Hunting Housewives, was anofher evangelist.

"I loved if so much Bowling employs some effective, if familiar, fricks to please
thaf I jusf sfarfed fweefing about it," she says. "Fireball took
notice, and fhey sfarfed sending me Fireball merchandise. I
have a Fireball machine af home, where you puf a botfle in if
and if chills if? They did fhaf for my birfhday. I fhoughf if was
so sweet." Benz also received a Fireball bikini.
Pomes and his growing feam of ambassadors encouraged
bars to have massive Fireball drinking confesfs. "We ended up
pouring, like, 90 shofs af once," says Curfis Lanfon, manager of
Third & Long, a now-shuffered bar in New York. "We senf pic-
tures to Fireball, and they posted fhem on their websifes and on
Twiffer and Facebook. Our cusfomers gof a big kick ouf of fhaf."
On Sf. Patrick's Day in 2012, the Greenhouse Bar in Nashville
served prepoured shofs in plastic vials fo 4,750 revelers in an
affempf fo sef a world record. Josiah Corbin, a local promofer
who orchesfrafed the evenf wifh Fireball, says fhe fefe was
more nefflesome fhan he'd expected. "If fook us a week fo pour
all the shofs," he says. "People were really into if. They felf like
fhey were making hisfory. Well, drinking hisfory."
Toward fhe end of the summer of 2012, Pomes fendered his
resignation. "1 think he'd jusf had enough of frying fo live up fo
this image he'd creafed for himself," says fhe NOLA Projecf's
Allegra. "He was fuming 27. This was a job for a 21-year-old."
Pomes was replaced by one of his younger protégés. Bob
Bowling, an ambassador who had proven himself in Fort Collins,
Colo. By all accounts. Bowling is as affenfive fo barfenders as
his former boss. He frequenfly updates his Twitter feed. And
Fireball drinkers. Godino, fhe bar owner in Las Vegas, can'f
say enough abouf the young female emissaries known as fhe
Fireball Whisky Girls who visif his establishment and dispense
samples. He says they do a beffer job fhan fheir short-skirfed
counterparts from Smirnoff, Crown Royal, and Coors Ligbt.
"They stay longer," Godino says. "They're more inferacfive.
They give a liftle more out. And fhey come here more offen."
This might be a good way fo describe Sazerac's overarching
sfrategy for Fireball. The company known for fielding me-too
producfs now faces a wave of Fireball imitafions from ifs more
famous rivals. Jägermeister has infroduced a cinnamon-and-
vanilla-spiced version of fhe German digestif. Jose Cuervo
has created Cinge, a cinnamon-laden fequila. In April, the Jack
Daniel Distillery began selling Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire, a
70-proof cinnamon variant of the world's besf-selling whiskey.
Buf ifs nof clear any of fhese spicy contenders will inspire the
same mania fhaf Fireball has.
Recently, Wallace was enjoying happy hour at Tootsie's
Orchid Lounge, a Nashville landmark. She's no longer climb-
ing fhe bar af fhe Buck Wild Saloon. The place went ouf of busi-
ness. Insfead, she's fending bar af fhe Soulshine Pizza Factory
and sfudying fo be a denfal assisfant.
Her friend behind fhe bar af Toofsie's pours Wallace a shof
of Tennessee Fire. She fakes a sip and declares fhaf it isn'f
bad. But Wallace says Sazerac has nofhing fo fear. "If will never
replace Fireball." ©

Successful Planning

The Long Game

Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen on plotting, planning,
and the weakness of pessimism. By Susan Berfield

Magnus Carlsen is fhe besf chess player in the world. He's He wears fhem down wifh fhreats as he robs them of options. He
23 years old. He won the fifle—World Chess Champion—in was smiling when he said fhis fo Rose. Carlsen's fraining includes
November 2013 in a 10-game, fwo-week-long fournamenf frying ouf new moves and sfudying fhose of others. He says he's
againsf 44-year-old Viswanafhan Anand, who'd been fhe champ memorized some 10,000 games. "Good players use more long-
since 2007. "People jusf crack under pressure," Carlsen said ferm memory fhan shorf-ferm memory," he fold fhe aufhors of a
af a press conference afterward. "You just have fo keep on book about Norwegian afhietes. "It is intuition that is largely based
pushing." He doesn'f frusf fear or anxiefy fo mofivafe him. He on past experiences." The resf of his regimen is fairly sfraighffor-
trusts confidence. "If you don'f believe in your ward. Carlsen fries fo work ouf every day. He plays soccer wifh
capability, no one else will," he said in an e-mail friends when he's home. He reads Donald Duck
from a training camp in Oman, where he was comic books on plane trips. "Relaxing is a crucial
preparing for a spring tournamenf in Azerbaijan. "If you don't parf of my life," he said.
"Confidence is imporfanf to success in general, believe in Chess demands an abilify to plan ahead, and
net jusf my own." your capability, luckily for fhose who don'f possess Carlsen's
Carlsen, who grew up oufside of Oslo, learned no one else will." nafural falenf, it's somefhing he thinks can be
the game from his fafher and parficipafed in his learned. "I believe fhe world could use some more
first fournamenf when he was 8. Five years lafer, he 'thinkers' who are conscious and critical abouf
became a grandmasfer. He compefed againsf Gary Kasparov, fhe consequences of fheir actions," he said. To that end, he has
fhen fhe top-rated player in fhe world, in rapid chess fhaf sfarfed his own company, PlayMagnus, whose firsf producf is
same year. The firsf game was a draw. Afterward, Carlsen and an app fhaf allows users fo play againsf an avafar of himself
his family celebrated wifh ice cream at McDonald's. By the af differenf ages, beginning af 5 years old.
fime he was 17, he recognized thaf he could one day be fhe Carlsen once joked fhaf fhe Wall Sfreef financiers he some-
world's preeminenf player. "You need fo be absolufely confi- fimes plays wifh af promofional evenfs should hire him. (One
denf," he told Charlie Rose last April. "You have to be, so you of his sponsors is Arcfic Securifies, a Norwegian financial ser-
don'f miss opporfunifies. If you're pessimisfic, you see dangers vices firm.) They'd probably love fo. For now, though, he's nof
thaf aren'f fhere." thinking beyond fhe game. "1 don'f consciously use my chess
Carlsen described his playing sfyle as strangling his opponenfs: skills in everyday life," he said. ©
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