Whisky & Jazz XX

The other men in my music and drinking group have grown lazy with updating this blog.  I continue to update when it is my turn, but that can not quell the disappointment I feel for them neglecting such a simple task.
So let's begin.


Drink: Jameson 12 Year Old Special Reserve
Musician: David Bowie
Song: Space Oddity

Present: Ian (host), John, Patrick, Aaron, Jase


The Music


David Bowie was born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947.  His mother, Margaret Mary was of Irish descent, which helps tie him to the whiskey choice of tonight.  
At the age of nine, his dancing during the newly introduced music and movement classes was strikingly imaginative: teachers called his interpretations "vividly artistic" and his poise "astonishing" for a child.  The same year, his interest in music was further stimulated when his father brought home a collection of American 45s by artists including Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, The Platters, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. Upon listening to "Tutti Frutti", Bowie would later say, "I had heard God". Presley's impact on him was likewise emphatic: "I saw a cousin of mine dance to ... 'Hound Dog' and I had never seen her get up and be moved so much by anything. It really impressed me, the power of the music. I started getting records immediately after that."  
He received a serious injury at school in 1962 when his friend George Underwood, wearing a ring on his finger, punched him in the left eye during a fight over a girl. Doctors feared he would lose the sight of the eye, and he was forced to stay out of school for a series of operations during a four-month hospitalisation. The damage could not be fully repaired, leaving him with faulty depth perception and a permanently dilated pupil.


Space Oddity
Space Oddity was release in 1969 to coincide with the first moon landing.  Despite the fact that the literal meaning of the lyrics relates to an astronaut who is lost in space, this song was used by the BBC in their coverage of the moon landing, and this helped it become such a success.  Its title alludes to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was released the previous year.  "Space Oddity" became so well known that Bowie's second album, originally released as David Bowie in the UK, was renamed after the track for it's 1972 reissue by RCA Records, and has since become known by this name.  Bowie would later revisit his Major Tom character in the songs "Ashes to Ashes" and Hallo Spaceboy".  German singer Peter Schilling's 1983 hit "Major Tom (Coming Home)" is written as a sequel to the song.  
Keeping with the theme of most jazz musicians, some commentators have also seen Space Oddity as a metaphor for heroin use, citing the opening coundown as analogous to the drug's passage down the neddle prior to the euphoric 'hit', and noting Bowie's admission of a "silly flirtation with smack" in 1968.  His 1980 hit "Ashes to Ashes" declared "We know Major Tom's a junkie".




The Drink


Jameson 12 yr is the best known and most popular of the aged Jameson whiskeys.  I chose it because it is a step up from the original Jameson Irish Whiskey that I have grown to love, and it is not rediculously priced for the great taste that it holds.


Let's learn a little about the history of Jameson.  John Jameson was born on October 5, 1740 not in Ireland as you may think, but in Scotland.  The Irish were quick to adopt him as one of their own.  A saying goes that he became more Irish than the Irish themselves.  
John Jameson was a Scottish businessman and acquired the Bow Street Distillery in 1780.  The distillery was producing about 20,000 gallons annually.  By the turn of the 19th century, it was the second largest producer in Ireland and one of the largest in the world, producing 1,000,000 gallons annually.  Today, Jameson is the world's third largest single-distillery whiskey.  
On the tiny crest, you may notice the words "SINE METU".  It is the Jameson family motto meaning "Without Fear", and was awarded for their bravery in battling pirates on the high seas back in the 1500s.  This motto was the inspiration for John's move to Dublin to make his mark (whiskey).  
Ireland is reputed to be where whiskey was invented, and in the 1770s, Dublin whiskey was regarded as the finest in the world.  John Jameson moved in from Ireland and took up the great Irish tradtion Sine Metu.


In the 18th century, most whiskeys were distilled twice, like it is in Scotland.  John Jameson wasn't content with just double distilled, so he insisted on triple distillation and found that it made his whiskey twice as smooth.  More distillations were tested, but it turned out that triple distillation was the best.




Tasting Notes


NOSE - Warm, spicy, assertively complex
TASTE - Sherry richness, nutty flavor, mild woody undertones
FINISH - Rich and lasting


The Mix


Ian likes Jameson, and Ian likes David Bowie. 


Conclusion


I wanted to do Jameson, because I came to appreciate the regular Jameson during a time after many of my close friends had moved away from where I was.  I was left to hang out with the younger crowd that remained in Ruston.  I no longer felt as welcomed in places that I frequented in my college days.  One of my escapes was drinking Jameson Irish Whiskey whilst playing computer games.  


I originally was going to do David Bowie's album Low, because it was a low point in his life, and even though I wasn't blowing brains out of my nose from doing coke, it was kind of a low time in mine.  That's how I was originally going to tie the drink and the music together.  I listened through Low several times, and honestly just couldn't get into it.  I'm a big fan of Space Oddity, so I settled on that album.  


On a side note, my girlfriend got me a recurve bow for Christmas.  I named it David.