Our Wild Irish Rose

 Some of the first alcohol "buzzes"  I felt other than a "beer buzz," was from one of Finger Lakes finest, some swill called Wild Irish Rose. As a teen, I would offer a bum a dollar or a swig if they bought me a bottle from the liquor store. As a kid, I really didn't discern one liquor from another, be it wine, brandy, whatever. I had one goal, catch a buzz. But, this stuff, Wild Irish Rose, and it's upstate NY brethren, Mad Dog, (nickname because it said MD 20/20 on the label), became unsavory enough to where I had to specify "anything but Wild Irish Rose, or Mad Dog. They tasted like crap, and never got you drunk enough. It was, and still is, (I guess) the drink of choice for the seasoned homeless wino. 

  Wild Irish Rose founded in 1954, is a mediocre spirit, not living up to the name once seen in a grander/grandeur light. Just 40 years earlier, the term was coined by a man named Chauncey Olcott. Chauncey Olcott is one of the most famous Irish tenors, though he was not born in Ireland. He was born in Buffalo, NY. Irish had recently immigrated across the pond (Dublin, on Saratoga's West Side,  for example) and were looked upon with many prejudices. With his new found routine, Chauncey helped to change the attitude of Irish immigrants and their critics alike.
  Actress and singer Lillian Russell's renditions helped to make him famous, as depicted in the movie "My Wild Irish Rose," a story about Chauncey, written by his widow after he died. Lillian Russell was known to frequent Saratoga, flaunting her riches with railroad tycoon "Diamond"Jim Brady at her elbow. Turns out, Brady made a fortune off a shady railroad stock deal, during the re-organizing of the Reading Railroad, re-organized by a Frederic Olcott, whose grandaughter Vera Olcott, (Albany family) also got her Broadway start with the help of Lillian Russell. 
Chauncey became a Broadway star, and wrote many Irish classics, including, possibly one of the most famous one, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling." Chauncey had a St. Bernard named "Prince," that was clad in matching outfits as his owner, and acted on que, in front of a live audience.

from NYS Digital Library
  

Chauncey Olcott lived in a summer home on Clinton St. across from what now is the Skidmore College  soccer field. He named the property "Inniscarra" and it was overflowing with ornate gardens of flowers, as seen in these postcards, which seems they were as common as postcards of the old hotels on Broadway.   

 

Chauncey's home today