HYPIN’ HOLMES REDUX PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE DISCUSSED THE WORLD’S FIRST CONSULTING DETECTIVE and his appearance in advertising. We continue here with thirst-quenching themes.

Holmes, Gin, And What’s That Building? There’s internationalism in the ad for Cruz Conde dry gin. The firm, founded in 1902, is in the Montilla-Moriles region of Andalucia, Spain’s southernmost autonomous community. 

Cruz Conde’s Dry Gin (“Ginebra Seca”) “Sherlock” features on its label what I first thought was the U.S. Capitol. (?) Upon research, of course, it’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

A 630-Ft Well Nearby? A bit puzzling is 221B Baker Street Sparkling Table Water: “The water,” reads its label, “is extracted from the Society’s 630 foot deep well in Baker Street…”

Attempts at researching this yields an A.I. Overview: “Based on the provided search results, there is no indication that sparkling table water is specifically associated with 221B Baker Street, the fictional address of Sherlock Holmes.” 

Ha, “fictional.” Yet another example of A.I. hallucination. (Surely an astute A.I. would share the Sherlockian conceit of Holmes reality.)

An Aussie Port. The Sherlock Holmes Society of Australia reaches far in its endorsements: “It’s a good wine, Holmes” “A remarkable wine, Watson.” 

I confess I’m not much into podcasts (I prefer the written word). On the other hand, research yields “Episode 86—Wine and Spirits,” one of Trifles, a weekly show about details in the Sherlock Holmes stories. There, Sherlockians Scott Monty and Burt Wolder offer entertaining researches of matters Canonical.

Though they don’t cite the Watson/Holmes endorsements of wine, Monty and Wolder offer memorable trifles: In “The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk,” Dr. Watson describes Holmes being pleased “like a connoisseur who has just taken his first sip of a comet vintage.” The Trifles duo discuss how comets were likely more visible on gas-lit Victorian evenings, though I also wonder about London’s smoky air of that era. 

Monty and Wolder cite “a group of ancient and cobwebby bottles” in “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor.” Also included in the supper were a “couple brace of cold woodcock, a pheasant, and a paté de foie gras pie.” Why weren’t the bottles cleaned up, the Trifles guys ask. A good question.

The Aussie port reminds me of a tale related by Rob Walker. He and Betty were visiting their daughter and her Australian husband. Rob asked about the typically Australian behavior of menfolk on one side of the room and ladies on the other. His son-in-law considered this for a moment and replied, “The Sheilas don’t drink beer now, do they?” 

Indeed, maybe the Sheilas drank 50th Anniversary Tawny Springton Port. ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025