Nick Offerman is pretty synonymous with his Parks and Recreation character Ron Swanson and if it weren't for Offerman's childlike giggle, people would have a hard time knowing where Nick ends and Ron begins. Not only do they both have an impressive mustache that renders men and women speechless, they both can build nearly anything from wood and enjoy a nice glass of fine single malt Scotch. If you've seen Parks and Recreation, you may have noticed that Swanson loves Lagavulin—he even visits the distillery in Scotland—and it is an affection that the real man shares, having called the spirit "mother's milk" while talking with Business Week.
Considering Offerman has become everyone's favorite "man's man," it's no surprise that Diageo—the company responsible for some of Scotland's best single malt whiskies, like Lagavulin and Oban—called him up to do a collaboration to create a series of original videos called My Tales of Whisky. Spoiler alert! They're AMAZING.
The videos export Offerman and his deadpan humor to the seaside distilleries of Lagavulin and Oban where he sports some fantastic plaid. One storyline features Offerman making the transcontinental journey to prove he knows all there is to know about Scotch and another is a fake documentary (with Offerman playing everyone) on how Oban single malt is made. And oh yeah, there's also a music video. The videos were all released last week on the My Tales of Whisky official YouTube channel, so make sure you watch them all.
According to Diageo, when asked about My Tales of Whisky and the esteemed place it holds in the world of spirits, Offerman dramatically "reached deep into his library, dusted off a book and selected a passage written by one the great masters of contemporary civilization. Translating Virgil’s Aeneid from its original Latin, Offerman stated, 'Believe one who has tried it.'"
Personally, we love Taste it All, in which Offerman explains the various tastes you get with a glass of Oban whisky. He eats an orange peel, collects honey with his bare hands right from a busy bees nest, and makes us question whether or not we want to know the taste of wooly cattle. Can Offerman get any cooler? Yes, apparently every day.
