A Love Letter to Whiskey

Whiskey is the primary symbol throughout A Love Letter to Whiskey, featuring both literally and metaphorically. B gets drunk on or swears off whiskey several times in the story and even works for a company named after a kind of whiskey. However, whiskey most commonly features in B’s comparisons of Jamie to the drink. Indeed, the Prologue introduces Jamie as “Whiskey” rather than mentioning him by name; his name does not appear until page 10, underscoring how thoroughly he is linked to whiskey in B’s mind. 

B’s early comparisons between the two center mostly on Jamie’s looks, as she describes his eyes, hair, and skin as being golden brown. She tells this to Jamie while they are both drinking whiskey, saying, “You’re practically whiskey on legs, anyway. The color of your hair, your eyes, the way you smell—it’s like your spirit drink […] in every sense of the word” (48). As the novel progresses, her descriptions get much more sensuous, focusing on the tingling, warm, and burning sensations she gets when she is around him, which resemble her experiences drinking whiskey. For instance, she describes seeing him for the first time in a year as “a little jarring, like a slight burn, but the aftertaste [is] smooth, welcoming, like an old friend calling [her] home” (68). Finally, B often compares her emotions surrounding Jamie to the desire for whiskey or the effects of drinking it: She both craves him and feels drunk around him. Whiskey thus symbolizes all aspects of Jamie and his relationship to B.