Latest news with #FireballCinnamonWhisky
Boston Globe
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Racing into summer, Figawi-style
Jeff Zynda of Quincy downs a shot of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky with other crew members of Defiance on the docks. Consider it 'Opening Day' for the summer season, and the sailors come to compete from all over the Northeast for the three-day weekend. 'It's like a reunion of friends is what it is. We sail. We could be doing anything. We could be climbing rocks. It doesn't matter. It really is the first big regatta in the Northeast of the season. It's fun,' says race officer Tom Duggan, who sailed his first Figawi in 1981. Advertisement Figawi means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Is it a competitive race or a drinking game? The Outlier en route to its home port of Nantucket under clear skies. The race is a pursuit race, which means it's a handicap calculation, and boats start at different times based on their speed. On the docks, one crew from Defiance celebrated their first-place finish by downing shots of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky. 'Oh, it's a drunken orgy, for sure. It's not a serious event. But we sometimes take it seriously, right?' says Jeff Zynda of Quincy, laughing. Crewmate Aeneas Dodd-Noble of Andover takes issue with that. Mark Reid, a Nantucket caretaker and carpenter, says Figawi partygoers cause problems with excessive drinking. 'If there's two boats on the water, and you're going in the same direction, you're racing,' he says. For many locals, Figawi is as welcome as a deer tick. Advertisement 'There's a bit of drinking to excess,' says Mark Reid , a caretaker and carpenter. 'They did the big 'We crossed the Atlantic' type thing and they just drink like crazy. They puke all over the place. You can see the stains up and down the sidewalks. People pissing in the bushes.' Billowy clouds off Hyannis Port for the Figawi start. But it was much worse in the early days, he says. 'They say the women used to cross the other side of the road to stay away from it because it was so bad,' he says. Duggan, 68, admits there were problems years ago, but says they were mostly caused by partygoers not associated with the race. 'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' he would tell Nantucket police back in the day. 'Show me a bracelet that they're with us. They're not with us for the most part.' The high-spirited Figawi Sailors Party is in full gear in the main tent. Now the town and Figawi work together to avoid problems. 'I am happy to report the Figawi Race Functions went very smoothly with no issues or arrests,'' says Nantucket police Lieutenant Angus MacVicar in an email. Duggan, who was the principal race officer for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, says Figawi has mellowed with time. 'As we become older, nobody wants to climb the tent poles anymore or anything like that. These days, people come to Nantucket, they bring their golf clubs with them. In the early days, they stayed in the boat basin all weekend drinking. Not anymore.' Sailboats bunch up as they approach the finish in Nantucket. On Memorial Day, Nantucket Sound is gorgeous, the pillowy sails filled with wind, riding the seas. This year, 120 boats registered, but 11 dropped out due to a nor'easter earlier in the week. Still, 1,100 registered crew members raced across the sound under near perfect were no injuries and only one boat failed to finish. Advertisement The high-spirited Saturday night Sailors Party in the Figawi main tent is a hard-rocking good time. Lots of cheers at the Figawi awards ceremony. After a night celebrating, the Figawi faithful reconvene Sunday morning in the tent for the 'Joke Tent' session. 'The Joke Tent used to be everybody's favorite thing,' says comedian Brian Glowacki, a native islander. 'Then they started putting cameras in phones. That put a damper on the fun, didn't it?'' Suffice to say that if Nantucket resident Bill Belichick attended, he would wish he were on to Cincinnati or anywhere else on earth. It was that brutal for the Hoodie and Co. Tight clearance near the race start in Hyannis Port. The regatta used to be more popular. In its heyday, circa 1986, 240 boats raced, with many others turned away because the docks were full. The late Senator Ted Kennedy loved Figawi. He won his class in 1989 and in 2007 won the Reverse Figawi, from Nantucket to Hyannis. In 2008, a week after being diagnosed with brain cancer, he finished second in his class. 'He was one of the best I ever saw,' says John Ciluzzi, who raced against him. 'He knew Nantucket Sound like the back of his hand.' Lots of dancing fills the Figawi Sailors Party. Nantucket police reported zero arrests from the three day event. Sunday afternoon belongs to the young. The Nantucket Whalers dominate 11 other Cape Cod area high schools to win the Crawford Cup, named after the late J. David Crawford, a 30-year Figawi board member. Figawi Charities Inc. says it has raised funds for multiple local causes, including 'Heroes in Transition,' a veterans' support group, and 'Sail Cape Cod,' a community sailing program. Advertisement The scene at the closing awards ceremony is uplifting. High school sailors, women skippers, and old timers in their 80s, all get awards. A Nantucket High School Whalers team of Jacob Heneke and Cecilia Wendelken race in the Crawford Cup, an invitational regatta for Cape Cod and Islands schools. The event ends with hugs and smiles. Peter Jackson of Marblehead goes up to race officer Duggan to thank him. 'For me personally, being a person of color… if I can help inspire other people, if I can help other people come into the sport, it's a good thing. I appreciate you.' Hanna Hausladen with her dog Stella, at the awards ceremony on Nantucket. Her team won a first place award. 'She's an Italian water dog. She loves the boat. She loves the water. I can't get her out of the ocean, actually. I live in Boston and I couldn't find somebody to watch her for the weekend. Since she's done so well on the boat, … we figured, just bring her. We put a harness on her, we tied her into the cockpit so she's completely safe. She loves it." @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } @font-face { font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold; src: url(" format('woff2'), url(" format('woff'); } .dipupnext_hed { font-family: "MillerHeadline-Bold", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; letter-spacing: .75px; text-align: center; font-size: 1.25em; line-height: 1; margin-top: 3px; color: #000; width: 100%; font-weight: 600; } .dipupnext_cap_cred { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: .5px; text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 5px 0px; font-weight: 200; color: #000; text-decoration: none; text-align: center; } .dipupnext_photo { max-width: 100%; height: auto; padding-top: 15px; opacity: 1; } .dipupnext__form:hover { opacity: .5; text-decoration: underline .5px; } .dipupnext__form{ opacity: 1; } .picupnext__container { width: 100%; position: relative; margin: 0 auto; } .dipupnext__content { width: 100%; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 3fr; } .cdipupnextcontainer { display: block; width:100%; height: auto; margin:0 auto; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; } .upnext { font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-align: center; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.15; margin-top: .5rem; letter-spacing: 0px; color: #000; padding: 8px 8px 4px 8px; margin-top: 5px; letter-spacing: .5px; } .upnext:before, .upnext:after { background-color: #000; content: ""; display: inline-block; height: 1px; position: relative; vertical-align: 4px; width: 32%; } .upnext:before { right: 0.3em; margin-left: -50%; } .upnext:after { left: 0.3em; margin-right: -50%; } .theme-dark .upnext:before { background-color: #fff; } .theme-dark .upnext:after { background-color: #fff; } .theme-dark .upnext { color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dipupnext_cap_cred { color: #fff; } .theme-dark .dipupnext_hed { color: #fff; } @media screen and (min-width: 800px){ .dipupnext__content { grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr; grid-column-gap: 40px; } } UP NEXT Stan Grossfeld can be reached at
Fox News
25-03-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Whiskey for life? Age matters if you want a shot at winning this contest
Some lucky liqueur drinkers could be getting cinnamon whiskey for life – assuming they were alive when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the White House. A free lifetime supply of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky's signature liqueur is available to those born in or before the year 1935. The contest is open to all nonagenarians through March 31, which is the 90th day of the calendar year. "We've seen them all over social, we've heard directly from the source, and we can confirm one undeniable truth: Senior citizens love Fireball. And who are we to argue with their years of wisdom?" said Danny Suich, Fireball's global brand director, in a release. "After all, they were born right as Prohibition was ending and have been breaking barriers and bringing the heat ever since." (Prohibition ended Dec. 1933.) Fireball seems to appeal to an older demographic. For example, in Loveland, Ohio, Florence Hackman celebrated her 106th birthday in December with a chocolate cake and a shot of Fireball, Fox News Digital reported at the time. Hackman's love of Fireball earned her the nickname "Fireball Flo." A maximum of 15 participants are eligible to win the grand prize, which amounts to $2,400, according to the contest rules. "But this red-hot reward is strictly for the winner," Fireball announced. "No passing it down in the will, no sneaky 'whisky inheritance' loopholes and definitely no ghostly reappearances to claim a refill." Fireball wants a short essay about how the contestant will "keep life interesting" at his or her age. The company also asks for a photograph of the person enjoying Fireball and some basic information. Fireball noted that doing so "is easier than filing for Social Security – which was also born in 1935." Anyone younger than age 90 can nominate someone who meets the contest criteria. Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is produced by the Sazerac Co. in Louisville, Kentucky. It was first developed in 1984 by Canada's Seagram Co., which was sold in 2000. Because Fireball "traces its roots back to the cold land of Canada," the whiskey brand is spelled with the letter "E," according to its website. Fox News Digital reached out to Fireball for more information.
