A venerable term

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A venerable term

Unread postby gillmang » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:18 pm

I've been intrigued for years at the extensive use in liquor ads of the term "smooth".

This all-purpose term seems to have no peer. Regularly I see it in ads for any kind of beer or spirits (wine too sometimes).

It seems like a modern expression and had you asked me, I might have thought its origin goes back to the 1950's or 1940's and an inspired word choice by an ad guy burning the midnight oil on Madison Avenue.

Yesterday in leafing again through Oscar Getz', "Whiskey, An American Pictorial History", I saw a reproduction of an ad from the Nov.-Dec. 1902 issue of Munsey Magazine. Glenfesk Rye - "10 years old, copper distilled" was advertised as, "having a reputation all over the world for its superior quality and purity: it is mellow and smooth".

There we go, whiskey was being pumped in 1902 with that seemingly modern term, "smooth". And if it was used in this connection then, the original use must go back years before that if not decades.

Smooth is a perfect word to describe a liqour of any kind: it connotes something easy to drink but of quality (I don't get the idea of blandness from that word alone). It is hard to think of a synonym as effective although I am sure the ad geniuses keep trying.

And so I give you Glenfesk Rye of 1902, a smooth number!. (The ad is not 100% clear but it seems this rye was made in Rochester, NY).

Gary
Last edited by gillmang on Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Unread postby JH » Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:09 pm

Gary, how's this for a coincidence?
I was back from Xmas in KY & went to some friend's house for an early New Year's party (I was home snoring by 11:PM). I brought over some VW Lot B for the whisky drinkers to try. Both of the men said it was "smooth". One fellow's wife wanted to try it with ginger ale but I wouldn't let her :), so she tried it straight with an ice cube & also said it was "smooth".
This was early New Year's Eve in Rochester, NY.
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Unread postby gillmang » Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:48 pm

Thanks for that (by the way the Munsey Magazine I quoted from is from Nov.-Dec. 1902 but by error the year was omitted in the first reference to the date in my post. I amended it since to make it clear the whiskey was being advertised 105 years ago).

Interesting that all the guests were from Rochester, NY, maybe the expression is a local favourite and was introduced to the world of liqour advertising by the local company that made Glenfesk!

However it does show at least that the term is very widespread amongst people. Had I served a good bourbon to my friends who don't use a specialised vocabulary, I am sure they too would say the whiskey is smooth.

The all-purpose perfect word, it never goes out of style, you have to love it.

Gary
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Unread postby Big Chipper » Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:45 pm

Wouldn't smooth connotate a lack of burn?
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Unread postby gillmang » Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:18 pm

Yes, I think also it suggests no strong or obtrusive flavor of any kind.

The term has its place to be sure but I feel it has been overused by the drinks industries in recent years. It is so imprecise as to be almost meaningless in most contexts. Yet people relate to it...

Gary
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Unread postby bourbonv » Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:16 pm

Gary,
I agree with you that this term is over used, but it does still have some value. For me the term means a like fire and extreme bitternes. It can still have some warmth in the mouth and throat, but no unpleasant fire.

For the record the term does date back to the 19th century but it was not the term of choice back then. The term most used in the 19th century seems to be the word "Mellow". I would surmise that "mellow" back then would mean the same thing that "smooth" does today.
Mike Veach
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Unread postby gillmang » Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:50 pm

In that ad I quoted the distiller used both terms one after the other, "mellow and smooth". Mellow seems to have fallen out of fashion today. Can't forget too that word pure. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen it in the old ads.. That word is also not seen today in liquor ads today although I think Ivory soap still uses it.

I prefer the more detailed product information that e.g. BT uses and some others too.

Gary
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Unread postby cowdery » Sun Jan 14, 2007 3:12 am

As I have said before, my opinion is that "smooth" is a default description used by people who want to say something but who don't actually have anything to say. Research shows that if you ask whiskey drinkers to name the most important attribute they want a whiskey to have, "smoothness" is the #1 answer. It's the equivalent of going "WOOOOOO" when someone turns a camera on you. Sheep say "Bahhh" and their human counterparts say "smooth."
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Unread postby EllenJ » Sun Jan 14, 2007 3:20 am

I would have to add the observation that, in my experience, the sheep are probably the more deserving of credibility.
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Unread postby bourbonv » Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:08 pm

Gary,
The word "Pure" became important after the muck-rakers created the will for Pure Food and Drug laws. The bottled-in-bond act is often seen as the first Pure Food and Drug law.
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