Tag: The Best Life

A Comprehensive Guide to Watch Straps
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A complete visual glossary to the other half of a watch’s appearance.

A watch strap does more than hold a case to your wrist. It shapes the personality of the watch itself. Swap the strap and you change the entire feel, sometimes more dramatically than changing the watch.

By their very nature, watch straps are often considerably cheaper than an entirely new watch, so it is often more cost-effective to expand one’s collection of straps over splurging on another watch.

Building a small rotation of straps gives you far more versatility than adding another watch to the drawer. Leather for the office, rubber for the water, nylon for weekends, steel for something sharper. One watch can cover a surprising amount of ground.

There are dozens of strap styles, each with its own backstory and use case. Below is a breakdown of the most important types, where they came from, and when to wear them.

There is an absolutely humungous amount of watch straps available to you, and I will do my best to document the best watch straps here. Each strap has a fascinating history, so if one of them jumps out at you, the accompanying text will surely be an interesting read. Finally, be sure to check out the lists of available retailers; they should help you find exactly what you’re looking for, regardless of your price range. Don’t be afraid to spend a bit extra to get exactly what you want!

Without further ado, let’s get started!

What is the Difference Between Watch Bands, Watch Straps, and Watch Bracelets?

These terms are often used interchangeably, though there are small distinctions.
- Watch band is the broad umbrella term. It includes anything that secures a watch to your wrist, metal or non-metal.
- Watch strap usually refers to non-metal options such as leather, nylon, rubber, sailcloth, or fabric.
- Watch bracelet refers specifically to metal constructions such as stainless steel, titanium, or precious metal link designs like Oyster or Jubilee.
While these distinctions exist, it’s common to find these terms used interchangeably, especially in casual conversation or online retail. The nuances are often more recognized by watch enthusiasts and collectors who appreciate the subtle differences in material and design.

In the end, whether it’s a band, strap, or bracelet, the choice often comes down to personal style, comfort, and the occasion for which the watch is worn. Understanding these terms adds a layer of insight for those looking to explore the diverse world of watch accessories, allowing for a more informed and tailored selection.

How to Measure a Watch Band

Watch bands are sold in sizes measured in millimeters based on the interior width of the watch lugs. If you’re lucky, the size may be printed on the back of the current watch strap.

To measure, use a metric ruler or a free printable template like this one to find the distance between the lugs of the watch case or the spring bar end of the current strap. Do not include the spring bar in the measurement. As a refresher, there are 10 millimeters in a centimeter.

The Evolution of Watch Straps: A Timeline

The journey of using a strap to attach a clock to your wrist is a fascinating story, interwoven with history, fashion, functionality, and innovation. Here’s a glimpse into the key milestones that shaped the world of watch straps:
- Straps in the Late 1800s: In the rugged terrains and disciplined routines of military life, soldiers began wearing pocket watches on their wrists with leather straps known as “trench watches”. A practical solution that marked the humble beginnings of a trend.
- Women’s Fashion in the Early 1900s: Watches transcended mere timekeeping as women started treating wristwatches like jewelry, attaching them with ornate metal chains and bracelets. A fusion of elegance and functionality was born.
- Wristwatches Become Fashionable: The fashionable wave reached the shores of the United States, and in 1912, The New York Times reported the burgeoning trend of wristwatches among working women and leisurely socialites alike.
- World War I Influence: The trenches of WWI further propelled the trend, as soldiers relied on wristwatches, replacing delicate chains with rugged leather straps, turning a fashion statement into a symbol of utility and resilience.
- Luxury Wristwatches: From soldiers to celebrities, wristwatches evolved with initially produced leather straps, but soon metal bracelets like the Oyster, President, and Jubilee by Rolex became iconic, synonymous with luxury and prestige.
- Casual and Durable Options: As times changed, so did the straps. Rubber straps and nylon NATO straps were introduced for specific functions, also offering casual and durable options for everyday wear.
- Changing Straps: A trend emerged, changing straps became more than a necessity; it became a way to enhance appearance, functionality, and even breathe new life into old timepieces.
- Modern Watch Customization: Today, changing the strap is an easy way to update a watch’s look. Whether a DIY home adjustment with spring bar connections or professional assistance for integrated metal bands, the possibilities are as varied as the straps themselves.
This historical panorama sets the stage for understanding the multitude of strap options available today, from the classic NATO to the avant-garde Milanese. The watch strap, once a mere practical accessory, has become a canvas for style, identity, and a reflection of the times.

Watch Strap Types

Table of Contents Click on each to jump to its section

NATO Strap

Originally developed for British Army soldiers in the 1970s, the NATO strap originally debuted under the name “G10”, a title taken from the form for requisition. Although similar styles can be traced back to World War II, this was the first appearance of the strap under its contemporary title.

It quickly grew in popularity throughout the military, and over time, the general public gradually began to appreciate the strap for its numerous features and abilities. When the Cold War ended, G10 straps were sold in military surplus shops around the country, and they were all branded with a unique NATO Surplus Number. Surplus stores sold out quickly, but watch strap retailers sprung up to take advantage of the surge in popularity. The veritable storm of NATO straps never quite ended, and they are sure to remain popular for decades to come.

The most notable feature of a NATO strap is its single-piece construction; most other straps are composed of two separate pieces, and can only be applied by removing both of the spring bars that attach to the watch. Switching out straps is normally a time consuming process, but NATO straps are simply woven underneath the spring bars, so they can be removed or applied in a matter of seconds.

Finally, the addition of a watch keeper strap ensures that the watch case will remain firmly on your wrist even if one of the spring bars snaps. James Bond has famously worn NATO straps across films and actors. All of these characteristics make NATO straps an excellent choice for nearly any situation, and their low price is a boon to those on a budget.

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One Piece Slip-Thru & Zulu

Timex Slip Thru Strap

Trademarked by Maratac, Zulu straps have surprisingly little background for such an interesting name. Although obviously inspired by NATO straps, there are a few minor differences that separate the two. Firstly, they are composed of thicker materials, be it nylon or leather. This slightly increases their strength and durability, but they also might not fit between the spring bars of some watches. Secondly, Zulu straps have larger, more rounded hardware to accommodate their increased girth.

In contrast, NATO straps have small, squared-off buckles and rings that better suit its reduced volume. Finally, the watch keeper strap is an optional inclusion on Zulu watch bands, so they are available in both 3- and 5-ring configurations. Either way, there is almost no aesthetic impact, so just go with whatever you find to be the most comfortable.

Thinner straps more akin to a NATO but without the keeper strap are also commonly found labeled as one piece or slip-thru, such as the Timex in the photo above.

What’s the difference between a NATO strap and a Zulu strap?

The generally larger dimensions Zulu straps make them especially good for large watches, since the face is more comparable to the hardware in terms of size. Conversely, NATO straps are excellent for small watches; the thinner material is more likely to fit through the spring bars, and they have a more proportionate appearance. Zulu straps also take a bit longer to break in, but at the same time, they will most likely last longer than a NATO.

In the end, it comes down to personal preference – some people can’t handle the extra bulk a Zulu provides, but others find NATO straps to be too flimsy. I recommend picking up one of each type and deciding which you prefer in-person!

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Smartwatches and Apple Watch Bands

17 Things Under $50 that Will Improve Your Style

Smartwatches operate on a different attachment system than traditional watches. Most mechanical and quartz watches use spring bars and standard lug widths, usually measured in millimeters. Apple Watch models and many other smartwatches use easy-to-swap but proprietary slide-in connectors instead.

This means traditional straps will not attach directly without an adapter. Thankfully, adapters are widely available and allow you to use standard 20mm or 22mm straps on an Apple Watch case.

Apple’s own bands fall into several broad categories:
- Sport Band, a flexible rubber-like option for workouts
- Sport Loop, a lightweight woven nylon with velcro closure
- Milanese Loop, a magnetic mesh bracelet
- Link Bracelet, a metal bracelet with removable links
- Leather options, including modern magnetic designs
If you prefer the look of traditional straps, third-party adapters make it possible to wear leather, NATO, rubber, or even metal bracelets on an Apple Watch. Just make sure the adapter matches your case size.

Rally

The Watch Forum

Inspired by old school racing gloves, Rally straps can be easily recognized by the three or more large perforations punched out below the lugs. Automotive racing is primarily a test of speed, and weight plays directly into the maximum achievable velocity – as such, many early race cars were constructed of parts with holes drilled through them. This decreased the overall weight, so just about everything made of metal was perforated to some extent. To remain aesthetically consistent, driving gloves (and later, rally straps) were perforated, too.

Some might argue that the perforations existed primarily for ventilation and breathability, but it’s difficult to tell the true reason. Race cars are notoriously warm, and perforations helped to reduce both heat and weight, so it could have been either one!

Regardless of their origin, Rally straps are a great choice for summer wear. Even if it wasn’t the original intention, the perforations do substantially increase ventilation, which can be useful in the summer heat. Furthermore, there’s no better choice of strap to pair with a vintage chronograph, since they were frequently used to time races. If the style or history of the Rally strap appeals to you, I highly recommend picking one up.

How to Use Your Watch to Measure Speed and Distance

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Oyster

Introduced by Rolex in the 1930s, the Oyster bracelet is an absolute classic in every sense of the word. The Oyster is characterized by its long and thick three-piece link design, and is by far the most popular bracelet model available. It has premiered on nearly every Rolex model to date, and has gained a massive following as a result.

While its storied history is one reason for its success, many people swear by it for its sheer functionality. The wide center bar makes each link strong and less prone to stretching, so the bracelet is exceedingly durable. Furthermore, the relatively small number of links reduces the number of possible break points. This does come at a cost, however; the reduced number of swivel points makes the strap feel a bit stiff in comparison to other bracelets.

Aside from this minor problem, the Oyster bracelet is a great choice for nearly any watch. The hefty links are often more proportionate on a large watch, but it looks great on a smaller one, too. The Oyster has a vast and interesting history, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. If you’re interested in experimenting with bracelets, this is a great first step!

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President

Alpha Watch

Originally worn on the Rolex Day-Date in 1956, the President bracelet received its name from its close association with Dwight D. Eisenhower. As the story goes, Rolex offered Mr. Eisenhower the company’s 150,000^th certified chronometer as a token of respect, which he gladly accepted. The relative width of each link piece is similar to that of the Oyster, but there is a drastic difference in the number of total links. The President bracelet is markedly denser than the Oyster, so each link is much shorter in comparison.

This eliminates the problem of stiffness, but it does present a potential problem in terms of durability. The increase in total links also leads to a direct increase in probable failure points, but this should not be a major concern. You might notice a small amount of stretching after extensive wear, but this depends entirely on the quality of the strap, not its link construction.

The President bracelet is considerably more formal than the Oyster due to its compact links. This also increases the strap’s versatility, since it can be dressed up and down more easily. For this reason, it is an excellent choice when versatility is a primary concern. It typically works best with small- to medium-sized watches, but this comes down to personal preference.

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→ read: My Life Story In 4 Watches

Jubilee

The Jubilee bracelet was first introduced in 1945 for Rolex’s 40^th anniversary – it premiered on the Datejust, one of Rolex’s most renowned dress watches. Though it was at first only available in gold, steel and two-tone versions were released soon after. The Jubilee is characterized by three narrow, highly polished links situated between the thick, matte finish side links. The total number of links is identical to that of the President bracelet, but the central portion tends to appear narrower due to its triple-wide construction.

When placed on a watch, the Jubilee draws attention to the center of the watch face, minimizing the footprint on the wrist. The two-tone variations exacerbate this effect, especially when the central links are a different color than the watch case. As such, a Jubilee bracelet (be it of mono- or duo-tone construction) is an excellent choice for large and small watches alike, since it brings out the best qualities in both.

The only true problem with the Jubilee is its propensity towards stretching over long periods of time. Just like the President, the Jubilee’s small links reduce its structural integrity. After a while, the pins holding each link together tend to expand and loosen, gradually extending past the wearer’s true wrist size. Thankfully, modern construction capabilities have fixed many of the structural problems, so the slightly decreased durability is only visible on vintage models. Unless you put it through some serious abuse, you should never have to worry about a Jubilee strap wearing out.

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Engineer

Designed to be extremely chunky, Engineer bracelets have a notoriously large wrist presence. Believed to have been created by Seiko, the Engineer is a perfect match for hefty dive watches due to its proportionally sized links. Even though these links are quite large, they are stacked to a width of five total links, so they appear quite visually dense. The links themselves are often cut in a pseudo-hexagonal pattern, which makes them angular in a way that few other bracelets can match.

The sheer size of the Engineer bracelet also causes it to be exceedingly heavy and thick, so you might experience a bit of wrist fatigue when you first start wearing it. Of course, the Engineer does make up for its unwieldy volume with its incredible durability, so it’s an excellent choice for a beater watch.

While its bulky appearance might at first steer small-wristed folk away, one must consider that proportions are more important than physical dimensions. As stated previously, Engineer bracelets have an undeniable wrist presence, but this makes them perfect to pair with large divers like the Seiko Monster. The bracelet itself matches the width of the watch case, so it has a surprisingly low profile when worn on the wrist. The surprisingly small lugs help with this, too, since they are unlikely to hang over the edge of the wrist.

Regardless, the Engineer bracelet can work with any size wrist as long as it remains proportional the watch it is attached to.

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Aviator / Pilot

Watch Talk

As its name suggests, the Aviator watch strap was popularized by the German air force during World War II. The first iterations were incredibly long so as to fit directly over the pilots’ flight jackets, and one or more rivets were added directly below the lugs to prevent the watches from flying off of their wrists. The watches themselves were also oversized (sometimes upwards of 55mm in diameter) for the sake of clarity in intense situations. Both of these items were greatly reduced in size when they reached the general population, but the basic features remained: the final result is an austere, black watch face with white Arabic numerals, attached to a leather strap with large rivets located below the lugs. While these rivets are now non-functional, they do add an interesting aesthetic flair with a fascinating backstory.

Due to their history in the air force, Aviator straps work best on pilot watches, especially those made by Stowa, IWC, Laco, and Hamilton. The stark contrast between the black dial and brown Aviator strap exudes a particularly militaristic essence, and the rivets act as a subtle detail harkening back to the watches’ original purpose.

This strap also pairs excellently with chronographs, which were introduced to pilots at a later date to help time flight durations. Either way, the Aviator is a beautiful strap that makes for a compelling conversation starter.

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Bund

flickr

Like Aviator straps, Bund straps were also invented for German pilots in World War II, albeit for a slightly different reason. The single largest hazard in the event of a plane crash is the ensuing fire, and anything composed primarily of metal would quickly become superheated. Watches are always in direct contact with the skin, so a standard strap would allow the watch to scald the wrist.

Bund straps, on the other hand, are constructed with an extra layer of padding beneath the back of the case, therefore preventing it from burning the wearer. This was also useful in high altitudes where the temperature would drop dramatically, since the extra layer of leather would prohibit the metal from freezing to the skin. One final use of the Bund strap was its ability to absorb perspiration; early watches were not very water resistant, so sweat could easily enter through the case back and destroy the internal mechanisms of the watch. Servicemen led a very active lifestyle, so the Bund strap helped to drastically improve the lifespan of government-issued watches.

It is important to note that Bund straps are not for everyone – they are typically quite warm, which makes them difficult to wear in the summer, and they are often too large for small-wristed folk to wear on a regular basis. Still, they’re an excellent choice for those afflicted with a metal allergy, since they prevent all contact between the watch and the wearer’s skin. If your wrist is large enough to support this strap proportionally, you should give it a try, especially if you own a pilot watch or a chronograph! Remember, though: the Bund’s padding should trace the outline of the watch as closely as possible.

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Shark Mesh

The name of the Shark Mesh bracelet might immediately conjure images of the fierce oceanic predator, but the strap itself has almost no physical relation to the vicious beast. The famous title was derived from a popular advertising campaign launched by Omega for their new ground-breaking dive watch, the Ploprof 600. Intended for professional use, this watch was built to withstand extended operations at extreme depths.

This watch was one of the most rugged and robust divers’ watches ever made, and its strap lives up to the hype. Although it is not literally “shark-proof” as the advertisements claim, it is more durable than a standard bracelet due to the lack of pins between links. Since the entire strap is held together by intertwined loops, there are drastically fewer break points. The loose and chunky chainmail design provides a flexible and snug fit to anyone’s wrist, and the easily removable links allows the wearer to remove all excess material.

While the strap is relatively heavy, it retains a high level of breathability by means of the large gaps between the interwoven links.

The most noticeable feature of the Shark Mesh strap is its comparatively large links. Most other mesh bracelets tend to be tightly woven with small links, but the Shark Mesh is the complete opposite. As such, many people tend to view it as the most comfortable option, since the relaxed nature of the links allows for a smooth drape around the wrist. I recommend pairing this strap with a vintage 1970s diver, but as long as the proportions are right, you can attach it to just about anything!

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Milanese

As their name implies, Milanese watch straps were originally developed in Milan, Italy. The Milanese mesh design can be traced all the way back to the 13^th century, where it was used as a special kind of chainmail. The manufacturing process was completed entirely by hand, and remained an Italian specialty for over 500 years. Renowned German watch strap specialists Staib and Vollmer renewed production of these rare straps in the early 1920s, causing a skyrocket in popularity. This demand lasted late into the 60s, so Milanese straps are a common appearance on vintage dress watches.

The straps themselves are easily distinguished by their extremely dense and tightly woven mesh construction, which makes them some of the smoothest metal straps on the market. This does come at a slight cost to durability, but these straps are frequently worn in more formal environments, so resistance to the elements is less of a concern. Some people also may find that the tightness of the mesh causes a certain degree of rigidity, which might feel a bit less comfortable than looser weaves.

Regardless of these minor problems, Milanese straps are an excellent choice for all-around wear. Although some might view them as somewhat antique, they work just as well with contemporary watches as they do vintage ones. Remember to keep proportions in mind – the extremely thin links might appear disproportionate when worn with a large watch, so I recommend keeping the watch face under 40mm.

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Tropic

Watchuseek

Tropic straps were originally developed in the 60s as a cheaper alternative to the metal bracelets used on sport-based Rolex and Tudor watches. Metal bracelets were certainly practical for underwater excursions, but they were very heavy and expensive to replace; luckily, rubber straps served as a solution to both of these problems.

The Tropic strap was the first rubber strap ever released, and it quickly began to corner the dive watch market. It was easily recognizable by the characteristic basket weave pattern stamped into the outward-facing side of the strap, in addition to the numerous perforations running lengthwise from tip to lug. This gave the strap a unique texture in addition to a copious amount of breathability, which was unexpected out of a strap built to be waterproof. Early models were somewhat stiff and brittle, but by the 70s, Tropic straps had been further improved to retain their supple qualities even after years of use.

One of the most amazing features of the Tropic strap was its incredible longevity – even though it was marketed as easily replicable, many models are still in use today (over 40 years later), and they feel and function just like when they were first commissioned. Furthermore, they managed to possess this durability while maintaining a very slim profile, which is rare even for modern variants.

Tropic straps tend to work best on vintage divers due to their shared history, but they also work exceptionally well with contemporary timepieces.

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Perlon

Like Tropic straps, Perlon straps were also popularized in the 60s. Perlon straps are easily recognized by their tightly woven basket weave pattern, which is similar in appearance to the surface of a Tropic strap. Instead of being a stamped pattern, however, it is an actual weave composed of thick nylon-esque threads. This characteristic gives Perlon straps a magnificent three-dimensional texture while simultaneously providing extreme amounts of breathability.

One of the most unique features of the Perlon strap is its infinite resizability – there are no predetermined holes, so the buckles prong simply slides through an opening in the weave.

This makes the strap a perfect choice for peculiar wrist sizes, since any circumference can be reached exactly. Perlon is also very abrasion resistant, so it rarely fray from continued use. Finally, Perlon dries quickly and does not stretch when wet, so it is an excellent choice for diving when rubber is unavailable or unwanted.

Perlon straps were invented in Europe, and they never quite managed to cross into American culture. As a result, very few continental retailers offer these straps, so you might have to look into international sellers to find specific colors and styles. Perlon straps peaked in popularity in the 60s and 70s, so they tend to look best on vintage divers.

Regardless of their original purpose, they work beautifully with all manner of watches, from chronographs to dress watches. Their extreme breathability and durability makes them a summer favorite, and their cheap price makes them easy to invest in – I highly recommend picking up a few of them!

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Waffle

Uncle Seiko

Premiering on the 6105 Diver in the early 70s, the Waffle strap is an iconic Seiko invention. This watch is widely regarded as the single most important diver in the companys history, and was a common choice for Vietnam servicemen. While the original army-issued watches failed in the humid jungles, the Seiko 6105s kept ticking long after the end of the war. As veterans returned to the U.S., their watches went with them, and they quickly rose in popularity among civilian circles.

The characteristic Waffle strap, obviously named for its distinct texture, adorned a majority of these watches, and was loved by many. Numerous small vents ran down the sides of the strap, which greatly increased its breathability. Since it was composed of rubber, it was entirely waterproof and easily cleanable, and also quite flexible to boot. Sadly, most vintage straps are now hardened and brittle, so many enthusiasts have turned to replicas and homages.

Obviously, the Waffle strap looks best on a vintage Seiko, but thats a pretty tall order. These watches (and their accompanying straps) are no longer in production, so they are ludicrously overpriced for any non-collector. Even so, comparatively inexpensive 1:1 reproductions have been made by multiple retailers, so if you’re looking for a historic Seiko experience, I highly recommend trying one out.

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Finally, there are two more rarely seen straps that I will quickly gloss over:

Double Ridge

Watchuseek

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NASA

The Other (Affordable) Moon Watch

This long velcro strap was provided to the Apollo astronauts to wear with their Omega Speedmasters on the outside of their spacesuit. Today, velcro straps are quite common, especially with the popularity of smart watches, which have adopted the style. Learn more about The Other (Affordable) Moon Watch.

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Brad MacDonald

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February 22, 2026
Free Printable Year End Review Journal: An Easy, Structured Way to Reflect Then Build the New Year

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If you’d prefer to do the year end reflection exercise in your own journal, here is the framework:

18 Questions I’m Going to Ask Myself

Each year, I get the gears of my reflection going by asking myself 18 questions. It’s intended to be more of a quick brainstorm to get thoughts on paper versus coming up with a definitive Grammy winner-style list.

The goal is to devote some real time reflecting on the past year and taking an inventory of what I liked and what I didn’t. When I was happy, and when I wasn’t. When I felt my best, and when I was stressed. This will help orient myself so I can then begin to think about the new year in terms of what I want to continue and what I want to do differently.

Don’t read look at this and get scared away – most of my thoughts will be in the form of rough bulleted lists as a simple way of getting bits of ideas out of my head and into a collected place. I may write longer-form answers when inspired, these are tools, not rules.

For the questions like, “3 times I was happiest,” the number three is simply a placeholder for “brainstorm,” because a lot of these will be hard to answer. If the question was “when was I happiest?” I would likely work until I could think of one answer that seemed better than the others then stop. For these questions, the point is to just list with a stream of consciousness all of the times you can remember being happy, regardless of how intense the happiness was. Then, once you’ve done that, go back and pick the 3 that were the happiest.

One of the best tools to jogging my memory is to open my photos app on my phone and scroll back to January 1. From there, I begin taking notes in the “months” section of the reflection template, which get sorted later.

I’m always surprised to see what my answers and expect the result to be either A) Ok awesome, do more things like these 3, or B) Man, these 3 things were the happiest I was all year? I need to work on doing bigger and better things in the new year. Or if I’m unable to think of any answers to “3 times I did something that scared me,” I’ll know to prioritize that kind of growth. Once I do all the questions, I’ll then work to create some goals for the new year based on what I’ve realized about the last year.

One of the things I enjoy most about the exercise is the outcome usually does not align with my assumptions about the year pre-review.

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Andrew Snavely

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December 28, 2025
What Terms on Alcohol Labels Really Mean: The Words You Trust and the Tricks You Miss
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Some words are carved into regulation, others were invented during a lunch break in brand strategy.

You could wallpaper your bathroom with the promises printed on liquor bottles. Words like “authentic,” “heritage,” and “handcrafted” get tossed around like cilantro at a taco bar, but they rarely mean what you think they mean. Some are written in stone by government lawyers. Others were invented during lunch by someone in marketing whose main qualification was owning a pair of Warby Parkers.

Let’s crack the label open.

Bottled-in-Bond

In 1897, the US government took a break from railroads and robber barons to pass the Bottled-in-Bond Act, America’s first real consumer protection law for booze. It guaranteed your whiskey wasn’t secretly made from kerosene, tobacco spit, or the 19th-century version of drywall dust and fentanyl.

Before that, most whiskey came from rectifiers, middlemen who bought raw spirit and “improved” it with neutral grain alcohol, syrups, iodine, or whatever else was handy. Genuine distillers hated it, consumers couldn’t trust a label, and the government wanted a cleaner way to collect taxes. Bonded warehouses gave them all three.

Today, “Bottled-in-Bond” still means:
- One distillery
- One distillation season
- A minimum of 4 years in a bonded warehouse under government lock and key
- Bottled at exactly 100 proof
If your whiskey follows those rules, you’re drinking something even the federal government agrees is legit. Which might be the first and last time that happens.

And far from being a dusty relic, Bottled-in-Bond became a badge of honor during bourbon’s 21st-century comeback, with distilleries proudly stamping it on labels as proof that their bottles were both historic and trustworthy.

Tequila vs 100% Agave

Mexico owns the word “Tequila” the way France owns Champagne: by law, geography, and the power of being deeply unimpressed by shortcuts.

Under NOM-006, real tequila must be made from Blue Weber agave in very specific regions like Jalisco and a few side gigs in neighboring states.

Now, here’s where things get slippery: Tequila only needs to be 51% agave sugars. The rest can be cane sugar, corn syrup, or whatever legally counts as fermentable, which means you’re drinking mixto, not the good stuff.

Bottles that say “100% agave” or “Tequila 100% de agave”? Those are required to be bottled in Mexico and made entirely from agave sugars. But even then, a splash of oak extract or glycerin is still fair game.

And then there’s the NOM code. On tequila, it’s a four-digit number that points straight to the distillery where it was made. Different brands can share the same NOM, which is a bit like discovering your fancy artisanal jam was made in the same factory as Lunchables.

Tequila is one branch of the larger mezcal family. Mezcal stretches wider, with more agave types and traditional methods that often lead to smokier, earthier profiles. It’s not about better or worse; it’s closer to Scotch regions with different rules, different flavors, and different traditions.

Mezcal runs on the same regulatory backbone but under a different rulebook, NOM-070. Instead of just a number, mezcal NOMs include letters that reveal the state (O for Oaxaca, M for Michoacán, D for Durango), a sequence number for certification, and a final letter tied to that state’s system.

For example, NOM-O191X on Madre Espadín and Madre Ensamble shows both spirits were certified in Oaxaca at the same facility, even if the bottles or agave blends differ. Some labels choose not to display it prominently, or sometimes not at all. The producer might lean on the Denomination of Origin (DO) hologram, QR codes, or other verification marks instead.

So whether you’re drinking tequila or mezcal, the NOM is the same kind of thing: a regulatory ID that tells you where it was certified, not how good it is.

Bourbon vs Straight Bourbon vs Kentucky Straight Bourbon

If bourbon were a person, it’d be the guy in a perfectly ironed Oxford shirt who’s quietly been following the rules since 1964. For something to be legally called bourbon, it has to be at least 51% corn, distilled under 160 proof, barreled in new charred oak at no more than 125 proof, and bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV. No flavors. No coloring. Just legal Protestantism in liquid form. Regulation here.

Straight bourbon takes it further. It must age at least 2 years, and if it’s under 4, the label has to say so. It’s the difference between someone who shows up on time and someone who also brings their own clipboard.

Kentucky Straight Bourbon is where the clipboard guy inherits family land. Kentucky has been the center of bourbon since the late 1700s, when settlers discovered that the region’s limestone-filtered water, corn-friendly soil, and humid summers with cold winters made whiskey practically raise itself in the barrel. By the late 1800s, Kentucky was producing so much that “Kentucky Bourbon” became a shorthand for the good stuff. The state leaned into it, passing its own law that you can’t use “Kentucky” on a label unless the whiskey was distilled and aged there for at least a year. So when you see “Kentucky Straight Bourbon,” it means all the federal straight-bourbon rules, plus the weight of two centuries of local bragging rights.

Proof and ABV

Here’s the trick: in the US, proof = ABV × 2. If you see 90 proof on a bottle, it means it’s 45% alcohol. Nothing mystical. Just arithmetic.

The word proof comes from old English tax law. In the 1500s, inspectors tested spirits by mixing them with gunpowder and striking a flame. If the powder still ignited, the spirit was “above proof” and taxed more. Too weak and it fizzled, too strong and it flared out. The system stuck long enough that by the 18th century Britain fixed 100 proof as 57.15 percent ABV, the point where gunpowder would reliably ignite.

When the US codified its own system in the 1800s, the government cut through the math and made it simple: proof would be exactly double the ABV. So 80 proof is 40 percent alcohol, 100 proof is 50 percent, and nobody needs to light gunpowder on their bar counter to figure it out.

Cask Strength, Barrel Proof, Overproof, & Navy Strength

Barrel proof is the label’s way of saying, “We didn’t water this down.” According to the legal fine print, the bottling proof has to be within two degrees of the original.

Cask strength means the same thing but is technically unregulated.

Most spirits settle at 40% ABV, the legal minimum in the U.S. for calling something whiskey, rum, or gin. Anything stronger than that is considered overproof. It just means “above the standard,” whether that’s a bourbon bottled at 110 proof or a rum that clocks in at 151. Overproof doesn’t have a legal cutoff, it’s more of a warning label that you’re holding firewater.

Navy Strength is the one fixed point. The legend says the British Royal Navy kept rum at 57% ABV so if it spilled on the gunpowder, the powder would still fire. It’s a great story, but it’s mostly marketing lore. By the mid-1700s, the Navy was already using hydrometers to measure strength, and rum and gunpowder were stored in separate compartments of the ship. No one was sloshing rum on cannon charges below deck.

The real “navy strength” number, about 54.5% ABV, came later. When hydrometers replaced the old gunpowder test, officials compared a batch of rums that had historically “passed” the fire test. They averaged the hydrometer readings and locked in 95.5 proof, which translates to 54.5% ABV. That became the official issuing strength, and modern “Navy Strength” labeling keeps the myth alive with a rounder 57% figure. Difford’s Guide explains.

For flavor, overproof spirits hit hotter and carry more concentrated character. Bartenders prize them for cocktails that need backbone, since the extra strength holds up against citrus, sugar, and dilution. Straight, they’re not subtle, they’re intensity in a glass, showing off every edge of the spirit. Personally, I prefer overproof ryes for my old fashioned so I still get that whiskey flavor in balance with the ice and simple syrup.

Small Batch

“Small batch” sounds artisanal. Like someone made it wearing an apron and sells it at the farmers market. But it means nothing legally. Could be ten barrels. Could be two hundred. There are no rules. Just vibes.

Single Barrel

Unlike small batch, single barrel usually means what it says: all the whiskey came from one barrel. No blending. No filtering. Just one moody cask doing its best.

The implication for flavor is huge. With a single barrel, you taste the quirks of one cask’s life, such as where it sat in the rickhouse, how the wood breathed, and how the climate hit it. One barrel might lean rich and oaky, another bright and spicy, another soft and sweet. It’s as close as whiskey gets to a fingerprint.

Single barrel bottles are often positioned as premium not because the rules demand it, but because they let you taste individuality instead of a recipe. It’s whiskey with no safety net, and that’s the appeal for some.

Single Malt

In Scotland, single malt means malted barley, made in pot stills, all from one distillery. It must be aged at least three years in oak. There’s an actual regulation for it.

In the US, we finally caught up. In December 2024, The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approved American Single Malt Whisky: 100% malted barley, made at one distillery, stored in oak (new or used), bottled at 40% ABV or more.

Single Grain

Despite the name, single grain doesn’t mean one grain. In Scotland, Ireland, and Japan it means whisky from one distillery, made mostly in column stills, with corn, wheat, or unmalted barley in the mix along with malted barley. All three require at least three years in oak. The style is usually lighter and cleaner than single malt, which is why it rarely takes center stage on its own.

In the US, “grain whiskey” means something else entirely. Federal law defines it as a whiskey made from a mash bill that is at least 51 percent of a specific grain other than corn. Rye whiskey, wheat whiskey, or barley whiskey all count here. American grain whiskey leans on a single dominant grain rather than a multi-grain mix, making it more about one flavor profile than a softer blend of several.

Blended

Once you’ve met single malt and single grain, blending is the next move. Blended Scotch is a mix of those two, all made and aged in Scotland for at least three years.

“Blended” doesn’t automatically mean worse, even if that reputation has followed it for decades. In Scotland, blending single malt with single grain created a whisky that was smoother, more approachable, and, most importantly, consistent. That reliability made blended Scotch the global standard, and it still accounts for almost 90 percent of all Scotch sold.

In the US, the word picked up baggage. American blended whisky can legally contain up to 80 percent neutral grain spirits, essentially vodka, with just enough whiskey for flavor. The result was thinner, cheaper bottles that turned “blended” into shorthand for “budget.” Blended bourbon is stricter, at least 51 percent straight bourbon with the rest made up of other whiskey or neutral spirits. It’s a blend, not a dilution. Usually.

In Canada, blending is the house style. Whisky must age at least three years, and most of it is a mix of grain whisky and flavouring whisky (lower proof but with stronger flavor). Some bottles lean soft and velvety, others land squarely in beige.

So does blended mean worse? Not in Scotland or Japan, where blending is treated as a craft and master blenders are celebrated for creating balance out of dozens of whiskies. In the US, the legal shortcut built its own bad reputation, and the word never fully recovered.

Natural Flavors

According to FDA law, “natural flavors” must be derived from a natural source like fruit, bark, dairy, whatever, but it doesn’t have to taste like that thing. “Natural lime” might contain actual lime oil. “Lime with other natural flavors” could be lemons pretending to be limes.

‘Artificial flavors’ are lab-built, not inherently toxic. The real question is whether it tastes like lemon or like the stuff you mop with.

Real Fruit vs. 100% Juice

If your canned cocktail says “contains real juice,” it could legally mean 1%. The real law comes from 21 CFR §101.30, which says if a product shows or implies juice, it has to disclose how much. Only “100% juice” is guaranteed to be, well, 100%. The rest is just fruit-adjacent optimism.

Non-Chill Filtered

Chill filtration pulls out fatty acids and esters that make whiskey go cloudy in cold glasses. That’s all. If your bottle says non-chill filtered, it might look a little foggy, especially on ice, but that haze contains flavor, body, and a trace amount of smugness. More on that.

Reserve

In the US, “reserve” is completely unregulated. It can mean older barrels, or just that someone liked how the word looked in cursive. In Rioja, Spain, Reserva means red wine aged at least 3 years, with at least 12 months in oak. But that’s Rioja. Your whiskey’s “Grand Reserve Edition” might be aged in nothing more than ambition. Rioja DOCa explanation

Estate Bottled

In wine, estate bottled is real. Under US wine law, it means the grapes were grown, crushed, fermented, aged, and bottled on the same estate, inside the same AVA (American Viticultural Area). This is a federally recognized grape-growing region, mapped out for its particular soil, climate, and geography.

In spirits, “estate” is just a word. Could mean anything. Could mean nothing.

Age Statements

If a bottle says twelve years, every drop inside must be at least twelve. It’s a minimum, not an average. Spirits under four years old must list the age.
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Andrew Snavely

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August 26, 2025
Gen Z, Crew Socks, and a Needed Perspective On Style Trends as We Get Older [Reader Question]
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The surprisingly challenging aspect of style: navigating changing trends when what’s ‘cool’ isn’t designed for you.

Long time reader Matt sent an email with the subject line “Gen Z Socks”:

Apparently ankle socks are out and crew socks are in. As a millennial, I’m devastated. Is this true Andrew??

The most important thing to consider, when asking yourself this type of question – especially as we get older – is, “crew socks are in, for whom?”

Gen Z, like every new generation, has taken what’s come before them and decided how to edit/augment/create their own thing. The 18-30 set will always command the attention of clothing trends, retailers, brands, and designers, and they inevitably push the overall cultural aesthetic forward. It’s interesting to see how pervasive these trends become over time; take the older men in my life, for instance. I’ve noticed they’ve started to adopt the same style of fit that I was wearing about ten years ago because these trends have become so culturally widespread.

Most of them would never have considered the looks or fit when millennials started wearing them, but as the overall cultural aesthetic slowly morphs and shifts, they feel more standard or inclusive for the demographics outside of the 18-30 set.

Personal style is a tool used for two things: Tell the world about our personality and who we are; and also to incorporate ourselves into the community. This is a spectrum, where both of those things are in opposition at the extreme ends. I’m ok wearing ankle socks because if a Gen Zer were to judge me as a millennial, I would embrace it as fact and not an insult. The reality that they mean it as one is a reflection of their age.

It is always up to us to choose what works with our personal style and on what timeline it evolves. What’s most important is that you’re wearing things that you like as well as being open to evolution, even if it’s slow.

So while it’s cool to see what the younger generation is into, at the end of the day, it’s about what feels right for you. Whether you’re slowly integrating new trends into your wardrobe or sticking with what you know works, the most crucial thing is that your style feels good to you.

It’s important to realize that as people, we don’t live within a monoculture. What is true about my Gen Z counterpart, even if we’re nearly identical otherwise, will still be wildly different because I’m at least 13 years older. What I’m experiencing at this life stage, the types of people in my immediate community bubble that I value being included in, and what I consciously or subconsciously do to attempt to be viewed as a part of it, is significantly more nuanced than the general question, “how do I look culturally appropriate by American humans aged 10-100.”

The essence of personal style lies in this delicate balance—it’s not just adopting what’s in vogue but interpreting it to match your personal narrative. Something to emphasize about Primer and the “style advice” we provide, is that it still needs to be transposed to your own reality. The examples and aesthetics we show match mine and the other contributors; it isn’t right, I could list 10 types of people without even trying who would find Primer’s aesthetic recommendations incongruent with their experiential observations within their immediate communities. It’s how you tweak these ideas as well as the broader influences to resonate with your personal ethos and aesthetic.

In this way, style becomes a powerful medium for expression, not specifically in an artistic way, but a deeply personal and inherently social one. It allows us to signal our identity and values to the world while also finding our niche within a community. This dynamic is where the true art of fashion lies: not in us as individuals darting from fashion change to fashion change like a school of fish, but in recognizing how it relates to me.

Music has always been a helpful metaphor for me. It seems strange to stop listening to a style of music you connect with because it’s no longer popular with 18-30 year olds. It similarly seems strange to start dressing in a style you don’t connect with because it is popular with 18-30 year olds. And yet, in 10 years I will more than likely enjoy that music as its influences have slowly evolved the overall sound of music into something else.

Take country music for example. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania in the 90s, and artists like Tim McGraw, Garth Brooks, and Toby Keith were superstars. Consumers of that music didn’t connect with the musical sensibilities of artists in other contemporary genres like Eminem and Foo Fighters. Today, the entire country genre has shifted dramatically, heavily influenced by hard rock and rap, with a bit of twang and steel guitar thrown in. Many of the same people who listened to country in the 90s likely still listen and enjoy its current form.

The overall color of a music genre or fashion aesthetic shifts in hue as each generation and community adds their contribution.

All of that is hyper-philosophical; on a practical level what I enjoy about shifting trends is finding the opportunity in them.
- Slim and skinny jeans had been a core component of my (and our generation’s) style and a more fitted silhouette still feels more refined when I’m hoping to look “well-dressed.” But I’ve really enjoyed the benefits of including straighter/looser fits now that they’ve become more popular again: I can wear chunkier shoes, they’re no doubt more comfortable and maneuverable, and there’s more clearance as to whether they “fit right” or not.
- Similarly light jeans have provided a new tool to dress down other dressier elements like a blazer or button up shirt.
- And for as much as we all defend ankle and no-show socks, there’s no question they can be an absolute headache sometimes. No-shows slipping down and bunching up or finding that precise height for an ankle sock where it’s visible but not too high(!). The re-emergence of crew socks gives me the opportunity to use them as a part of an outfit, not just a necessity that I’m trying to avoid drawing attention to. Similar to how Daniel used lighter socks with his loafers in a way I would have never accepted 10 years ago, crew socks with shorts provide different comfort/convenience benefits as well as adding a vintage aesthetic touch.
For me, regarding crew socks or ankle socks specifically, it is not whether I wear them but when do I wear them. I get to use them to my advantage for my personal style. And in a way, that’s a privilege I get as a person not in the pop trend age range. If I were 22 today and surrounded by other young people with a strict vision of what is in or out of style, my sense of what is socially acceptable may be so concentrated that it’s crew socks only.

With every new trend that emerges from the 18-30 set, whether that’s today with Z, tomorrow with Alpha, or in fifteen years with “The Third Greatest Generation” or whatever they’ll be known as, the question isn’t, “ankle socks are out, is that true??” it’s “young people are wearing crew socks, to what degree and on what timeline am I open to including them?”

My advice for this, or any change, is just to make sure the answer isn’t “never”.
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Andrew Snavely

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June 10, 2024
5 Promises Every Modern Guy Should Make to Himself

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Staying true to yourself will get you what you want, but it won’t always be easy.

Between the stress of adulthood, the challenge of our careers, and all the trials and tribulations that existence throws at us, it can be difficult to forge our own way. Instead of charging into the rough waves we might start taking the path of least resistance, one that inevitably leads us further and further from the direction we’re supposed to be heading. It can be tough to stay on track.

Tough, but not impossible.

When we’re feeling lost in life, these are the five critical commitments that can help us reorient on things that truly matter and the people we want to become:

1. Promise To Set Time Aside For Reflection

As much as we might like to think of ourselves as a simple people, the truth of the matter is that every last one of us is a tangled mess of experiences, instincts, hopes, fears, and passions. At any given second there are a thousand competing thoughts and feelings flashing through our minds, shaping and directing our every waking moment.

In spite of that (hell, because of that) most of us simply stumble through life without ever knowing why we feel what we feel or do what we do. We’ll dig through the trash to double-check the baking instructions on a box of chicken strips, but when it comes to figuring out this funny thing called “existence” we simply look away and hope for the best.

It never works.

“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey

Make no mistake – one of the single best promises we’ll ever commit to is routinely setting aside for reflection on who we are and what we’re all about. This might come in the form of morning meditation or it might mean that we journal on a daily basis, or dedicate a few days out of the year to contemplation. The “how” isn’t important – what’s critical is that we try.

How to Journal +14 Journal Prompts to Get Started

Deliberately setting aside time for unpacking our thoughts and feelings gives us the all-important opportunity to truly understand ourselves – both the things that propel us forward and the things that hold us back. When we’re able to objectively dissect our worries and fears, we’ll find just where they’re coming from and how we can start to overcome them. Even just having a more complete picture can help us pitch to a job or more effectively build and maintain relationships. It gives us a stronger sense of what our weaknesses are, and how we can keep from sabotaging ourselves.

We can’t progress towards our best self until we know who that is. It’s as simple as that.

2. Promise To Be Prepared For Opportunity Before It Comes

Life doesn’t always go the way we’d like. It’s not a steady ascent, it’s not a rollercoaster of highs and lows. While those will all hopefully be included, more often than not, we’ll find ourselves simply coasting. It won’t be a crisis, but our situations certainly will be less than everything we’d hope.

We might be working jobs that pay the bills while we wait for the dream position to open. We might be swiping our way through a host of dating apps, waiting for the right person to like us back. We might wander through our days, hoping for the chance to chase down some purse-snatcher or rescue a kitten from a burning building or single-handedly defeat a rival dojo.

It’s easy to daydream about these things, but what if the perfect opportunity were to actually happen?

If our ideal job were to open up right now, would we be qualified for it? If the perfect person were to cross paths with us, would we be seen at our most charming and handsome? If that building down the street were to explode into flames, would we be fit enough and fast enough to react?

Be honest.

The reality is that when we’re spinning our wheels, it’s easy to take our eyes off the prize. Sure, we might spend our hours fantasizing about how awesome it would be to be living the dream, but in doing so, we might trick ourselves into think that’s all it is – a dream. If those perfect opportunities do arise, we’re too rusty from inaction to capitalize on them – or even recognize them – and we might even try telling ourselves that isn’t something we ever wanted to begin with.

That’s not just a defeat – that’s a betrayal.

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan

We can’t always get what we want, but we have to promise ourselves that we won’t be so fearful of disappointment that we’ll try. Lost in the doldrums, we have to commit to preparing ourselves in whatever way will make us most ready – whether that means training our bodies, sharpening our minds, building up funds, or prepping ourselves to take charge during a crisis. Remember: there is nothing in this world quite so agonizing as the four little words “it could have been.”

3. Promise To Challenge Your Concept Of Masculinity

If we were to picture the manliest of men, what image might pop into our heads?

Perhaps some calloused, grizzled lumberjack-type. Perhaps a towering, muscle-bound figure with a piercing stare and a voice that’d make James Earl Jones sound like a soprano. Maybe he’s killed more men than Rambo. Maybe he’s seduced more women than James Bond. Maybe he’s a detached, emotionless machine who takes what he wants when he wants and never bothers with “sorry” or “please.” Maybe he’s brash and loud. Or maybe he never says anything at all.

If that image, or something like it, is what we imagine when we think of masculinity, then that’s the image we need to promise ourselves we’ll reconsider. So long as we measure ourselves against it, we’ll never be free to become our best and most-authentic self. Which is the absolute manliest thing you can do, regardless of what that looks like.

In spite of our steps away from the cold-blooded action heroes of the 80s, almost all of us have some downright poisonous ideas of what men should be. That’s not to say that the average Primer reader or even the average guy is a raging “alpha-male” dick, only that even the best of us is susceptible.

Without ever meaning to, many of us may be pressured to conform to some depressingly limited model for what a man can be.

How do we escape that? Just as with self-reflection, we’re going to need to promise ourselves that we’ll regularly review and challenge our concept of what actually makes the man. We’ll need to expose ourselves to skills, abilities, and viewpoints that might not have even been on our radar. This is about challenging the very way we perceive and handle emotions.

Or the way we don’t handle emotions.

Truth is, somewhere along the line people started mistaking being stoic for being borderline sociopathic. Emotions – the critical component that makes humans so effective and dynamic – have managed to get cast as the enemy of logic and reason, instead of as a complementary tool.

The response many guys have is to attempt to suppress emotions entirely. Of course, we can hide our feelings, but we can’t help but feel them, and rather than grant us any sense of self-mastery, we wind up becoming the guy shrieking in the middle of a little league game or having a stroke in an Arby’s drive-through.

Repressing emotions doesn’t give us control, it gives the illusion of control. It’s a kind of self-inflicted illiteracy – a pointless handicap we give ourselves that keeps us from being healthy and self-actualized. In the words of master carpenter, writer, actor, and actual badass Nick Offerman (who became a household name for his masterful satire of underdeveloped masculinity):

“Crying at something that moves you to joy or sadness is just as manly as chopping down a tree or punching out a bad guy… If you live your life openly with your emotions, that’s a more manly stance than burying them.” – Nick Offerman

4. Promise To Walk Away When It’s Time

This, perhaps more than any of the other recommendation here, is going to be tough to follow through on. As counterintuitive as it might at first sound, giving up can be one of the most difficult things.

It’s easy – far too easy – to get so caught up in the struggles of everyday life that we lose track of what we were fighting for to being with. Maybe we put up with a miserable job by telling ourselves that it’s to fund our long-term goals. The boss is a sadist and the clients are abusive, but we’re doing it to support us and the people and things we care about. That’s fine if it works, but more likely than not, we’ll find ourselves coming home so utterly burned out that we barely have energy to meet our basic needs, let alone pursue our actual interests .

Or maybe we’re in a relationship which even at its best didn’t fulfill us, or one that’s run its natural course. Or perhaps one that used to be good, but has lost its healthiness, helpfulness, and fulfillment as life changes (be it us, them, or our needs and values).

The hard part about walking away from relationships is two-fold. First, it can feel like an upending experience. Sure, the relationship isn’t great but the fear of change may seem worse than just trying to ignore the things that make it a bad relationship. But that’s a pretty sad and terrible reason to stay in a relationship, and one that is definitely unsustainable over time.

Second, in our culture we’re told a lot of stories of struggling marriages that are on the brink of divorce, but get salvaged at the last possible second through hard work. And that does happen, and there are people who should do that with life-changing results.

But there are also times when ending a relationship is the right thing – and that’s just as life-changing. The hard part is knowing which situation you’re in. But try to trust yourself. Do the work.

There’s nothing wrong with sweating and struggling for the things we’re passionate about. Suffering just for the sake of suffering? Or worse, suffering because it feels easier than trying to change? That’s another matter altogether.

For the sake of our own sanity, we need to promise ourselves that we won’t be too proud to quit something that’s lost all meaning. And not just for ourselves, but for others as well. Don’t waste someone’s time in a relationship because you don’t have the nerve to break it off. Don’t squat in a position that you despise but someone else might thrive in. There’s no defeat in walking away from something unwinnable to you.

5. Promise To Try Again When You Screw Up

More than anything else, our success with these resolutions is going to hinge on mastery of this final promise: to get over ourselves when we fail.

And we will fail.

For all our best efforts and noble intentions, we will eventually fall short of the standards we set for ourselves. And you know what? That’s ok. Failure is a fact of life – our job is to make sure that it doesn’t destroy our ability to try again.

That might sound melodramatic, but the simple truth is that many people see the world in all-or-nothing terms. Someone might resolve to jog every day, but when they do eventually skip, they’ll figure “So much for that perfect streak – better luck next year.” But what’s keeping that person from running tomorrow, Or the next day, Or the day after that?

The problem here is with that single, insidious word: “perfect.” Vain creatures that we are, we care more about being flawless execution than about making real strides towards our goals. The end result is that we don’t push ourselves beyond the bounds of our comfort zones for fear of confirming what we always suspected – that we’re only human. Even in the rare instances where we do, we give up when we’re not immediate experts. We try comforting ourselves by saying “Well I’m just not athletic/artistic/ /charismatic/business-minded, etc.” or some other lie that we imagine will free us from responsibility.

We’d rather wall ourselves off from an entire aspect of existence than dare admit that we’ve got room to improve.

Much like the problem of not walking away, this issue has its roots in a warped sense of pride – one that bases self-esteem not in the presence of accomplishment but in the absence of failure.

Of course, all this offers is a false sense of security. The world’s a tough place. Whether we like it or not we’re eventually going to encounter embarrassment or failure – it might as well be in the service of something that actually helps us grow.

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” – Jodi Picoult

Even a stumble counts as progress if it’s towards the right direction.

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Gordon Brown

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June 5, 2024
Getting Started with Pour Over Coffee: The Pros & Cons of the Hario V60, Kalita Wave, and Chemex
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Ready to upgrade your morning coffee? We’ll help you determine which of the 3 most common pour over brewers to start with.

With the renaissance that’s taken over coffee aisles and kitchen counters, there is no reason for you to still be making coffee you’re not enjoying with your plug-in brewer. Sure, it’s easy, but chances are the coffee that your old machine produces isn’t the best tasting.

In fact, your drip brewer is ruining your cup. Why?

Ditch Your Drip Brewer

Your drip brewer doesn’t know your beans as well as you do.

The history of the drip brewer goes back to the 1950’s. Alongside the invention and popularity of other electronic household appliances the plug-in brewer became a popular item that cut the wait time for percolator coffee. The percolator produced over-brewed bitter coffee. The jump from percolator coffee to the electronic drip brewer became a giant leap for mankind. It improved both convenience and taste, but it didn’t highlight specific flavors that discerning drinkers crave in their cup.

Real talk: If you brew Folgers coffee and you love it the way it is, keep your drip brewer. If you find yourself consistently let down by the joe coming out of your kitchen, consider upgrading to a pour over.

The drip brewer doesn’t know the beans you are brewing. It’s programmed to operate the same way each time, by pouring scalding hot water (one of the basic variables) over a bed of coffee that doesn’t brew evenly.

Take Control Over Your Coffee: Get a Pour Over.

One of the most popular and trendier ways of making coffee right now is the pour over. It’s a brewing method available in most coffee shops where the barista manually pours the water from a kettle over the coffee and drips through the filter and down to a cup. They probably charge you $4 for it too!

So why pay more for a slower cup of coffee versus getting a cheaper drip coffee?

First, it tastes better. Fine coffee has a lot of nuance to its flavor. That’s why you’ve probably noticed Starbucks tastes different from the fancy shop on the corner and that tastes different from the fancy cafe on the opposite corner. It’s not just the roasting process – there are a lot of variables that effect how a specific bean will brew like grind size, water temperature, and brew time. A pour over is about as manual as you can get when it comes to controlling all of these important factors. Using a regular old countertop automated coffee machine is the microwaved pulled pork to a pork roast you cooked slowly and intentionally in your smoker.

Second, having control over how you brew your coffee is truly satisfying. A machine compromises the skill involved in brewing a better tasting cup of coffee for the sake of convenience.

In our previous post on Brew Basics we introduced you to the proper use of the four fundamentals of brewing coffee. So now you have yourself a scale, a quality grinder, good filtered water, and some fresh whole bean coffee. Now let’s brew it, pour over style!

The Top Three Pour Over Brewers According To Insiders

Ironically, I called your Mr.Coffee machine historic as I’m trying to promote the pour over. It turns out the pour over has been around since the early 1900’s, way before any automated kitchen appliance.

The method has evolved to many different designs. Choosing the right one for you might become overwhelming, especially if you aren’t familiar with each type of pour over.

With all the pour overs out in the market I’m going to review what are widely considered the top 3 pour overs within the coffee industry: The Hario V60, Kalita, and the Chemex. All three are designed differently and require their own specific filter, causing a difference in extraction and therefore producing unique flavor profiles.

This one might just be the most iconic pour over out there. The V60 is made by Hario, a famous Japanese company that makes heat-resistant glassware. The company has built a reputation for quality products since 1921.

This popular pour over device requires a careful technique, a timer, and gooseneck kettle but rewards you with a delicious tasting cup of coffee. If done correctly, specific flavors can be brought out depending on the type of coffee brewed.

Material: comes in glass, copper, plastic, ceramic

Required Accessories: V60 paper filters, scale, gooseneck kettle, clock or other timing device

Grind: Medium/Fine (similar to table salt)

Click here for a step-by-step on how to brew with the V60.

PROS:
- Conical design of this device gives you a more pronounced floral and fruity cup.
- Shape of the filter allows the coffee to extract to a center point, helping develop a clean and bright cup of coffee (opposite of what a French press would give you).
- Affordable. Starting price is at $20. Check out this full kit on Amazon.
CONS:
- Meticulous consistency is required when brewing.
- V60 filters are not readily available in grocery stores. Must be bought online.
This Device Is Best For:
- People who are patient and exacting.
- Those who enjoy the coffee-making process and are willing to invest time in experimenting.
Kalita Wave: For the Nonchalant

If you want a good cup of coffee but don’t want the sophistication the V60 might carry, then the Kalita Wave is the right one for you. Similar to Hario, Kalita is another known Japanese brand that is famous for their line of coffee equipment. The Kalita Wave was invented in response to the market’s demand for an easy to use, hassle free dripper that didn’t involve the specific skills needed for a conical pour over dripper.

This simple to use pour over requires a scale, and a gooseneck kettle.

Material: comes in stainless steel & glass, two sizes available

Required Accessories: Kalita Wave filters, scale, gooseneck kettle

Grind: Medium/Coarse (slightly coarser than table salt)

Click here for a step-by-step on how to brew with the Kalita.

PROS:
- The flat bottom design of this dripper allows an even extraction for a consistent cup.
- Not sensitive to inaccurate water pouring. Minimal pouring skill required.
- Affordable.
CONS:
- Filters not readily available in grocery stores. Must be purchased online.
- Although it’s an easy-to-use dripper, some flavors tend to be “muted” in this brew process. Floral and fruity flavors tend to be compromised in return for the consistency of the brew.
This Device Is Best For:
- People who want to keep the same routine every morning.
- Those who don’t want all the complications of timing their pour.
Chemex: The Entertainer

One of the most iconic ways of making pour over coffee is the Chemex. It was invented in the 1940’s by an American chemist named Peter Schlumbohm. It was during a time when a majority of American households drank burnt percolator coffee. Schlumbohm wanted to create a simple brewing method that didn’t require any extra accessories. With the Chemex, you have your serving carafe and cone dripper all in one piece.

A favorite by both young baristas and baby boomers, this iconic kitchen appliance has made its name across all ages. This pour over is unique among all others due to its thick filter that absorbs and filters majority of the oils, leaving you with one of the cleanest-tasting cups of coffee.

Sidenote: Aside from great tasting coffee it produces, this aesthetically looking device also acts for a great display piece in the kitchen. It’s won numerous design awards and is on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, among others.

Material: Glass. Available with the classic wooden neck or glass handle.

Required Accessories: Chemex filters, scale, gooseneck kettle

Grind: Coarse

Click here for a step-by-step on how to brew with the Chemex.

PROS:
- Carafe included in the design. Great for making & serving multiple cups.
- Chemex filters are becoming more easily found in most grocery stores.
- Due to its thick filter, the flow of water is slowed down significantly. So ff you’re a tea fan, you can use it to technically steep loose leaf tea. Dual purpose!
- Affordable ranging in price from $35-$50 depending in capacity size. Check this one out on Amazon.
CONS:
- The unique Chemex filter gets picky with the type of beans used. This brew method usually prefers lighter roast, fruity beans. Narrows your variety of coffee to brew.
- Due to its conical drip design, specific pouring techniques are required to achieve the perfect cup.
This Device Is Best For:
- People who love to entertain or drink more than one cup at a time.
- Those who like the versatility of aesthetic and purpose.
And The Winner Is…

I’ve been working in the coffee industry for over five years now and I went through phases with my ‘coffee personality’. Initially I wanted something that looked cool – I first got a Chemex, and I was amazed with the bright flavors it highlighted.

Later on I became more precise and adventurous with my brewing and acquired a V60. Now, at home in the morning, my palate wants consistency in flavor so I brew the same one or two favorite coffees over the Kalita. After brewing thousands of cups of coffee at home I’ve settled with the Kalita which suits my lifestyle and palate. Occasionally on the weekends or when I get a new bag of coffee I’ll experiment with the V60 or the Chemex.

In all honesty, you can never really go wrong with any of these three pour over drippers. Choosing the right one for you all winds down to your own personality and preferred flavor profile. Are you an entertainer? Are you the meticulous type? Are you adventurous with your coffee? Or are you just the type of person who just wants a consistent pour over ritual every morning?

Coffee is always changing and people’s palates are always changing as well. I can’t give you a clear answer on which pour over is the winner. Many people will argue different pour over devices as the best.

I listed these three pour overs because these three are considered to be the most popular, reliable, and affordable in the industry. If you don’t want to buy all three at the same time or are in a real tight budget, go to your local coffee shop that brews using pour overs and pick a type of coffee that you originally like and ask for an opinion on which pour over method it’s brewed best over.
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John David

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May 15, 2024
How To Solve A Sensitive Issue Without Blowing It Up
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Use these three guiding principles that will help you navigate even the toughest conversations easily.

Have you ever told your partner that you want them to lose weight?

Me neither – I like to live.

Some topics are as sensitive as fresh sunburn and have the destructive power of two average-sized nuclear bombs:
- Finances
- Sex & intimacy
- Past relationships
- The monster-in-law
- Family planning & parenting
- Stuff that involves triggers & insecurities
Any recurring issues that stacked a massive emotional charge over time

The worst? You can’t avoid them. Discussing them is fundamental to any relationship.

But how you approach them makes the difference between an adult conversation and a full-on blowout.

Here are my best techniques to save yourself from escalating arguments and instead find solutions together.

How To Take Everyone’s Ego Out Of The Equation

The biggest problem that leads to arguments is our ego.

Its job is to make us feel safe and protect us from repeating the suffering we experienced in the past. If someone points out your mistakes but you learned that you’re only worthy of love if you perform and are perfect, that raises your ego’s defenses. It will do what it can to make the other’s point invalid.

It has noble intentions, but unfortunately, it often makes us defensive, deny our flaws, or outright attack the other.

“Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” – Ambrose Bierce

The trick to not triggering it is to create a safe space – a place in which you feel no need to defend yourself.

That’s when people can open up, share their true feelings, and admit their mistakes.
- Prepare and calm your nervous system
  Make sure you have ample time and aren’t stressed when you bring up these topics. Take a few deep breaths before you open the space.
- Listen instead of fixing
  You don’t need to answer right away or solve problems. Just give the other space to express what they want to.
- Stay with yourself and don’t interrupt or blame
  If something triggers you, that’s within you – act accordingly. When you share something, do it without accusing the other.
A great way to open the space is to start with: “Hey, I’d like to have a conversation with you because our relationship is important to me.”

Make it safe and focus on finding common ground – that takes the ego out of the equation.

This Conversation Technique Will Make You Unattackable

One of the major human flaws is that we seek solutions to our problems outside ourselves.

But everything is within us. Our triggers, problems, emotions, perspectives, and even the reality we believe in – it’s all inside ourselves.

So when you tell others to act differently because their behavior hurts you, it creates conflict because you attack their reality.

I know you have no ill intention – but there’s a better way to communicate what’s on your heart and mind.

It’s called an I-Statement.

Simply answer the following questions for yourself:
- What have I observed?
- How does that make me feel and why?
- What would I wish for in the future?
Then, share the answers with your partner from an “I perspective.”

“I noticed you often remind me to do things although I already said I’d do them. This makes me feel micromanaged and also takes away my drive to do what you asked me to. I’d appreciate it if I could do things on my timeline in the future or if we could just agree on a deadline and I’m free to organize myself as long as I stick to it.”

No accusation. No blame. No expectation. You’re just sharing how you feel, so there’s no reason to attack, defend, or argue.

Add a little “How do you feel about that?” after and you’ll minimize the chances of escalation.

“Communication is about being real. Sharing pieces of yourself that may not be comfortable, but are necessary for the growth of the relationship.” – Les Brown

Yes, it’s hard to make yourself that vulnerable – but you’ll either move forward together or learn that the other person is not someone you can have a civil conversation with.

Either way, you win.

Use This Simple Principle To Make Escalation Impossible

I love it when someone brings up stuff from the past.

It’s my favorite right after chewing on my sweaty socks after a workout and getting sandblasted up the butt. Fun times.

It used to happen a lot with my ex-girlfriends. “Last week you’ve done this, last month it was that, yadda yadda yadda.” It was like pouring gasoline onto hot coals, turning a difficult conversation into a full forest fire.

Of course, I tried to defend myself – a crucial mistake because I gave up my frame.

My… what? Let me explain.

In my first semester at university, I was at a house party. The host had put up a big, white canvas on a wall with markers next to it so people could leave their signatures. Since the party was semi-public on Facebook, hundreds of people were there and the canvas quickly filled up.

It only took one guy to slip with the marker and draw on the wall behind it – an hour later, the whole wall looked like a children’s coloring book.

One small break of the frame led to a huge escalation.

Just like the canvas created boundaries for where people could draw, a conversational frame dictates the tone, content, voice, context, and perception of a conversation. When someone tries to divert the conversation, perhaps by bringing up stuff from the past, they try to break that frame to get them into a better position. And when you pick up that thread, you buy into it.

Once that happens, the damage is done because you accepted the escalation.

How do you avoid this? By practicing frame control.
- Clearly state what the conversation is about
  “Hey, you might have a valid point there, but I think it’s best if we stick to the topic at hand. Once that’s solved, I’d love to look at what you just brought up.”
- Don’t let your triggers take over
  I know it’s tempting to retaliate, escalate, and get defensive – but the moment you do that, you accept the escalating frame. Stay calm, no matter what the other does.
- Draw healthy boundaries
  Don’t let others disrespect you because it starts small and gets bigger over time. The moment you notice, state clearly that you need the tone to stay respectful. If they don’t adjust, remove yourself from the situation.
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” – Epictetus

Frame control can be tough to master, but it’s one of the most powerful tools you can learn.

And as with all things mastery, it starts with mastering yourself.

How To Talk About Sensitive Topics Without Escalation And Arguments

Some topics are hard to talk about no matter what.

That’s okay. Everything you want is on the other side of a few hard conversations. And if you know how to approach them, they’ll go much smoother than expected.
1. Create a Safe Space – it brings down the ego’s defense mechanisms and helps you connect as human beings.
2. Use “I-Statements” – share your inner world rather than blaming or attacking the other.
3. Practice Frame Control – keep the conversation focused on what matters instead of accepting more explosive material.
Opinions can divide you, but the right communication will always bring you closer together.
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Moreno Zugaro

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February 25, 2024
Begin Again Series: How to Journal – The One Thing That Can Change Everything

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How to Journal

The good news is, there is no right or wrong way to journal. Like getting exercise, prayer, or meditating what matters is only that your process works for you and doesn’t keep you from doing it. If the process is prohibitive, review the first principles framework in the Begin Again intro.

Types of Journaling

“Journaling” isn’t defined by a specific method, like “exercising,” there are many styles that can suit different goals or preferences.

The best part about journaling is your practice does not have to be the same every day. You can focus on emotional intelligence one day, creative stream of conscious the next, and gratitude after that. Or, you may prefer creating some kind of consistent format, where each session you identify what you’ve been feeling, thinking, something you’re grateful for, and respond to a short prompt.

Here are a few prominent forms a journaling practice can take:

Stream of Conscious Journaling

Stream of consciousness journaling, exemplified by “Morning Pages” from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way,” involves writing down thoughts as they naturally occur, without editing or filtering. This technique, often done first thing in the morning and with a goal of simply filling 3 pages without a focus on quality, is known for enhancing creativity and self-awareness in daily life by providing an unstructured space for spontaneous expression.

Diary Journaling

Diary journaling is a more time-based form of journaling, typically focused on documenting daily events, thoughts, or feelings. Unlike stream of consciousness journaling, it is a recounting of the day’s happenings and reflecting on them. This method is valuable for memory keeping, self-reflection, and tracking thinking over time.

Prompt-guided Journaling

Prompt-guided journaling begins by writing responses to specific prompts or questions. Unlike free-form journaling, it directs your focus to particular topics, ideas, or self-reflections. This method is particularly helpful for exploring specific aspects of your life, emotions, or values that you may not think to write about (or want to write about) on your own. See my 14 journal prompts below to get started.

Gratitude Journaling

Gratitude journaling is regularly writing down things you’re grateful for, with the goal of fostering a positive mindset. This practice is often recommended for boosting mental well-being, especially for overcoming a sense of negatively or helplessness. By focusing on smaller and more abstract things you’re grateful for over time versus large and obvious things, this practice can infiltrate your everyday life, allowing you to be happier and more at peace with day-to-day experiences.

Reflective Journaling

Reflective journaling involves writing about personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings with a focus on introspection and analysis. To do this, you reflect on specific feelings or events, interpret their significance, and consider how they impact your beliefs and future actions. This style of journaling encourages a deeper understanding of oneself and is often used for personal development and problem-solving.

This can be a routine practice that feeds into a larger, structured end of year reflection like I do. It can also be more philosophy or values based, my article The 12 Reasons People Don’t Have What They Want is almost verbatim from a random, unexpected journal entry.

Vision Journaling

Vision journaling is a forward-looking form of journaling where you articulate and explore your future aspirations, goals, and dreams through writing. It differs from traditional diary-style journaling by focusing specifically on envisioning and planning for the future. In this practice, you write about your desired outcomes in various aspects of life, such as career, personal growth, relationships, or hobbies. This method serves as a powerful tool for discerning intentions, clarifying goals, and mapping out steps to achieve them. By regularly engaging in vision journaling, you create a written manifestation of your aspirations, helping to keep you motivated and focused on your long-term objectives.

Bullet Journaling

In contrast to long-form prose, bullet journaling is a popular organizational method that involves using bullets to log tasks, events, and notes in a concise, structured manner. It’s a customizable system that combines planning, tracking, and reflection, often enhanced with creative elements like layout designs, doodles or calligraphy. This method is known for its efficiency and flexibility in helping manage daily life and long-term goals. Read How to Bullet Journal.

Decision Journaling

A decision journal is a tool that helps individuals improve their decision-making by recording and analyzing their current decisions. It helps to prevent hindsight bias, encourages self-awareness, and provides a feedback loop for better decision-making. The key components of a decision journal include recording the situation, problem statement, variables, complications, alternatives considered, expected outcomes, and personal feelings during the decision-making process. Read more about how to create a decision journal.

Dreamlining

Dreamlining, as conceptualized by Tim Ferriss, is a goal-setting method that blends vision-setting with specific timelines. It involves listing your deepest desires or goals, assigning them 6 to 12-month timelines, and breaking them down into actionable steps. This technique encourages a focus on personal aspirations over societal norms, aiming to transform distant dreams into achievable objectives within set time frames.

Habit Tracking Journaling

This is a method focused on recording and monitoring daily habits to build self-awareness and achieve personal goals. It often involves keeping a structured journal where you track the consistency of various habits, such as exercise, diet, or meditation as well as the daily factors that influence whether you meet or miss your habits. This technique helps in identifying patterns, fostering discipline, and measuring progress over time.

Affirmation Journaling

Affirmation journaling primarily aims to counteract negative self-talk by focusing on positive statements about yourself. This practice helps in reprogramming the mind to adopt a more positive and empowering belief system, combating self-doubt and reinforcing self-worth and confidence.

Creative Journaling

Creative journaling is an unstructured practice where you express yourself through various creative mediums such as short stories, lyrics, or drawings. This form of journaling fosters creativity and self-expression.

Things to Write in a Journal

For our generation in particular, this can be an especially tough habit to break. In a world where everyone’s online, it’s a daily battle just to stand out as an individual against the anonymous masses. We’re used to branding ourselves. We’re used to self-promoting. We’re used to relentlessly maintaining a pristine persona and assuming that everything we ever do will be permanently recorded. And that’s all the more reason for us to have a refuge from that.

The more we’re able to let go of that urge and explore ourselves uncritically, the more effective this discipline will become. Fundamentally, journaling gives us a place to be honest with ourselves while simultaneously training us to be more honest.

When we’re switching from one mask to another, it can be dangerously easy to lose track of the real us, and journaling gives us a chance to truly examine our own lives and grapple with the people we are.

Read our article for more tips on making journaling easy.

Write Everything

And anything.

To do lists. Deepest, darkest fears. Epiphanies. Insights. Questions. Things you like and dislike about the Batman universe. Our journals aren’t supposed to be a record of our thoughts but rather a place to figure out what those thoughts are.

Every one of us is a twisted jumble of impulses, instincts, insights, irrational fears, and Ghostbusters trivia. These pages are where we’re going to untangle what we’re thinking and feeling, and that’s only going to happen by letting ourselves spill out everything (again everything) onto the page.

In a world where it feels like everyone’s watching (or equally terrifying – like no one’s watching), it can be strangely difficult for us to truly see ourselves. Journaling not only helps us discover that, but allows us to ultimately become the people we actually are. Whether you’ve been on the road a while or if you’re just starting out on your journey, every one of us could benefit from the tried-and-tested practice of logging our distance.

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Ella White

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January 9, 2024
These are the 18 Questions I've Asked Myself in My Year End Reviews for the Last 6 Years

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For the last 6 years I’ve been doing structured year end reflections where I review how the previous 12 months went – what worked, what didn’t, what was fulfilling, what wasn’t. Here, an original framework I laid out and republish each year. I like the solitude renting an AirBnB provides, but this can be done on a quiet morning between Christmas and New Years just as well.

By Andrew Snavely

When was the last time you set aside time to think? And not like choosing to daydream instead of looking at your phone while waiting at the dentist’s office – but actually planned a solid chunk of time to intentionally think?

This was the question I presented 2 years ago when I first discussed my end of year reflection and goal-setting process in my post 18 Questions I’m Going to Ask Myself About The Last Year.

Up until a couple of years ago, my answer to that question was “I never set aside time to think.” And the reality is, that’s the case for most of us.

Which is crazy when you realize the side effect of that is that we’re all just kind of bouncing around, doing some life thinking in between the obligations and stresses of everyday life. Eventually thinking, “I need to eat better–like wtf,” enough times in micro-doses that hopefully we do something about it.

But what happens when life gets more stressful? And we accumulate more responsibility? And others depend on us for care. And the economy gets rough. And health problems come up. And. And. And.

What happens is that micro-dose thinking gets fewer and farther between, and goes from good ideas to guilt about all the things that have piled up.

So I’ve found an incredibly freeing and inspiring way to combat this is to…plan some time to think.

I rent a cheap AirBnB, preferably one relatively isolated from people, and head out with just my dog Leela for a few days. While my “workcations” started as a quarterly exercise and usually also involve some type of project I’m trying to get work done on, my end of year retreats are a couple days longer and focus completely on deep dives into what I did and didn’t do over the last year, and slowly peeling away at my thoughts to try and get an honest assessment of the path I’m on.

If I feel like I’m heading in the right direction, I make new short term goals for the new year and celebrate the wins.

If I realize I’m feeling lost, I take a hard look at where I’ve become stagnant and start outlining possible shakeups. It’s these times that have really disrupted the homeostasis in my life – when I become aware of where I’ve become too comfortable. Or put a less polite way, when I’ve sunk into some life quicksand.

» Read some of the outcomes of a previous year-end reflection.

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Andrew Snavely

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December 30, 2023