Old Bay Secrets

I always order the whole fish when available. (Credit: La Kaye Mbah)

One of my dreams since starting this blog has been to take a tour of McCormick's Old Bay factory. The blog is called Booze and Old Bay, after all, and I've certainly covered enough booze.

But yesterday I found out that you can't tour McCormick. Actually, that's not quite true. If you happen to represent a million dollar account, you can probably get a tour. So, once I became mad famous for this blog, I'll probably spend my second million on a few hundred thousand pounds of spices so I can get a tour. You're welcome to join me.

Until then, we'll just have to settle for the vicarious knowledge my buddy, a McCormick's employee, dropped on me. Old Bay is a three shift operation, meaning they make it around the clock (as well they should). However, only one person at a time is really on the line. So there are three people, plus a single supervisor, in the entire world who have an actual operational knowledge of Old Bay. Though some of the company higher ups might be able to pull up the recipe if necessary, there are really only four people in the world who know.

And I am not one of them. Life is cruel.

My only consolation is that every venue in Baltimore has a decent show this Saturday. Old-school College Park has invaded with two alt-rock bands, NoCo at Recher and Hotspur at Sonar. This is pretty cool, since I knew them both back in the dorms when all we could afford was plastic-jug vodka. Still, I might dip out and go see Trixie Little at Ottobar. But then, Recher apparently has a new patio? Decisions, decisions....