My home conference group (class) of graduate students from the just-concluded Academic Year 2026 (AY26) gifted me this plaque which they all signed on the back.
In addition to teaching and learning together with them this year on a range of security studies and related topics, a number of them organized a number of extracurricular events including spirits tastings/social gatherings which I was glad to support. A handful of my students were game to try a range of different tequilas and whiskies this year during these social events as well as independently out of the classroom and one of my proudest achievements (so to speak) this AY was hearing from a few of them that these events/tastings and related conversations/discussions have profoundly changed how they see tequila as a category – from shooting it or thinking that it doesn’t matter which tequila you use in your cocktails to them developing their own palate preferences and advancing their ability to enjoy well produced tequilas (and whiskies). I also learned a lot from some of my students about gins and sake (nihonshu) this year, seeing my selection of bottles of those dramatically increase.
On the bottom right-hand side of the plaque is the emblem of one of my favorite tequila brands, the brand that made me fall in love with craft/artisanal tequila – Mijenta. One of my (now former) students remembered a conversation where I shared with him this fact and he wanted to include it on the plaque as a symbol because his conference group was my first class as a full teaching professor at my institution.
To paraphrase him, Mijenta’s rabbit represents not only my love for that brand and tequila/agave spirits but also his and his colleagues’ place as my inaugural home conference group for whom I was their civilian faculty advisor and, as I shared with him, the hope that they maintain their place as by far my most cohesive and favorite group of students that I’ve taught in my over decade-and-a-half of teaching, just like Mijenta’s continued place as one of my favorite tequila brands across expressions.
This AY was an experience – weird, trying, aggravating, rewarding, and educational. I had an amazing group of students across multiple conference groups and courses, chief among them my home conference group/class. I look forward to seeing all that they achieve in the future.
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1792 Bourbon Agave Spirits American Single Malts American Whisky Añejo Tequila Blanco Tequila Blended Whisky Bourbon Whisky Bruichladdich Buffalo Trace Buffalo Trace Distillery Cocktails Código 1530 (Codigo 1530) E.H. Taylor Eagle Rare El Mayor Tequila El Tesoro Extra Añejo Tequila Fortaleza G4 Gin Glassware Irish Whisky Jack Daniel's Liqueurs Lost Lore Mezcal Mijenta Old Fitzgerald Patrón Penelope Reposado Tequila Reviews Rye Whisky Sazerac Scotch Whisky Scotland Siempre Single Malt Whisky Spirits Tequila Tequila Ocho Virginia Virginia Distillery Company Whisky
