America's 3 greatest contributions to the world are...

"PanchoVilleneuve ST" (PanchoVilleneuve) 03/11/2015 at 20:57 • Filed to: I'm worth a million in prizes, with my torture film, drive a GTO, wear a uniform, all on a government loan

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...the Fender Stratocaster, the concept of the Hot Rod and Old Overholt. Yes, Pancho's been drinking. No, he doesn't care. Overholt is better than your snooty single-barrel "oh, hey, bourbon is totally fashionable right now so we'll price it like it was a mortgage payment" whiskey, only it costs like 12-13 bucks a bottle. It tastes like winning a fistfight. It tastes like the phrase "go fuck yourself". It's like drinking Iggy Pop's soul.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > PanchoVilleneuve ST 03/11/2015 at 21:03

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Why does it seem almost everything I think is interesting is "hip" right now? Well aside from farms, trucks, and country music.

whatisthatsound > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/11/2015 at 21:11

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But have you heard new country music recently. I was at a country bar and besides for the boots you could have told me it was a hiphop club by the music they have out now. Crazy.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > whatisthatsound 03/11/2015 at 21:15

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Unfortunately, I have. There's some newer stuff that I like but I try to stay towards the more traditional country rather than the Florida Georgia Line stuff. Thankfully there are still people that have more traditional styles.

PanchoVilleneuve ST > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/11/2015 at 21:39

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Well, the big reason why bourbon (and American whiskey in general) is in right now is because it's the next New World spirit on the list after tequila's moment in the sun ended a couple years back and nobody remembers applejack, AKA what colonial New England rocked out to before triangular trade brought cheap Caribbean slave molasses up to Boston and made rum the fuel of the revolution, so every grain-based distillery in the nation is doing all kinds of artisanal small-batch single-barrel whiskeys for the people too wealthy to care about craft beer.

My college breakthrough moment when I realized I love drinking more than being drunk was when a friend of mine and I shared a bottle of Old Grand-Dad in early 2001, and had a fantastic discussion about what the future of narrative art was (he said film would continue to push forward, I had just finished playing Clive Barker's Undying and said videogames. I went to art school. Take from that whatever you will.) and for the first time felt like I was my own person. American whiskey is almost as big a part of my identity as a fully-formed adult as the omni-petro-sexual view of cars spread by the Gran Turismo games and the anything goes as long as it is sincere spirit found in the music of The Clash.

I've had a lot of them, from the horrible rotgut that hobos drink to the absurdly decadent nectar that is 23 yr Pappy Van Winkle, and Old Overholt is my favorite. It's not something to brag about, it's not something you buy because you want to show off. It's just a simple, good bottle of whiskey.

Also, going back to applejack, now that the US is in the middle of a huge cider revolution, expect a whole ton of outrageously priced, organic artisanal "apple brandies" (who are you fooling, you sons of bitches, it's applejack) to show up in your local liquor store in like 5 years.

SynchroMess (K.S.O.F.M) > PanchoVilleneuve ST 03/11/2015 at 21:39

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Those last three sentences are the best I've read about a whiskey. Hats off to you, and now I'm thirsty.

PanchoVilleneuve ST > whatisthatsound 03/11/2015 at 21:53

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Modern country music is seriously just modern pop music with southern accents and some steel guitar twang instead of some Scandinavian guy playing something on a Microkorg.

It makes me sad, since I love country that's either some grizzled guy singing about murder or a guy in cowboy getup singing a song that is pretty much the plot of an episode of The Rifleman.

PanchoVilleneuve ST > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/11/2015 at 21:53

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It must drive you insane that traditional country is now considered "alternative country".

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > PanchoVilleneuve ST 03/11/2015 at 21:57

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It does. There are some modern people I like but not a lot of it.

PanchoVilleneuve ST > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/11/2015 at 22:08

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All I have to say is god bless Willie's Roadhouse on SiriusXM.

lucky's pepper > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/11/2015 at 22:09

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And who are these modern people? I think country music pretty much died sometime in the mid-90s (thanks Shania Twain) but I'd be up for trying something new.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > lucky's pepper 03/11/2015 at 22:13

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Some of Chris Young's stuff is still kinda traditional I think, some Dierks Bentley, some Brad Paisley. Those are really my top 3 for contemporary country. Otherwise I listen to Strait, Jackson, and Brooks and Dunn style more.

lucky's pepper > PanchoVilleneuve ST 03/11/2015 at 22:15

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I've wasted much time in my life standing in front of the American whiskey section at my local store perusing the selection and sadly I've never seen this.

lucky's pepper > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/11/2015 at 22:24

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Never heard of Chris Young or Dierks Bentley but I'll have to give them a try. I do like some of Paisley's stuff as well as some of Zac Brown's stuff too.

I've been on a Dwight Yoakam binge lately. Hadn't listened to him in years and forgot how good his stuff was.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > lucky's pepper 03/11/2015 at 22:43

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I forgot about Zac Brown Band, I like them, Darius Rucker's got some good stuff too.

Here's on of Dierks Bentley's. It's got some rock to it, but I think it's got a bit of a more traditional feel to it.

One of Chris Young's. Still kinda rocky but I think it's more traditional than most new stuff. That or I just don't know what country is...

PanchoVilleneuve ST > lucky's pepper 03/11/2015 at 22:45

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Overholt is a weird thing. It's as common as Jim Beam but, being a rye, it's hard to find on the shelf for some reason. It's something every liquor store has but even I, someone who really, really loves the stuff often has to ask an employee where it is. It's always there, and often covered in dust.

Seriously, just ask where the Overholt is. You won't be disappointed. It's brilliantly unpretentious.

Local Miata Bro > PanchoVilleneuve ST 03/11/2015 at 22:54

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I will have to try this after my $10 bottle of bourbon is empty. I love taste, but I am a cheap bastard when it comes to liquor.

lucky's pepper > PanchoVilleneuve ST 03/11/2015 at 23:47

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Five day weekend (five day bender) coming up so I will be looking for it. I may have simply never noticed it as I tend to ignore the cheaper stuff figuring it has to be scheisse.

PanchoVilleneuve ST > lucky's pepper 03/12/2015 at 00:14

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Overholt is cheap simply by virtue of being a brand that's so old its price was set in stone before anyone thought up the whole concept of "if we sell our hooch for more money, it will somehow become a luxury item and instantly be more desirable". It's priced the way it is because it's just what rye whiskey cost, adjusted for inflation and commodity prices on grain.

If it were a whiskey that didn't exist until a couple years ago, they'd charge outrageous prices for it, but it's not. It's the opposite of that. There's a reason why it was the bottle Don Draper grabbed to make an old fashioned for Conrad Hilton at the country club in an episode of Mad Men, only asking "is rye ok?"

It's the platonic ideal of an American rye. The default form, the drink that best defines the whole style. It doesn't have the sour "is this spoiled somehow? No, it's rye" funk of 1792 Ridgemont Reserve or the "who needs 28 million year old scotch anyway, I can be just as pretentious with this!" complexity of Hudson Manhattan Rye. It ticks all the boxes you want in an American whiskey. It's sweet but not too sweet, dry but not too dry, complex but not too complex, masculine but not elitist, perfectly at home straight, on the rocks or in a cocktail.

I know it sounds like I'm part of the marketing department for this stuff, but seriously, it's been my go-to drink for a decade now.

lucky's pepper > PanchoVilleneuve ST 03/12/2015 at 17:32

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It was there all along, hidden on the bottom shelf, only one size bottle.

First impression was this may be more of a mixer for me, as I found it quite bitter. It almost has to much of a Canadian whiskey taste for me. However after I let it sit with the ice a little it mellowed considerably, so I'm going to forge ahead and see if it grows on me.

Cheers!