by EllenJ » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:13 am
Mike,
Like you said, vodka was around long before that, but no one really cared. It's true that it remained undefined by the Code of Regulations for many years, but it wasn't the U.S. Government's opinion that mattered; I believe it was Bond (James, that is, not Bottled-In). Ian Fleming's character was an anti-establishment rebel who disregarded regulations in much the same way that American cowboy movie heros did. In fact, the character allowed Fleming to offer a variety of unconventional values as seen by a heroic character the reader is encouraged to emulate. Eschewing such traditionalist bastians as Scotch (or even gin), for example. Sean Connery's screen interpretation added sophistication and glamour (not really present in the original novels), and set the character for all the Bonds to come. And then Hugh Hefner decided to select that character as the model for his Playboy Philosophy New Man. For those of us who occasionally read Playboy with both hands, Hugh Hefner (and to an extent his suitable-for-TV alter ego, Johnny Carson) pretty much defined what young men (and liberated young women) would grow to expect in the way of proper libations -- when we became old enough to buy them.
Also, I think another, not insignificant, factor might have result from the thrill of being "fashionably risque" being seen drinking a Russian spirit shortly after the reign of McCarthyist terrorism had subsided. I recall that you could find CCCP magazine in the public library, and it was considered "cool" to be seen reading it. Our younger readers probably find this such an alien idea as to be silly-sounding, but such was the culture we lived in back in those American Graffiti days.
By the way, both straight corn whiskey and straight wheat whiskey were defined by the Code of Regulations right from the get-go, and they've never been much of a threat to bourbon's (or even rye's) sales.