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So my wife has bought me a M1918 semiautomatic Browning Automatic Rifle for our anniversary.
Check sent, anticipation building....

Something that came to me the other day was trying to determine the proper alcoholic spirits to imbibe in after the first firing of this beauty. I was thinking about purely American spirits, but seeing that the BAR introduced itself timidly to the world during WWI, got most of its usage during WWII and Korea, then went out gracefully during Vietnam, a purely American liquor doesn't seem quite right. The BAR was common in the mid-war days with law enforcement and criminals alike.

What European liquors were the US troops particularly fond of during WWI and WWII (yeah, I know they'd drink anything they could get their hands on, but what was preferred?)
 
In my experience most would be interested in what was available and what was cheap, usually a combination of these two factors. For both, I would suggest this to be some variety of brandy and/or cognac. As for those who ended up in germany, Schnapps is really about the extent of the german experimentation into distilled spirits that could be encountered commonly. Nearly every distilled liquor that we consider common today was created as a response to the need to transport a mother fermented beverage, or an agricultural crop distances that were unreasonably expensive. Hence: Beer/grain - Whiskey, Sugar/Molasses - Rum, Wine - Brandy (this covers schnapps, which is fruit wine), Champagne - Cognac, Potatos/grain - Vodka.

Take you're pick, they're all correct :)
 
woodford-reserve-432-bourbon.jpg

It'll make that 18 pound cow feel like a 10-22!
skoal!
 
If you want to get half hinky with the brandy or cognac, buy and enjoy Korbel.. made just south of Oregon and the price point and quality are supreme.
 
Perhaps you could complete a round robin.
First fireing: American
Second fireing: European
Third fireing: Korean
Fourth fireing: Vietnamese
As to the Korean, when out in the field we drank what the "Mama-sans" called Portawine. It was not Port! Tasted like grape Kool-Aid with double sugar and low alcohol! Or, Seven Horses Dry Gin! Tasted like it was distilled from the urine of seven horses and had the kick of those same horses! Made some guys go blind! At any rate Koreans are fond of Gin, Beer and to a much lesser extent wine. "You taka you pick, GI!" Any Gin would do, tastes like pine needles and rubbing alcohol anyway.
BTW, Nice Wife! She sounds like a keeper, for sure!!!:)
 
Moonshine or go home!
Thuggery Bonnie and Clyde tip o the hat (not that they were runners or what).. I take that back.. just some good sippin kine/bourbon.

scat02.jpg
 
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1920-1933 prohibition = nothing. Also, I doubt the right honorable JMB ever touched spirits.

Scotch was the most popular whisky in WW2 as there was no aged (American) Whiskey or Bourbon.

Since you are near the good folks north of 49th parallel, I recommend my favorite Canadian Whiskey - Pendleton

pendleton_1343312333.jpg
 
I used to enjoy Jim Beam.. go figure.. that got bought outright by a Japanese concern recently though so Moses might frown and we can't have that.
That was code for
 
I've been looking hard on the web for some useful information, but the main thing I got was that while many countries provided alchoholic rations to their troops (WW1&2,) the Americans provided no such thing. Any American looking for liquor had to find some on his own. In France, it was wine and cognac, but other than local beer, I've not been able to find anything else. I'm not a wine drinker, so I'm still looking.

Vietnam's history with France puts me right back to cognac and wine. Or whatever got snuck in, meaning no liquor was specific.

This is a much harder problem than I thought it would be!
 
For the American side, it would have to a bourbon of some sort. Bourbon is uniquely American under the Whiskey/Whisky umbrella.

For the European, I would suggest a good Cognac (specific to the region) or Brandy (the more generic term). Joubert made a very good blended Cognac & Amaretto liquor. It was very smooth.

I don't have any experience with Korean, nor Vietnamese liquors. Good luck with those.
 
I've been looking hard on the web for some useful information, but the main thing I got was that while many countries provided alchoholic rations to their troops (WW1&2,) the Americans provided no such thing. Any American looking for liquor had to find some on his own. In France, it was wine and cognac, but other than local beer, I've not been able to find anything else. I'm not a wine drinker, so I'm still looking.

Vietnam's history with France puts me right back to cognac and wine. Or whatever got snuck in, meaning no liquor was specific.

This is a much harder problem than I thought it would be!
Suck on a fing rock.. what did you say? back in the old days, and they didn't even "vote" back in them days.. some people would just actually suck upon a pebble and not even really talk about it.
 

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