30 Origins of Alcohol Brand Names - mental_floss List Show Ep. 519 

This episode should have been called "The languages John Green has taken classes on, feat. alchol."

You missed the best one. There was a man ironically named John Sober who purchased the Mount Gilboa Plantation/Distilleries in Barbados, and had his trusted friend Sir John Alleyne manage it. Sir John was so good at running the company that they decided to name the company (and the mount) after him after his death in 1801. They would have named it Mount Alleyne, but there was already one in Barbados, so they used John's middle name... and called it Mount Gay. The rum brand bears that name to this day.

My family actually lived across the street from the Bacardi family in Santiago de Cuba before they fled to Puerto Rico during the revolution.

Score yourself 5 bonus style points for making the bit about Jack Daniel's Old Number 7 whiskey the 7th item on your list.

This went from a list to a roast

"some argue he should have kept trying" lmao soooo true!

Oh the shade, thrown where it was needed. Love it!

Jack Daniel lived in Lynchburg, Tennessee, not Kentucky. It literally says it on the bottle. Also, he did not create the whiskey, a freed slave did and after tasting it, Daniel made him master distiller at his company. Fun fact: Jack Daniel's real name was Jasper Newton Daniel and he died of blood poisoning after kicking his safe, breaking his toe, and refusing to seek treatment. I literally live in Lynchburg, I was required to know these things in school.

This is my new favorite Mental Floss video. Good job! Great vid!

This was the realest I've ever seen John

I love Crown Royal. He ended up with the right variation.

Best Mental Floss episode, ever.

Bushmills whiskey from Ireland is interesting. They kept producing throughout US prohibition and when it ended they shipped all the stored whiskey. It was the largest shipment of anything to ever leave the shores of Ireland all at once.

"Some may argue he should've kept trying" Mental Floss hot takes!

I love these lists.

Well damn, I was all set to correct you on your pronunciation of Moët & Chandon and then I googled it. Damn, Freddie Mercury lied to us!

Clarification: Belvedere doesn't mean "fair view" in Polish. It's a Polish vodka, but the name comes from an Italian term.

I LOVE Dr. McGillicuddy's Mentholmint Schnapps. I'd drink the original Fireball.

Here’s a question: Why’s it called a building if it’s already built.

John Green and Christopher Hitchens have the same favourite drink. When Hitchens was asked the double question "What is your favourite drink, and what is something you cannot live without while travelling" He replied "I don't see the difference between the two questions......Johnnie Walker Black"

I am a man of culture now

If your last name was Beveridge, and you invented a beverage, why wouldn't you name your beverage Beveridge?

One of the best list shows

yesterday i learned that atomic fireballs not only have the chemical that normally makes cinnamon hot but also has added capsaicin, the chemical found in chili peppers

For a man who "speaks no words" John sure says a lot of words.

Speaking of Yellow Tail, you can use that as the beginning of the list of "Australian" things sold in America that 99.9% of Australians have never heard of, let alone use. See also Outback Restaurant, Fosters, the sunscreen etc

And Tito is a Spanish baby word (often then slang) for “brother”, something a toddler might say or be referred to (derived from the suffix that means “little”, as in little brother). I wonder how many brothers Burt had?

Being a scotch man myself, I have to say I enjoy Walker black quite a bit, but the blue is something wholly on another level.

Mr used to live in Amsterdam but no genever

The Gallo Brothers got their first wine recipe from a library book.

Bonus fact: Four Roses Bourbon of Kentucky lets tourist taste test the mash with their fingers and anything (phones, umbrellas, bandaids, etc) stays in the mash until they distill it.

Dude one shot fireball, four shots Baileys, and the rest of the sifter in coffee. Best drink ever

original Budweiser (czech), is a decent lager, the American version is pisswater so no wonder there have been disputes. Also, the original Czech Budweiser is sold in US under the name Czechvar. There's a bonus thing for you (and certainly, give it a try)

Took a year of Russian, still emphasises wrong syllable. It's Smirn'ov, not Sm'irnov

Didn’t know I needed this video.

Wait....did John really write “The Fault in Our Stars”?

So the iconic beer of hipsters is in fact named after a participation trophy?

How did you not mention Herman Goering when discussing Jagermeister????!?!??!?!

I see your Johnny Walker and I raise you Mount Gay

I’ve never had a desire to try any of those wines. Surprised how young Baileys and Patrón are.

Box wine is called "Goon" here in Australia. Drink of choice for the underaged and homeless. They usually both use the "goon bag" as a pillow too.

I dont usually watch RU-vid videos.... But when i do, i prefer Mental Floss... Stay thirsty my friends.

Hi Just gotta add a correction. Fifth Generation Inc. (i.e. Titos) is not the first ever legal distillery in Texas. Although they hold the DSP-TX-S-1 there is evidence of multiple distilleries being open during the Confederacy and also during the time of Independence distilling was common place and legal

7:18 The spanish word for boss is "jefe" and "patrón" in this case would mean employer, skipper, master, patron.

I used to live down the road from where Yellow Tail is made, my next door neighbour was the owner's niece. I got to know her because we both smoked a lot at the time :P

Friends of Laphroaig, where you at?

I'm older than you and i LOVE fireball! :)

Pitbull probably had something to Fireball's success....

Good svenska pronounciation!

Hey John, we live in Crown Point & have a couple good friends in Indy whom we visit all the time. I would never disrupt you or family at a restaurant/bar, but if a random Johnnie Walker Black Label shows up at your table...it’s from me!!!

Jack Daniels is from Tennessee, not Kentucky!! If it were from KY it would probably be classed as bourbon instead of, you know.....Tennessee Whiskey :)

Dom Perignon actually devoted his life's work to prevent champagne wine from having bubbles as it was considered a defect at the time and bottles would burst because amity of glass bottles weren't what they are today. He's probably been rolling in his grave by what the marketers had done with his name

its messing me up that i no longer feel i can pronounce smirnoff correctly

Nice idea for a topic!

I feel so grateful that I managed to get in a year of college Russian. My professor taught it for free on the side at the university, it was a legit course and I received credit, it was just that she had to beg the school to make it happen.

John, I love you, there is no tilde above the "n" in habanero. The reason is that "Habanero" literally means "from Havana" just as Jalapeño literally means "from Jalapa". A lot of times in spanish when you have a person or thing originating from a location, you take off the last vowel and switch it with "eño", like a person from Puerto Rico being called Puertorriqueño (also lets not forget they need our help). However, like most things in Spanish, there are many exceptions. When the last consonant of the location is an "n", we don't add "eño" because saying Havaneño is really awkward to pronounce. Instead, "ero" is added (and the v becomes a b because they sound similar in Spanish). Please stop spreading this false pronunciation of habanero. It comes from a good place, in which people are trying to be respectful of Spanish culture and language, but instead they are just being wrong.

Well, to be Precise, The Bacardi Family came from Catalonia.

Fireball is sweet and soft and has never hurt a soul (many a body, but never a soul)

Johnny walker Black. Mmmmmm..... good choice, John.

Guinness and Even Williams Honey Whiskey are my two favorites.

When I was a wee lad we would imbibe the beast!! It is of course the beast from Milwaukee.

Nothing beats a newly opened bottle of Johnny Walker Red

Gallo Winery (the main production facility is about 2 miles from where I'm sitting right now) does make some real stinkers when it comes to wine. However, the reports I get from my family that lives in Europe is that the best Gallo wines end up over seas. Apparently we get the worst of it here in the states.

Jameson you can actually visit where its made too about 30 minutes from where I live in cork Ireland:)

John is so sassy in this one!

Hey, I made Yellow Tail for 6 months last year!

Tecate is named after the city of tecate, Mexico. XX lager is named for celebrating the XX century. Carta blanca beer was named after the Blanc card that the king of Spain send to the brewery of Monterrey to approve the production of the beer.

This is still mildly interesting to a tea totaler because history... though why prefer a beverage that is probablematic to consume alone and will make you lose your mental faculties while around other public, when there is a drink like tea which you can consume within basically every social setting and it only increases your mental faculties

Johnnie Walker is alright but... Macallan... Balvinie... They're better.

Have you tried Johnny Walker Green? Slightly spendier but so good.

I like Scotch but can't really afford anything more fancy than Johnnie Walker Black Label which I really like anyway. The scotches or whiskeys that I like more are also much more expensive. Crown Royal was once recommended to me, I drank it mixed with cola after the first glass. I wrote the above at the beginning of the video before John mentioned that Johnnie Walker Black Label is is favourite.

Only it was pronounced distillEERkeetel 1. C'mon John you should know the long Dutch vowels

What you left out with Bacardi is that Facundo Bacardi was one of Fidel's bank rollers. He started getting concerned with Fidel's ways, and opened office in Puerto Rican as an escape plan. It was under the guise of easier access to US. After Fidel threatened to take the company, he shut down and moved initially to Puerto Rico. Then later the international HQ moved to the Bahamas. In short, Bacardi helped fund the revolution. With the slack that brought, he managed to make Bacardi the most popular rum in US. In reality, they were third popular in Cuba after Matusalem and the original Havana Club (which Bacardi owns recipe rights and now brand rights).

Veuve Cliquot champagne was established by Philippe Cliquot-Muiron. His son François married Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, and he died, leaving her a widow--'veuve' in French.

I once knew a hobbit who had a nephew who was also an acoholic. Loved the cheap beer. Pubertal Bobbins

I don't exactly remember which vlogbrothers video it was, but the year of college Russian reminded me of it. "Что? Что?! Я не понимаю английский!" xD

I wonder if the Alcoholic Yinglings are related to Yingling Aviation in Wichita, Kansas

What about Kalua? That stuff is really good.

I'd like to have a quiet drink in a hole in the wall tavern with Hank or John.

According to an old (now long-dead) relative, Henry Morgan is my great-great (times ???) uncle. She was a Morgan and came from the same area, but then so did a lot of Morgans. We don't really believe it. But I am a direct descendant of an archbishop (he was Catholic because at that time it was only catholicism, and priests remaining single hadn't yet become a thing). He built (had built by masons...) a cathedral which is still in use and he has a statue right next to that of my patron saint :)

Whisky without the e is good taste John. Best leave it at that though.

need more origin names. coors? red stripe? sapporo? chivas regal? maker's mark?

Fireball and Mountain Dew was the unofficial drink of my wedding (in 2013)

Uuummm, so that description you gave of the beer contest is preeeetty much exactly how booze is judged today. 85-89 points Bronze, 90-94 Silver, 95+ Gold. The medals have nothing to do with any order, so a bronze medal on a bottle in no way means it was judged third best wine even in its category, let alone the show. In fact, anything below 85 is considered faulty or flawed, so for a wine that scores 86, pretty much all the bronze medal is saying is 'not broken; drinkable'.

But what about Sailor Jerry?

all for one and one for for all

You can tour the distillery where Jack Daniels is made. As well as see the cabin Jack Daniels lived in and died in due to an infection after stubbing his toe. Sadly, the town the distillery is in is a dry town.

Sad to hear that Strawberry Hill Citrus Wine didn't make the list.

what I learned because of this list? that crown royal isn’t just canadian i live by the town it’s made in what the fu

OMG Fireball is the best!

Just for the record. Bacardi was first created in Cuba as it's correctly said in the video; however, it's founder Facundo Bacardi was born in Spain.

Chopin potato vodka. Smoothest I've ever had.

And yeah, there's actually a town called Tequila, and they do make a shit ton of tequila, its in the state of Jalisco, a bit northwest from México City

Yo, I love Crown Royal!

If you score the highest you're the winner. No one wanted to come in second or third in score you want first. It was definitely a competition

The Booze Company made whiskey in a log cabin appearing container, in honor of honest Abe, without his permission. Still, it was exceedingly popular, with folks saying, "Gimme some booze." They lost the trademark, if they ever had it and now it's an informal referrent. The Hooch indians collected the liquid from the top of fermenting bread dough and drank it. Now it's an even more informal referrent.

Kinda sad to see Shiner didn't make it on the list.

Jack Daniels is headquartered in Tennessee not Kentucky...

Did the word beverage come from a guy named Beveridge, like our Burt Tito II?

Is John talking slower or is my brain working faster all of a sudden o.O