This might be one of the best, tightest episodes we’ve managed yet, and so I’m making this free for all to listen to (and read) right here on Substack.
BUT…if you really want to, you can listen to this episode on your podcast platform of choice:
In this week's episode we cover one of the ultimate vanity projects to ever come out of Hollywood and the music industry: Bruce Willis 1987 THE RETURN OF BRUNO.
This was one year prior to Willis starring in DIE HARD and becoming an action icon. At the time, he was known for playing his harmonica in the TV show MOONLIGHTING and not much else!
Music Producer Robert Kraft assembled a murderer's row of talent to backup Willis including The Pinter Sisters and The Temptations! You can read the DIFFUSER article mentioned in the pod here.
HBO released a 1 hour Mockumentary Special showing "Bruno" as a long-lost legend of the musical scene, making his comeback in the new album. Honestly, the mockumentary is 10x more entertaining than the album, and the mockumentary is…not that entertaining. But holy shit does it feature some heavy hitters in terms of cameos and talent.
The Wines
Dave’s Wine
Vermut Flores Rose Vermouth, 100% Tannat, Uruguay
A glorious URUGUAYAN Vermouth! Made from 100% Tannat in a rose/rosado style, this is steeped in a proprietary blend of botanicals, including wormwood1 (“Vermvut”, hence the name “Vermouth”!), Gentian, Quina bark, Rosemary, Coriander, rose, chamomile, hop, elderflower, and 19 others which the winemakers do not reveal.
This is a party in a glass, a gentle rose with fortified levels of alcohol and then the botanicals bring out a complexity that the album lacks, helping you get through it!
Dallas’ Wine
A classic but rightully so: 20 Year Tawny is tough to beat. Now note there are “Ruby” and “Tawny” ports. Ruby is the younger, redder, more fruit-forward version of port, generally sweeter and easier drinking.
“Tawny” is the brown stuff (though we’ve had a few that still looked suspiciously red.) These usually come in “Fine Tawny” (less than 5 years), Tawny (5+ Years), 10 Years, 20 Years, even 30 and 40 Years. The more “Years”, the tawnier/browner it will be, and less it will resemble Ruby-style port.
The browning comes from aging the wine in casks, smaller oak barrels so more of the wine’s surface area is touching the wood. This gives more oak influence to the wine and also allows for greater “micro-oxygenation”, as the oak does allow a very small amount of air through, thus evolving the wine over long periods of time, browning it and transforming the flavors into those of caramel, nuts, figs, dates (brown dried fruits), citrus peel, tobacco, etc.
This offers a rich and complex experience, something you’ll sip slowly and only need a touch of - that first part to give what the music lacks, that second part exactly like you’ll want to consume this music :P
Wormwood is also the primary ingredient in Absinthe, the insanely high-in-alcohol spirit known for making people hallucinate. We used to think that it was the wormwood itself that contained psychotropic properties, but that has since been debunked. It’s just a bark, relatively healthful when not fermented into 100-proof liquors. People hallucinated simply because they were getting that drunk off the stuff!
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