The Real McCoy
Now I am sure that almost all of you have heard the phrase The Real McCoy. Well it was always one of those things that I wanted to know but never did. That all changed when I found out it was about drinking!
In the dark times of this country (prohibition), there a great number of people bucking the law to get that sweet sweet booze they deserved and became smugglers. The smugglers brought mostly rye whiskey, but were often called rum-runners because it’s just catcher. And as we all know, when were talking about booze were always making things sillier.
Now here are some fun facts. Beer was actually not illegal under prohibition, this was back in the day of Ernest Hemingway and such, when they still had beer for breakfast, and no I am not kidding, beer and wine were what was for breakfast. We here at ThanksDrinking focus mostly on beer, but in a show of solidarity we are still pissed about prohibition.
And as with any good story we must enter in our hero. Captain Bill McCoy. Captain McCoy was one of the first Rum Runners. He is often credited as the first one of those righteous rum runners to use the Rum Line.
The Rum Line was the imaginary line off the coast of the US that marked the border of international waters. While out there the Coast Guard could do nothing. McCoy would sell his spirits to other smaller boats who could our run and out maneuver the Coast Guard Cutters.
But the most important fact of all this is that Rum Runners, along with bringing the joy of booze, were really a business and they wanted profits. It was common occurrence for the Rum Runners to cut the booze with water to sell more booze or to switch the labels from crap to the highbrow stuff. McCoy was one of the more honest Runners and he would never cut or cheat the liquor. As McCoy was becoming more successful and prohibition less so he because a house hold name, and when you knew you were getting really good booze you knew you were getting the Real McCoy.
Now after Prohibition’s sorry little experiment is becoming only a fading memory in our collective memories the term is turning more and more into just a description of the good stuff. So why do you need to know this? So next time you hear it you got a reason to raise your glass.
Cheers
-xc
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