Aperol at Four, Scotch at Midnight
The same day can hold a bright spritz in the afternoon and a dark dram at the end. Both are honest.
There is an idea that a person should pick a lane. Be a spritz person or a Scotch person, a beach person or an opera person, and stay there so everyone knows where to find you.
I have never been able to do it, and I have stopped trying.
At four in the afternoon, with the light going soft and gold, an Aperol spritz is exactly right. It asks nothing of you. It is bitter enough to be interesting and sweet enough to be kind, and it belongs to a version of the day that is not trying to accomplish anything.
At midnight the same person can want a Scotch, neat, in a heavier glass, in lower light. Not to keep the party going. To end it properly. To sit with the last of the evening and let it be quiet.
These are not two people. They are one person at two hours. The trick is not consistency. The trick is knowing what the hour is actually asking for, and being willing to give it.