What drink do you imagine Indy was drinking in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

IndyWhipCracker

New member
So I know that Harrison was probably drinking apple juice but I'm talking within the mythos of the series. I know that in the novels he has drunk scotch but didn't care for it too much (Dance of the Giants novel) but he is known to drink throughout the novels so i'm wondering what do you believe his drink of choice was and would be? I personally always viewed it to be rum and always felt Indy would be a rum drinker lol. :whip:
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
He's also drinking brown on the zeppelin, though perhaps not the sort of Scotch he tried in the Bantam novels. (Pity that Dance of the Giants doesn't take place on Islay; it possible that the famed digger doesn't like his liquor to taste too much like his work?)

***

All right, detour into a non-Raiders source.

Actually, I've found at least one relevant line from <I>...Dance of the Giants</I> at Google Books. Seems like a conditional, not categorical, dislike of the stuff.

A waiter arrived and poured Indy and Deirdre shots of a local brand of Scotch. Indy took too big of a swallow and felt it burning all the way down to his stomach. He coughed into his hand.
"A good batch, don't you think, Professor Jones?" the mayor said, holding up his glass.
"Great." He felt like fanning his mouth.

***

And now here's the August 1979 Raiders draft's version of the despairing Indy scene, suggesting Pale Horse has it on the money.

A dark, smoke-filled den on iniquity. The patrons, almost all
fearsome Arabs, sit in small shadowy groups around the room.
Indy stands at the bar finishing off a fifth of bourbon. He
is drunk. The ARAB BARTENDER places a new bottle of expensive
bourbon in front of him.

Does this mystery bourbon have a name? Yes, it does!

4538362161_fd4a0ca835_o.jpg


That's Belle of Lincoln Straight Whiskey, from the Jack Daniel's distillery.

Now, if I felt like digging into the accuracy of this, I might note that Jack Daniel's wasn't producing anything in 1936, due to the national prohibition and an earlier one in the state of Tennessee. I might also note that Belle of Lincoln was an older label, perhaps no later than 1912, and that it was shaped just like an ordinary Jack Daniel's bottle, square edges and all.

Belle9.jpg


Maybe the revival of the Belle of Lincoln brand in a limited 1979 run of decanters (looking neither like Indy's bottle nor the familiar square-bottomed bottle) is what put the Raiders prop team on the label's scent.

If we're looking for an in-universe explanation? American bootleg liquor put in an unrelated bottle with a genuine-looking label slapped on the front might do. Because before there started being fan replicas, I think the bottle Ford handled on set was the <I>only</I> Belle of Lincoln whiskey bottle that looked just like that.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Attila the Professor said:
And now here's the August 1979 Raiders draft's version of the despairing Indy scene, suggesting Pale Horse has it on the money.

I'm never wrong when it comes to distilled spirits.

If he were real and alive today, we'd share a Buffalo:

Buffalo-Trace-Kentucky-Straight-Bourbon.jpg
 

Stoo

Well-known member
The bottle that Indy pours at his house in "Raiders" looks like champagne because you can see it fizzing in Marcus' glass.

In Club Obi-Wan, he is given what appears to be white wine.

The TV series also has a number of alcohol scenes:
- Indy drinks beer in France during a break from fighting in the trenches.
- He & Hemingway get hammered on Italian grappa.
- Indy tells Hemingway that Spain has strong wine.
- He drinks gin in Chicago.
- He also orders tomato juice in Chicago so he may be prone to enjoying a Bloody Mary (vodka).

However, in Morocco, there's this humorous exchange after Indy coughs & spits out a swig from his sergeant's canteen:
Indy: What is this?
Sgt. Hinkel: Schnapps, sir.
Indy: What?!?
Sgt. Hinkel: Schnapps! 100% proof!
Indy: This is lethal.
Sgt. Hinkel: Heh, heh. I knew you wouldn't like it.

There may be more but I can't think of them right now...
 

Drones33

New member
Pale Horse said:
I'm never wrong when it comes to distilled spirits.

If he were real and alive today, we'd share a Buffalo:

Buffalo-Trace-Kentucky-Straight-Bourbon.jpg
I'm right with you on this. Buffalo Trace. THE best bourbon I've ever tasted.
 

IndyWhipCracker

New member
Yeah I know that he does keep wine and champagne around since he drinks it when Marcus is in the house and also I think he drinks it in the Bantam books (he does offer some to Deidre and her mother at his birthday in Dance of the Giants). I agree that he would be a whiskey drinker 100% it's just the color of the drink in Raiders looked more like rum than a dark whiskey and also the fact that he didn't care for scotch in Dance. If I ever met Indy though I think we would share a bottle of this stuff, I had this for the first time last night and this has become my favorite bourbon. :)
img-the-bar-collection_0141_bulleit.png
 
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