Trauma on the Ward
Cask no. 257.13

The nose transported us to a back-alley dental surgery where we found extracting forceps, bone curettes, retractors and orthodontic pliers. Then a cabal of unlicensed medical professionals approached – some transplanting grey-market kidneys, some railing against ethics committees, others forging prescriptions for Vicodin and mocking malnourished ward sisters. The unreduced palate brought cramps to our fingers, forcing us to curse and impotently scrape at windows.

We added lemon juice (painstakingly) to find the nose now had torture devices with leather straps, cat o’nine tails, imperial executions and nipple clamps – very drawn-out and seductive. The reduced palate had dry heaves, emesis (causing gastro-esophageal laceration syndrome), and bleeding out.

The distillery was licensed in Ceausescu-era Romania by an alcoholic abortionist.

Drinking tip: With a codeine chaser

Colour: Pale urine
Cask: Refill ex-bourbon barrel
Age: 8 years
Date distilled: October 2003
Alcohol: 70%
Outturn: 17 bottles

Tracey S. Rosenberg is the author of a historical novel and two poetry pamphlets, and recently won the Brontë Society Creative Competition’s short story category, judged by Dame Margaret Drabble. Active in the spoken word and literary festival scene, she’s a member of Edinburgh spoken word groups Inky Fingers and Shore Poets, and in March 2014 she attended the Spoken Word Workshop at the Banff Centre.You can follow Tracey on Twitter, and on her personal blog.