A helpful Scottish innkeeper reveals his secret to turning a bowl of porridge into an epic start to the day. It's also the secret to making life a wee bit more adventurous. An inquisitive two-year-old takes command of a trip to the local zoo. A corrupt promise made during a presidential campaign gives us a dark foreshadowing of the divisions that will shake American democracy. A cross-country trip in a beat-up old Acura shows a father and son how to conquer the distance that will soon lie between them. A group of friends set sail for the most remote reaches of Lake Superior. It's a voyage of self-reliance and spiritual discovery, not unlike Thoreau's time at Waldon Pond if you don't count the 25-knot winds and a hold stocked with good whisky. These are a few of the stories and observations packed into A Capful of Whisky Improves the Porridge. After a long career writing the ads you see on TV, Sheldon Clay turned his observational style to his own life and journeys. There is so much to be said that couldn't be fit into a 30 second ad on TV. This collection is the result. Its 14 essays were originally published on-line, and span a little more than half a decade in the life of the writer and the history of the larger world. It was an often-turbulent period that saw the fading of a relentless recession, Brexit in Europe, the Trump presidency in the U.S. and a pandemic that swept the globe. The personal stories in this collection manage to connect them all.