What’s in a name? 
“Amir, what will we call it?” asked Julian.
“Noble Craft Distillery”, I said almost immediately.
“Really? Shouldn’t we think about that?”
“No, that’s a perfect name, and perfect names are hard to come by; the fact it’s your surname seals the deal.” 

A man walks into a bar… 
Long before this conversation, Julian walked into The Owl House, a Darlinghurst bar I owned and tended. While I was stirring the Martini he ordered, I noticed an odd bracelet on his wrist. It was one of those Too-many-to-count tools-in-one-Leatherman-bracelet. Asking about it started our conversation. “If you’re stuck somewhere and need a specific tool, you’ve got a good chance you have it on your wrist.”

I loved it. It’s a state of mind more than anything else, and I’m so far from that state of mind that it fascinated me. 

Precision, Martini and Distilling.
Asking Julian how he liked his Martini sparked a conversation about precision.
Making a Martini involves an element of precision, just like using the right tool.
What was asked for, what kind of ice is available, what’s the weather like? How to chill and dilute the drink to that precise point.

Our friendship evolved from the appreciation that precision can come in different forms – the scientist who requires tools for accuracy and precision, the artist who puts a line on a painting precisely where it should be. Ask any distiller, and they’ll tell you that distilling is precisely that: One part Science, one part Art. 

It’s a Noble Craft.