A little more than a month ago, I had the privilege of enjoy a bottle of Obscura Aruantium from Telegraph Brewing Co. One of 252 bottles produced, this amazing barleywine was brewed with orange peels and then aged in Bourbon barrels. The combination was spectacular.

But I’m not really here to talk about the beer. I’m here about a cork. A cork that would have shattered my light fixture had its rocket course been an inch to the left. Why this bottle blew with the force of a blue whale’s blow hole, I do not know. What I also didn’t know is where the cork landed once it finally re-entered the atmosphere that is my kitchen…until yesterday. More than fours weeks since the launch, the mystery has finally been solved with the help of toast. Toast in a toaster that has been acting funny the last few times I used it. Frustrated and looking for answer as to why one slot would not accommodate my slice of bread, I unplugged it so that I could safely investigate this matter. Sure enough, the two wire pieces that hold the bread in were staying closed when they should be open. The other side was fine…or so I thought. In the dark chasm that holds the bread, I could see a chunk of something brown. Upon looking closer, I thought it was some old bread but wondered why it was only brown and not black and reeking. After double checking that the toaster was unplugged, I went in. The mystery of the missing cork was finally solved. It had landed in one of the toaster slots and hid there, waiting, lurking, until it was finally time to reveal its amazing ability to play hide and seek. Yeah cork!

The beer as it was when enjoyed more than a month ago and the cork that has been toasted several times since that fateful day.

Cheers!