Tag: Fred Minnick

At some point in most of my days, I will center myself down with a glass of whiskey.  It is not the effects of the wonderful spirit that draw me to it so much as the myriad of flavors contained therein.  A good whiskey is like a good person; it will unfold with layers over time.  A good whiskey is always the same, always reminding you of why you loved it in the first place, but always fresh, exciting, and nuanced.  The experience of whiskey is a deeply spiritual one for me, and one that helps inform the way I move in the world.  Despite the fact that many whiskey-lovers experience whiskey in similar ways, whiskey brings with it negative binaries, especially in the United States.  Chief among these binary stereotypes are the two myths I despise the most: whiskey is a man’s drink and whiskey is antithetical to religion.  As someone who tends bar for a living, I see these myths perpetuated all too often.  “I don’t want that fruity drink; do I look like a chick to you?”  “Of course I want another drink.  What am I?  A Christian?”  Statements like these motivated me to start writing about whiskey in the first place, and Fred Minnick’s recent book, Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey, and the increasingly progressive whiskey-blogging community have helped me gain the courage to spread the gospel of the history and meaning of whiskey especially as it relates to women and religion. Continue reading “Women, Religion, and Whiskey by Phil Conner”