Tag: trivia

Why Blood Tastes like Copper

Sorry for the long time away. Life is happening. I got a wife and baby and job and stuff. But anyway, here I am.

While my wife is sleeping off her night shift, I have spent most of the day working on my current novel in progress, which happens to be volume 3 of Jake and the Dynamo, currently under the working title of The Shadow of His Shadow.

Anyway, as I was working, I happened to find myself asking a trivial question—why do we typically describe blood as tasting like copper?

This question led me to an interesting article on LiveScience. Although some speculation appears to be involved in the article’s conclusion, the apparent answer is that copper and other metals, including iron, don’t actually have the metallic odor we attribute to them. Rather, the smell comes from an oil in our skin, which breaks down in the presence of metal.

So, when you grab a piece of metal, the breakdown of the oil in your hands leaves behind the “metallic” smell. Naturally, since metal coins get a lot of handling, this makes coins smelly. Thus, the distinctive odor of copper pennies.

Similarly (this part appears to be more speculative), the iron in blood can produce the same smell for the same reason, and (this part is conjecture) we may be sensitive to this metallic smell specifically so that we can be alert to the smell of blood.

So, we smell blood because blood reacts to skin oil in the same way coins do, and then we turn around and attribute the smell of coins to blood.

So there you go.

Jake and the Dynamo: The Shadow of His Shadow
Phase:Writing
Due:3 years ago
33.2%

I Have Found the John Wick Bourbon

When it comes to hard alcohols, I prefer bourbon, though I cannot call myself a genuine expert or connoisseur. Knob Creek is my bourbon of choice because it’s the best one I can both get at my local liquor store and pretend is within my budget.

I also like John Wick movies. Bourbon is John Wick’s drink of choice, and I am not alone in having noticed the distinctive whisky bottle that repeatedly appears in the films, and which I suspected was a real brand.

While looking up bourbons, I happened to run across the very bottle: It is definitely Blanton’s. In John Wick Chapter 2, it is clearly Blanton’s Green Label, as shown in the screenshot at the top of the post.

The official Blanton’s website claims that Blanton invented single-barrel bourbon, and  the Green Label is the Special Reserve, described thusly:

At 80 proof Blanton’s Special Reserve is ideal for those new to single barrel bourbons. It has a slightly floral nose that conveys whispers of cedar and raisin in between soft vanilla notes.

The palate has a light airy feel to it. The taste of vanilla and toffee dance around subtle notes of dried fruit and white pepper. Its smooth consistency makes it perfect for a premium cocktail or served on the rocks. Bottled at 40% alcohol by volume.

For whatever reason, the Green Label is unavailable in the United States. This arguably shows a certain attention to detail in the John Wick films, since Wick is seen drinking the Green Label only while in Rome, whereas he appears to drink the original Blanton’s while in New York.

Although not the most expensive stuff on the market, Blanton’s is unsurprisingly pricey, running about ninety bucks a bottle. Given the premise and culture of the films, of course, it would be shocking if Wick didn’t drink something that’s out of the price range of most of us. In fact, I’m halfway surprised he doesn’t drink something even more outrageously expensive.

Here’s a review of Blanton’s drink.

Although Blanton’s produces the whisky bottle used repeatedly as a film prop, there is also an official John Wick bourbon, along with commemorative tumblers, produced by Silver Screen Bottling Company.

Commemorative John Wick 3 whisky and tumblers
Offical whisky, as pictured on Slash Film.

The “official” liquor claims to be “Continental Straight Bourbon Whiskey.” Given that the films are not very old, I suppose the bourbon is probably not very old, so I’m a little skeptical, but it runs for eighty bucks. How much of that is paying for the whisky and how much is paying for the commemorative props, I’ve no idea—but for ten dollars more, you can have the real deal from Blanton’s.

In any case, I pass this along as a bit of interesting trivia. I’m not buying Blanton’s bourbon or anything like it unless I win the lottery or something.