Kevin looked around the kitchen nervously. His girlfriend, Chelsea, was helping her scary grandma finish the huge Christmas feast she had apparently been preparing for days. He’d brought two six packs of his favorite craft beer, an artisanal chocolate stout with a high ABV but delicious taste, intending to share. Instead he’d found that all of the relatives enjoyed their own highly specific alcoholic beverages, and he was nervously opening his third beer within an hour of arrival. He was only here because Chelsea had begged him to come with. They’d been dating about five months; he was 23 to her freshly minted 21. They met through mutual college friends, and had bonded over a love of quirky movies and their odd families. Her parents had suddenly decided to go away for the holidays, leaving Chelsea with just her extended family for Christmas, and he’d felt super guilty and let her talk him into joining her for dinner and presents. Now here he was, standing awkwardly in the kitchen, frozen out of small talk and chugging craft beer in the corner. The swift realization that he was tipsier than planned hit him full in the face as he took the first swig of his third stout; damn it all. Too late to leave now. It was at this precise moment that Chelsea’s grandfather, Marshall, came in.... Click here to read the rest of the story! Scent Notes: Rich chocolatey stout, a comfy flannel shirt, allspice, sandalwood, vanilla bean.
