...we have ligit traditions if we want them...
Every now and then I hear about some vague connection between the USAF and the liquor Jeremiah Weed.
Though the USAF is better known for its anime swords, I guess they can up their game a bit by creating some legends of their own to justify a connection to a drink.
I’d prefer Robin Olds and a bucket of champagne vibe, but I’m not USAF, so that’s up to them.
What about the U.S. Navy? Sadly, General Order 99 took the wind out of our sails a bit, but I had a thought recently.
I ran into this pic. Just get a look at these ballers.
I dug around a bit and found the backstory via the Navy SEAL Museum:
Aboard the USS Burrfish (SS 312) near Peleliu in the Pacific Ocean, part of a UDT special mission group of volunteers that conducted the only UDT submarine launched operation during World War II. (L-R) Leonard Barnhill, John MacMahon, LT M.R. Massy, Bill Moore and Warren Christensen, John MacMahon (pictured) and Robert Black and CPO Howard Roeder (not pictured) were captured by the Japanese the night after this photograph was taken and killed while in captivity.
That was the easy part. Next I needed to find out not just how that bottle of liquor got on a submarine, but why, and what brand it was.
I even had to enlist ChatGPT and Grok, but they were no help. Their image enhancement just made things up. So I dug around old-school…and SUCCESS!
I’ll spare you the details, but that is a bottle of Old Overholt. Here’s a similar period bottle.
The Old Overholt brand is about as American as you can get, and it is the longest continually produced whiskey in North America—legally made even during Prohibition. But why was it on that table?
Old Overholt rye whiskey was a staple "medicinal" alcohol for the United States Navy, frequently stocked aboard ships and affectionately nicknamed "Overcoat" by sailors. This 100-proof, bottled-in-bond rye.
Why, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Six, am I now only finding out about this?
Why has the U.S. Navy not made this, if not official, then, at least culturally, its official whiskey? Don’t tell me the U.S. Navy should just have “rum” or some concoction called “grog”.
We should have something quintessentially American and connected to our fighting history.
It is still around—now produced by Beam Distilling.
Same recipe, but perhaps not as sexy of a bottle.
It isn’t that expensive. You can get a bottle for sale for under $10. Maybe if enough Navy types showed an interest, Beam might consider a special bottling using the WWII Era Bottle?
Wait, they may not have to do that. The bottle they use for their 11 year old stuff is close, they’d just need to create the right label and fill it with the appropriate 100 proof.
This should be a thing. I’ve found out where to buy it locally. I think I’ll pick up a bottle.
