Bushmills for Saint Paddy's?

 "McNulty: Can I get a Jameson?
Bartender: Bushmills OK?
McNulty: That’s Protestant whiskey.
Bartender: Price is right, ain’t it?
McNulty: Make it neat."

Well, first thing first: happy Saint Patrick's Day to you all. I will make time to drink today and, at some point, I might even accompany my usual pint with a shot of some Irish spirit. It might be Bushmills, even though it would be ironic to drink a Protestant whiskey on the day of a Catholic saint. But when we went to Belfast, we visited their distillery briefly. Could be a nice way to remember the trip. Oh and for those who don't know where the exchange above is from, it's from The Wire. You can watch the scene here. I've been wanting to say the reply next time they offer me some in a pub. Haven't had the chance since the local Irish pub shut down, but maybe today is my lucky day. Luck of the Irish, as they say.

That's Protestant Whiskey

"McNulty: Can I get a Jameson?
Bartender: Bushmills OK?
McNulty: That’s Protestant whiskey.
Bartender: Price is right, ain’t it?
McNulty: Make it neat."

I blogged before about the urban legend regarding Bushmills. I learned about it because of this scene in The Wire. This anecdotal exchange between McNulty and the barman is one of many scenes in the series, scenes that are seemingly unimportant, but give character to the show. One of many reasons why I love it so much. I took this picture in the duty free boutiques of Southampton Airport. Looking at the bottles, I could only think of the scene in my favorite TV drama. Next time I go out for a drink, I want to order a whiskey just for the sake of being offered Bushmills. So I can say the immortal line. Not that I know much about whiskey, to be honest. I enjoy it from time to time, but cannot make the difference between a decent one and a great one. Or even a bad one, come to think of it. But I do want to say this once in my lifetime.

The Bushmills controversy

I blogged about it before. I discovered this controversy in The Wire. My favorite TV series. Apparently, Bushmills is Protestant whiskey, according to Jimmy McNulty. Who, as a good Irish-American Catholic, has Jameson as his poison of choice. Apparently, the association between Jameson and Catholics and Bushmills and Protestants is more or less a urban legend. You can find out more about it here. For all its urbane legendary nature, it still makes for a great scene that reveals a lot about McNulty. He is outside his element, he stands out in this crowd, even when it comes to drinks.

Two trivial things I learned from The Wire

This week at work, I taped on my desk the NATO phonetic alphabet, because even in the private sector it gets useful sometimes when spelling something on the phone. Like my own name. And it made me rediscover something, which I already knew from The Wire. Later on, I had a shot of Bushmills whiskey in the local Irish pub, to get rid of the sore throat I have. Which reminded me of another thing I learned from The Wire. So I learned at least two trivial things I learned from The Wire:

1)Quebec is the word used for Q in the NATO phonetic alphabet, which I learned from Lester Freamont in season 2, as he used it.

2)Bushmills is Protestant whiskey, according to the Irish-American McNulty in season 3. He asks for Jameson in an evening at the private school his sons is attending (or about to), the barman offers him Bushmill, which McNulty accepts reluctantly (a little bit more here).

I think the second trivia is more famous than the first, at least among whiskey aficionados. Still strange to think of my country in military terms, and as representative of the letter Q. Moral of those two non story: crime fiction can be quite educational.