Whiskey & Vinyl is all about pairing a great whiskey with a great vinyl album. We like to sip while we spin. On tap for today, a couple of Kentucky greats: Buffalo Trace’s flagship bourbon and Dwight Yoakam’s debut album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.
Stick around for the highlights.
Buffalo Trace Bourbon
- Distillery: Buffalo Trace
- Location: Frankfort, Kentucky
- Style: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
- Proof: 90
- MSRP: $30
- Buffalo Trace Bourbon Full Review
Just like “Honky Tonk Man” (the opening track on Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.), the nose on this bourbon is inviting. Sweet vanilla, light oak, and a whisper of delicate spearmint greet the nose. On the palate, BT opens with notes of dark brown sugar. Toffee-covered dark fruit—raisin and fig—follows, with hints of cinnamon and light citrus. It’s like fresh-baked cinnamon-raisin bread with a zest of lemon. The medium finish moves from sweet oak to a touch of spicy clove. Enjoyable. And for $30, just so damn solid.
Dwight Yoakam’s ‘Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.’
- Artist: Dwight Yoakam
- Year: 1986
- Billboard Top Country Albums Chart: No. 1
- Singles: “Honky Tonk Man” (#3), “Guitars, Cadillacs” (#4), “It Won’t Hurt (#31)
Dwight Yoakam and Buffalo Trace both hail from the great state of Kentucky. The maestro of hardcore, hillbilly, honky-tonk music was born in Pikeville, KY, in 1956. Over the last five decades, Dwight, 66, has been one of the most entertaining forces in music, movies, and on-stage moves. And it all started with his 1986 debut album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.
The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and has been certified by the RIAA as 2X Platinum for sales of 2 million units. In addition, the album featured two Top 5 singles, a cover of Johnny Horton’s “Honky Tonk Man” (No. 3) and the title track, “Guitars, Cadillacs” (No. 4). But if you dig a little deeper, two of the best cuts on the album, in my humble opinion, are the Yoakam-penned “South of Cincinnati” and “It Won’t Hurt,” which features the whiskey-fueled opening lyrics: It won’t hurt when I fall down from this bar stool / And it won’t hurt when I stumble in the street / It won’t hurt ’cause this whiskey eases misery / But even whiskey cannot ease your hurting me. Sip some Buffalo Trace to that one—it eases the hurt.
