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"25% Alcohol"

Ken Burns--Country Music--Episode 2-immediately before the Bob Wills spotlight

can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet

I guess I just flat out missed that reference. Will go back and rewatch. Very cool..

From memory. A medicenal elixer with twice the alcohol content of wine.

When I was a kid I saw a bottle of Peruna on the shelf of a little country store in the middle of nowhere in the Rio Grande Valley. This was 40 years ago and the label on the bottle was yellowed so it had obviously been sitting in storage somewhere for many years. I assumed that it was named after our mascot but seems it was the other way around. Never crossed my mind to buy a bottle.

The episode involved the creation of a mega-radio tower in the 1930s in Mexico across the River from Del Rio that carried a signal across all 48 states. Supposedly it was 10 times more powerful than any other radio station in North America with some estimate of up to 500,000 watts. Listeners claimed to hear Border Radio broadcasts without a radio, receiving the powerful signal on dental work, bedsprings, and barbed wire. The United States couldn't regulate the mega-channel. (They later awarded a limited 3 50,000 Watt channels in the United States). The story described the Carter family considered the first family of Country music moving to Del Rio to broadcast on this mega-channel. Peruna became a topic when discussing the snake oil salesmen, charletans, preachers and other shady characters and products sold on the mega-station's airwaves. Then they mention Peruna as an example and noted the elixir was 25% alcohol.

Back in the day, Mustang Band freshmen partook in the Peruna ceremony. All freshmen would drink a small amount of Peruna. NASTY stuff.

Lydia Pinkham was just as bad as Peruna, and about same alcohol content. Our pledges can attest

Too bad Jack Daniels didn't sell his whiskey as an elixir.

ponyte wrote:Too bad Jack Daniels didn't sell his whiskey as an elixir.

Would never sell. Taste too good!!!!!