, p. 642.

So far I’ve been unable to get hold of Bohemia down under (might have to wait for the pulque trip). But Frank is on the money adding those Cuervo Extra doubles on Dwayne’s dime. This stuff is as tasty as it is spendy.

Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Extra Anejo, or Cuervo Extra among friends, is a top shelf tequila blended from Cuervo’s best aged stock, including some barrels as old as 30 years. It has a whisky-like aroma with tobacco, smoke, and vanilla along with a deep sappy orange blossom-esque tequila notes. The palate is oily, smoky, and rich with pineapple and leather flavours. Smooth and complex and moreish. Really nice stuff! Even better than the one I had this time two years ago (is this a Pynchon in Public day tequila tradition brewing?).

One important footnote here is that Jose Cuervo only launched their Extra Anejo in 1995, for their 200th birthday celebrations. That is a good bit too late for Dwayne Provecho to be shouting a round. But I’ve been unable to find anything much else that “Cuervo Extra” could refer to, and it does suit the milk-the-prosperous-lookin-gent atmosphere. I can only assume that the Chums of Chance at some point there tore a rift in spacetime and let the Reserva De La Familia slip anachronistically through. Frank and Wolfe won’t be complaining.

Happy birthday, Thomas Pynchon! May spacetime be kind to you too.