January 17, 2021 – National Hot Buttered Rum Day | National Bootlegger’s Day

Do You Know Where The Phrase “Real McCoy” Comes From? Hint: It Has To Do With Bootlegging.

Welcome to January 17th, 2021 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a better batter and unmasking the real McCoy.

Hot buttered rum has been around since long before the American Revolution but with rum being one fifth of the colony’s economy at the time, this was the drink of choice.  It is said that people were miserly with offering their tea, but almost every social occasion included breaking out the rum, and many of the early Colonists had a favorite recipe for spicing things up.  But when tiki bar owner Trader Vic pointed out how off putting it was to see globs of butter on his customers’ upper lip he offered a solution.  His drink included a recipe for a batter of whipped butter, sugar with spices that melted pleasingly in the hot drink.  On National Hot Buttered Rum Day enjoy a bit of better batter in your buttered rum.  And if you can’t say this fast five times you know you’ve had too much.

Before Prohibition, Bill McCoy used to build yachts for people like the Carnegies and Vanderbilts. But once alcohol became illegal, he moved into another business. Smuggling. He built himself a ship with a motor fast enough to outrun the Coast Guard and with plenty of storage for carrying liquor into the United States. It even had a hidden machine gun just in case he needed to get out of trouble. A lot of the alcohol being served at the time was homemade and not very good. But if you were lucky enough to get your hands on some of the genuine alcohol that Bill smuggled in, then you knew you had the Real McCoy. Which is where we got the phrase. National Bootlegger’s Day is celebrated on the day that Prohibition went into effect.  It’s also the birthday of legendary bootlegger, Al Capone.  

If you’d like to know more, be sure to follow us on Facebook and check out our website TheNationalDailyShow.com. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson.  Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day! 


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