10 years ago, while living with my parents (and with little else to do) I decided to turn my crappy Blogspot whim into a more serious website. “Sipping With Smoth” became “Sublime Imbibing” (although you can still enjoy the original moniker as a category on this site). I set out to write at least one post a week, dividing my content between wine, whisky and craft beer, with room for the occasional interesting story or interview from time to time.

Needless to say, I didn’t stick to my ambitious publishing schedule. Months have gone by where I haven’t found the time (or subject matter) to post, and more than once I thought about retiring the project. But I haven’t — I’ve kept right on tippling and typing and having a blast doing so.

And Sublime Imbibing has grown — from a handful of reviews to over 250 posts, and from feeling lucky to get 20 views to reaching about 200 visitors daily, this site has matured right along with me. And I needed to mature — some of my earlier posts were filled with so much pomp and aggrandizing it’s a wonder anyone read them at all. But they’re still a fun time capsule of what I used to think and how I used to write.

The base of Sublime Imbibing has always been my friends and family, and their friends and family with whom they share an occasional wine tip or whisky recommendation. It means so much to have a community of readers that have stuck around since day 1. Now, the vast majority of my traffic comes to me from the Google gods, but it doesn’t seem that long ago I could measure my sites reach by the number of likes I got posting it on Facebook.

Over the last decade, I’ve been asked a lot of questions — about booze, about blogging, and about how Sublime Imbibing works. So, for my 10 year anniversary post, I thought I’d rip through some FAQs (alongside some more targetted questions I’ve been asked recently). Without further ado:

Why the name ‘Sublime Imbibing’ (and what does imbibing mean anyways?)

The term “sublime imbibing” actually predates this site. Back in the “Sipping with Smoth” days, SI was actually a subcategory — it functioned as my catch-all category for stories and anecdotes that didn’t feature a core review. Funnily enough, that’s what my Sipping with Smoth category acts as now.

I love the name of my site. But you would not believe how often I get asked what the hell it means. “Sublime” means: Of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe.

Imbibing means simply: “drinking”. But it has a secondary definition, “absorbing or assimilating (ideas or knowledge), which I think works quite well. In short, Sublime Imbibing means “Beautiful Drinking” and that’s rather to the point of my site.

What’s the best drink you’ve ever had?

A cold beer after a day of shoveling dirt, brand unknown. Drinks are contextual, and the finest scotch on the planet is only as good at the situation its sipped in. That said, having excellent alcohol goes a long way to creating that situation or heightening its potential.

The most I can ever remember enjoying a beverage was sipping Château Smith Haute Lafitte on the rooftop of the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris with my Dad (and later my Mom when she insisted on ordering a second bottle).

How much traffic does Sublime Imbibing get?

This answer is so much different now than it once was. Quite literally, until 2022 or so, if I got 30 visits a day I was over the moon. But thanks to a Google algorithm update, Sublime Imbibing reaches the front page of search results far more consistently than it once did, particularly for Champagne reviews. Now, I’m disappointed if I get fewer than 200 visitors a day.

What’s your most popular post?

From the days of SwS up until about 2022, there was only one post of mine that got any real traction from search — that was “When to Water Your Whisky.” That single post made up more than 50% of all views on my website, sparse though they were. I was relatively confident that would remain unchanged for the duration of Sublime Imbibing.

But then boom — Google does a major algorithm update, and all of a sudden SI is on their radar in a big way. My bourbon posts shoot up, my champagne posts go bananas, and now any one of my “Sky High Drinking and Dining” business class reviews invariably hit the front page. Currently, my most viewed post is my Angel’s Envy bourbon review, followed by my ANA vs. JAL airline comparison.

Why did you start running ads (and how much do you make)?

Many of you know Christine and I took a year off work, during which time expenses were tight. As such, I thought I’d run some ads to see if I could cover the cost of hosting my domain and paying for my URL. Well, this was before my search success, and I was making $3 a month. Now, I make $22 a month, which covers all my expenses nicely, and allows for a cheeky bottle of something or other that I can turn into a review at year’s end. I do regret how clunky they look on the site, but their value to Sublime Imbibing’s continuity is good enough for me to keep ’em running.

And now, how about some less frequent, more specific questions.

Well…Trump’s back. What does that mean for the cost of booze?

Trump and the cost of booze in Canada have already had a tangle. In 2018, Canada retaliated against Trump tariffs on steel and aluminum, notably targeting Kentucky bourbon. And, because the cost of tariffs invariably gets handed on to the consumer, bourbon prices shot up. With a wide range of tariffs likely coming down the pipe, I see retaliation as inevitable and anticipate not just bourbon, but many American imports rising in price.

Sherry or Port?

Port for me. While red sherry does exist, it’s predominantly white, and I think the red grapes give port far more depth and character. I’m standing by for a really good sherry to rock my world, and will happily change my opinion if it does.

You can only keep one beverage — wine, whisky or beer. Which is it and why?

I’ve thought about this a lot. It would be a tragedy to lose any one category of drink, but if I had to keep one it would be wine. The diversity of experiences available, the range of price and quality, and just how bloody lovely it is all make wine my absolute, uncontested #1. Wait — Champagne counts as wine here right?!

What does the future look like for Sublime Imbibing?

To be honest, I’ve never been more excited to keep blogging. It seems like after the better part of a decade howling alcohol reviews into the void, I may finally have been noticed. My site traffic continues to grow, and that motivates me to keep trying new booze and reviewing it.

One area of content I sort of dropped off with is interviews with industry experts. I loved doing those more journalism-esque posts, and as I continue down this road I’m going to keep my eyes open for opportunities to reincorporate those types of posts.

I’ve also pivoted away from beer posts and more to wine and whisky, something I don’t want to make a habit of. Craft beer may have had its golden age already, but there’s so much brilliant beer out there waiting to be tried, and I’d rather be a member of the rear guard championing it than a fair weather fan. Stay tuned for more head-to-head beer posts like I did for the best IPAs in Toronto post.

Here’s to another decade of “sipping it slow”

Thanks for reading folks. Tasting and writing about my favourite beverages is fun no matter what, but it’s extra special sharing it with all of you. As always, never hesitate to reach out for a recommendation, or share one with me. And if you fancy writing a review, I’d love to host it here.

Cheers to this decade, a toast to the next, and a reminder, as always, to sip it slow.