Odds and Ends

If By Whiskey (Sponsored Post)

148 Comments

billy-sunday-w-chair

We haven’t ever done a sponsored post before but when the Tony over at The Bourbon Newsletter sent me his story of how he went from teetotaler to tippler I thought it was too good to pass up. ~ D

Having grown up in the world of fundamentalism, I was 20 years old before I ever tasted alcohol. Now, I write about bourbon whiskey every week and thoroughly enjoy it without guilt or shame. To instill as much fear as possible into the flock, beer, wine and brown party liquor were used often in sermon illustrations. I just knew if I tried it, I’d be an instant alcoholic who would beat my wife and kids and die on the way home from a church service in which I did not respond to 15 verses of “Just As I Am.” I didn’t even have a wife and kids so I assumed I’d have to go and beat someone else’s wife and kids.

Then I went off to college and got a crash course in drinking. I hadn’t been taught to use it responsibly, or to view it as an agricultural product, or to see its significance in American history. I had never considered the role it played in the history of my home state, Kentucky. I’d only been preached to in that all-too-familiar black and white way: you can be either a teetotaler or a raging, wife beating, drunk-driving lunatic who hates God. Oh, and Jesus turned the water into Welch’s.

By the grace of God, after years of rebellion, I found an awesome church where I learned what grace is. We work hard to keep the Gospel in the center of everything we do, trying not to invent new standards for righteousness. I am a member of a great community group. We meet together to study the word, discuss the past week’s sermon and share in each other’s joys and griefs. We often have family meals together where you’re welcome to enjoy a beer or glass of wine with dinner and a fantastic Kentucky bourbon afterwards.

How do I feel about America’s Native Spirit? This famous speech given by Judge Noah Sweat in 1952 when asked his opinion on whiskey pretty much sums it up:

My friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey:

If when you say whiskey you mean the devil’s brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

But, if when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman’s step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life’s great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.

This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise.

A fellow ex-fundy and I have started The Bourbon Newsletter. We deliver current bourbon-related news and original content straight to your inbox each week. You’ll learn the ins and outs of how bourbon is made as well as some great American history. We’re thrilled to be living in the heart of Bourbon Country during the biggest bourbon boom since prohibition ended. We would love to share the juice with anyone with a taste for the best whiskey in the world! Check us out at thebourbonnewsletter.com and, if you like it, please subscribe.

— fifthsunday

148 thoughts on “If By Whiskey (Sponsored Post)”

    1. Nope, no irony at all in being the first to supply a comment to a post about whiskey. Regrettably, now that I have discovered that I am gluten-sensitive, I have had to give up the single barrel Scottish highland malts that I like so much.

      2. Really? How does gluten survive the distillation process?

        Surely someone has conducted a test to calculate any residual gluten that might make it through…

        1. Yeah, I’m not so sure there’s gluten in whiskey. And American-style bourbon, which is made purely from corn, shouldn’t contain any wheat gluten. This merits further investigation.

        1. Sadly, certified gluten-free means less than 20 ppm. That’s not really gluten free. I don’t get why even a tiny bit of gluten inflames my joints, but it does. However, I forgot that bourbon is made from corn. *YAY*. Can somebody recommend a good bourbon?

          Also, I don’t get how gluten gets through distillation either. But scotch affects my joints like bread does. On the GF group, we compared notes, and the consensus was that somehow some gluten is still present. Either that. or has been suggested by other studies, people who go GF aren’t reacting to guten at all but rather to something else. I just know that I reluctantly had to put it on the list of things I must avoid. *sniff*.

        2. I’m not the biggest Maker’s Mark fan but it is a good place to start. It’s flavoring grain is wheat which makes it smoother and sweeter than a rye bourbon. There are many other wheaters out there. I’m posting an article on it in this Friday’s 5/9/14 newsletter 😉

        3. Bass, if you like Scotch, I highly recommend Wathen’s or Basil Hayden’s. However, bear in mind that the ingredients for bourbon include corn (51-79%), rye, malted barley (the main ingredient in Scotch), and sometimes red winter wheat (up to 15% of these ingredients). If you react to Scotch I’m pretty sure you’ll react to bourbon.

      4. One of my in-laws is flat-out allergic to barley. He can’t eat most national-brand breads or even local bakery breads, because it seems that everybody uses a small amount of barley flour in order to improve the texture or something like that. But what’s worse, he can’t drink beer!

      1. I found out where your username came from! Anniversary trip to Louisville, and we all know what to find there…

        1. take a day to drive down to bardstown and then the Maker’s Mark distillery… if you want

      2. Elijah Craig is a good bourbon, and people in the area of Bardstown, KY should visit the Heaven Hill Distillery.

  5. I just find it amusing that the ad that pops up in the sidebar next to today’s post is from the American Still Company.

    1. I have an ad from Amazon about Darrell’s book and also an ad for PEI. No booze ads yet.

    1. Two of my favorite are Blanton’s and Woodford Reserve, but I’m not going to turn down a glass of Crown or JD’s either.

      1. Living in Kentucky, I not only have the option to turn down non-bourbons, I actually have the obligation to turn down “cheap” bourbons, like Jim Beam (not to mention that Beam is headquartered in Illinois, which is, you know, totally NOT Kentucky). Anyhoo, Blantons and Woodford are both good. My favorite inexpensive varieties are Four Roses Single Barrel and Willet Pot Still Reserve, both of which are clean enough to sip neat. For a higher-dollar finish, Angel’s Envy (finished for two years in port casks) is very good, as is Pappy Van Winkle’s (try to get your hands on the 23 year), and Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection. What is amazing is that you can still get your hands on a really excellent fifth of bourbon for less than $100; a comparable Scotch will easily blow $250.

        1. If you’re in any town of over 5,000-10,000 people, you can turn down bad bourbon.

          I drink a bourbon now and again but most times if I’m gonna drink liquor it’s gonna be a single malt scotch or a vodka martini. Honestly, I stay away from liquor for the most part because as I’ve entered my late 30’s I get this blackout thing happen. Once in a while, a significantly younger but sexy female buys me a Jaegerbomb or something disgusting and I object, but always end up drinking it. I don’t know why– never once has that resulted in anything braggable.

  9. Hey guys and gals, thanks to those who’ve subscribed to the newsletter.
    Daniel guessed correctly, I do go to a reformed church. Those guys really helped me out of the fundy mindset. I had just starting going when a church member told me about SFL. Darrell’s expert insight and the SFL community helped me to laugh at myself and the insanity that comes with unbrainwashing one’s self . I tell my wife stories about growing up in the IFB and she can’t believe it. It’s hard to put myself in peoples’ shoes who’ve never been exposed to the insanity. Thankfully, God has a plan and His plan for me was a journey through the carnival fun(dy)house.
    I didn’t realize until reading the comments that my username is punny. ‘fifth’sunday indeed. Long live bourbon! If any of you have any interest in traveling the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, holler at me when you head this way. I’d love to buy you a bourbon. Reach me at bourbonnewsletter at gmail.com and make sure you mention SFL.

    1. I think the African provenance of this video would only be proof to them of the gauranteed horrors of fermentation.

      1. If you want to follow after these elephants you need to try Amarula Cream – delicious beyond words!

    2. I’ve seen birds get drunk from eating certain berries. I don’t know if that’s due to fermentation or if the berries on the bush contain some natural drug.

  11. Not Bourbon fan, my preferred liquor is Scotch. Peaty, smoky scotch – the scotch from Islay (Bowmore, Laphroig, Ardbeg etc) & Skye (Tallisker). Neat, room temperature.

    Due to the price it is a rare treat though.

    1. Yah, if I ever get rich (which seems unlikely at this point), I figure I’ll take up single-malt scotch tasting.

    2. Laphroig is one of my all time favorites! Across the river in Indiana, where by God’s grace they have yet to pass a smoking ban, there is a whiskey and cigar bar that is basically heaven. Top shelf Scotch and Bourbon and top shelf cigars. Swing by Louisville and we’ll go together.

      1. Not a cigar fan, sorry – I find the smoke interferes with the finer workings of my taste buds. But I’m up for a dram any day 🙂

        I was not too far from you last year September, right across the Ohio River, in Elizabethtown, IL. But if you ever venture here to the Land of Open Skies…

  12. On Sermonaudio.com there are a few clips of Billy Sunday. The earliest are pre-prohibition demanding that govt outlaw it because of myriad abuses and then another clip during Prohibition demanding the repeal of Prohibition because the myriad abuses of government were worse than the first.

    1. I believe it was Billy Sunday who said when Prohibition was enacted that all the prisons, poorhouses, and insane asylums would close for lack of inmates.

      It didn’t quite work out that way.

      1. Yep.

        The “insane asylums” have been closed (and are closing) for a lack of funding.

        Those who need the help are left to walk the streets.

        B.R.O.

        1. The “insane asylums” are closed due to civil rights concerns following a few different court rulings. Conservatives really can’t be blamed for this entirely– Jimmy Carter advocated closing the asylums. Basically, to be incarcerated for any reason it needs to be adjudicated first in a court of law. This is the same reason why, legally, it’s very difficult to deny firearms to people with a mental illness.

        2. There just aren’t enough taxes in America. We really need to be taxed much more than we already are.

        3. Hence, “insane asylums” is in quotes. I’m not speaking of the old time institutions, but rather the modern facilities that treat mental illness.

          Good grief, people, do I have to explain everything?

          B.R.O.

        4. Closing residential treatment facilities for mental illness began waaaaay back in the Kennedy administration. The idea was that it would be better if patients could be treated in their own communities. Of course, the community facilities never really got built, so treatment for the mentally ill in the US remains dismal.

  13. Haven’t tried it. I will, at some point. I am sure my wife and daughter will be displeased when I do.

    I have had the occasional glass of wine. I really need to try to find something that suits my taste, though. The cheaper stuff seems rather nasty. From what we have at communion, I think I would enjoy a nice Port.

    1. Whiskey took me a little while to get used to, but I enjoy it quite a bit now. I’d recommend a basic Evan Williams to start – not expensive, but quite tasty.

  14. I never drank it but my great grandfather used to make it. On his own property. Legally. He filled barrels and shipped them off somewhere. Even though he lived in a remote mountain community he managed to maintain a fairly nice lifestyle. He was a lot better off than his neighbors.

    When he passed away (at age 45) my grandfather and his two brothers tried to make a run but unfortunately they were drunk at the time. They somehow managed to blow up the still and cause a forest fire. They still talk about it after all this time.

    I am also gluten sensitive and cannot indulge but for those who do…enjoy. 😉

  15. My wife has had issues with alcohol before…she never learned moderation.I on the other hand never drank in my teens or twenties.We have however started drinking together once I realized that total abstinence wasnt going to work…it just led to binging and overindulgence. With us working through her issues she has learned moderation and control and I have learned that for someone that had parents that didnt drink I have strangely enough discovered that I have a pretty high alcohol tolorence.I honestly dont like getting plastered…just not my thing…I tried it once just to experience what it was like*remember…I didnt drink or party in my teens and twenties* and I wasnt too impressed…learned my lesson on too much too fast lol.But I too learned that if I drank I didnt become a wife beating dog kicking sullen caveman sex pervert rapist.I am who I am…a good person…I dont fight Im not angry…I dont desire to stay in some kind of escapist drunken stupor.I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen so in a way this is another side to the creativity I express in cooking…just experimenting with different tastes ect. I realize what the Bible says about alcohol and it does nkt prohibit its use…and people in the Bible had plenty of water…good Lord how many stories are there in the Bible about streams and brooks and rivers and wells being dug.They had water from these wells they drank just like our recent ancestors did.Anyways…just wanted to put my random rambling double shots worth in hehe.Never tried Bourbon yet but its on my list.Tequila, Rum,Vodka..wine coolers are ones ive tried.Wine….cant stand it but I love cooking with it and never tried beer but I do like trying new things. I have had JD Honey in lemonade and it was awesome.

    1. Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. It’s the real deal.
      If you ever get to Cuba, try Ron Santiago (made in the old Bacardi distillery). I don’t think they export it, but damn, it’s good.

  16. Slightly off topic, sorry.

    Every February the Bohemian Waxwings arrive in my town in a large migration. Hundreds come to 2 mountain ash trees outside my police station. Normally, by then, the mountain ash berries have fermented and the Waxwings eat berries to inebriation. Some fall out of the tree, into the snow, passed out. Annually, I keep vigil, pick up the drunken birds and box them and release when sober. Otherwise, the Magpies will eat the Waxwings alive.

  17. I tried beer for the first time at age 25. I felt like I was committing a huge act of rebellion. Then I drove home, honestly surprised that 4oz of beer wasn’t enough to make me drive my car off an embankment after plowing through a bus load of orphans. I didn’t enjoy the taste, and I still don’t, despite having tried a number of high-end brews that various connoisseur friends have recommended.

    This was actually one of the pivotal points that started me away from Fundistan. The facts:
    1) I hadn’t enjoyed the taste of beer, despite being told that “just one sip” would make me an instant addict.
    2) The approximately 1/3 of a bottle I’d drunk didn’t seem to seriously impair much of anything, despite being told that “just one sip” would make me blackout drunk.
    3) I’d driven home afterwards and arrived safely, despite being told that “just one sip” would result in either my death in an accident, me killing someone else in an accident, or me waking up the next morning to find the front of my car covered in gore.

    These facts made me start wondering what else I’d been told
    that wasn’t true.

    I still don’t like beer, I’m not terribly fond of wine, but I do enjoy whiskey and whisky. I currently have a handle of Johnnie Walker Black in my kitchen.

  18. I like vodka. A lot. I guess that not only makes me a raging alcoholic but also a communist.

    I will pray to Billy Sunday for forgiveness of my hell-bound rotten soul.

    1. I forgot to add that I also like Fat Tire beer. Which is made by New Belgium Brewing. I guess that makes me a socialist also?

      1. It makes you a stoner hippie.
        Fat Tire is made in Fort Collins, Colorado.

        1. Ft. Collins-type hippies are wannabes. Boulder is where the tried and true stoner hippies are born and bred…or migrate to.

          Trust me, I know about such things.

          B.R.O.

      2. Scorpio, you are far more wicked and evil than I had imagined. No wonder why I like you.

    2. I learned to drink vodka while on a study abroad trip in Russia. I am clearly beyond redemption spiritually and politically.

      I now prefer Polish vodka, though. Ice cold Chopin with a splash of club soda is far and away my favorite.

  19. This is a great post. Makes me want to sit back with some Buffalo Trace of Breaking & Entering with a splash and a frozen stone. (A real stone) That being said, if anyone has a Macallan 25 they’d like to share, I’ll gladly take it cool and neat.

  21. I came to drinking late in life. For the past 10 years I have indulged myself with a bottle of wine with my weekly grocery order. Presently an aged 70 something Lutheran and previously a 50 year-long Baptist, this was a difficult habit to get into after years of denying the efficacy and joy of alcohol. Beer and “strong drink” leave me cold, but a glass of wine while watching the evening news makes it palatable.

        1. More of a red guy myself – my favourites is a goof Chateneuf du Pape. If I drink white, I prefer Chenin blanc…

  24. I haven’t had enough beer to really know if I like it. Tonight I had some white wine called “Sweet Caroline” from one of the many local wineries.

  25. Mataxa, ouzo… It tastes like licorice, and I really like it. My maternal grandfather’s Greek influence on me. Also, my dad used to make a honey cordial (about 90+ proof) called krupnik. A recipe from Poland. Besides honey, the main ingredients are grain alcohol and cinnamon, cloves, and other spices. My brothers make it now, and it’s a real treat. Nazdrowie!

      1. Perhaps, Dr., you were sampling anisette? Though that’s more of an Italian liqueur. Ouzo is unmistakeably “licoricesque”and makes you go “oopah!” Anise always reminds me of those yucky cookies gramma used to have…
        Also, I envy your trip to Athens. It must be quite memorable.

    2. I like ouzo, and its near cousin, arrack.

      My favorite booze is slivovitz, the national drink of the former Yugoslavia and also enjoyed in some of the adjoining countries. It’s made from plums. But some brands are much better than others. The best I ever had was some home brew distilled on someone’s porch.

    3. I had ouzo in Istanbul back in January. It’s at a level beyond bourbon– you don’t just drink it, you experience it. Kinda takes more work than most of us are used.

  26. I definitely think drinking is an area of Christian liberty; I’ve had a sip of an alcoholic drink a couple times, but 1) I haven’t tasted anything I liked and 2) the cost is prohibitive (in other words, why take up an action that I’ve happily lived many years without doing when it will cost me money?) And it’s really, really hard for me to picture myself, for example, providing alcohol at a meal in my home or at some future wedding of one of my children. I don’t think it’s wrong; it’s just so non-normative for me that it’s hard to see myself in a different scenario. Although I do know if I want to try something, there are a couple threads in the forum with lots of suggestions!

      1. Yes, of course.
        I support the decision 100% if someone doesn’t drink by choice, or needs to abstain due to medical reasons (alcoholism being just one such reason).

  27. The wife and I have only just started now in our late 20s to experiment. I like wine – pies porter is my current fave but neither one of us can stomach the smell of actual beer.

  28. In the immortal words of Tom T. Hall:

    ♫ I like beer.
    It makes me a jolly good fellow,
    I like beer
    It helps me unwind and sometimes it makes me feel mel-low….
    Whiskey’s too rough
    Champagne costs too much
    and Vodka puts my mouth in gear,
    This little refrain, should help me explain
    As a matter of fact, I like beer. ♫

    1. There’s always a balance approach that needs to be taken concerning alcohol. Don’t forget that alcohol has wrecked many peoples’ lives. For a balanced approach, don’t forget this song:

      Baby’s begged me not to go
      A thousand times before
      She says love and happiness
      Just don’t live behind those swinging doors

      Now she’s gone and I’m to blame
      Too late, I finally see
      What’s made Milwaukee famous
      Has made a loser out of me

      Baby’s beggin’ me not to go
      So many times before
      She says love and happiness
      Can’t live behind those honky tonk doors

      Now she’s gone and I’m to blame
      Too late, I finally see
      What’s made Milwaukee famous
      Has made a loser out of me

      Read more: Jerry Lee Lewis – What’s Made Milwaukee Famous Lyrics | MetroLyrics

      1. Don’t forget that alcohol has wrecked many peoples’ lives.

        As have many other appetites when allowed to run with no self control. How many families have been affected by early deaths of a parent due to complications from diet related diabetes (as opposed to genetic), obesity-related heart problems, aggressive driving, renal failure due to non-necessary prescription drugs, or a host of other factors? It’s time for fundies to start looking at the logical extensions of their arguments, and not just their pet rants. I’ll grant that alcohol abuse can have an effect on more than just the abuser, but that doesn’t mean it should be singled out when there are so many other self-control areas that we allow people to get away with.

        1. [Yes, I fed the troll. I know better, but while I may have self-control in many areas, troll feeding is an area I have to work on.]

        3. Wow, Uncle, you surely know how to jump all over a peson! So let me guess, you think Metallica is a horrible band because they are just so fundy? It’s hard to even have a conversation with you people when you overreact to everything. Of course the group Metallica and I must be “trolls” and sexually abusive fundies because we like to have a balanced approach to life and point out the dangers of and heartaches of alcohol. You people are pretty much impossible to try to even engage or have a sane conversation with. You are so jaded and hate Christianity and conservatives so much that if a Baptist pastor wears a blue shirt one day, you’ll think that anyone who wears a blue shirt is a “sexually abusive predator.” ……Try a little sanity and reality logic in life. You just might like it.

        4. Here’s another song, by Metallica this time, that gives a balanced view of alcohol and points out that is often associated with violence.

          Being drunk and weary
          I went to Molly’s chamber
          Takin’ Molly with me
          But I never knew the danger
          For about six or maybe seven,
          Yeah, in walked Captain Farrell
          I jumped up, fired my pistols
          And I shot him with both barrels

        5. How many families have been affected by early deaths of a parent due to complications from diet related diabetes (as opposed to genetic), obesity-related heart problems, aggressive driving, renal failure due to non-necessary prescription drugs,

          YOU are the one who must be a troll. You told the truth that the AMA and the medical establishment is controlled by the pharmaceutical industry and is out of control and dangerous in their over-medicating the population. You and I happen to agree there. UH OH….You must be a conservative troll! Leave and don’t post here again!

        6. You obviously have not taken the time to actually read our comments or get to know us here on SFL. Your levels of ignorance and arrogance are astounding.

          Please reread your comment, and then explain who is having trouble overreacting and using sanity or logic.

          I would also like an explanation of how I am jaded and hate Christianity. I am ordained in the Baptist church, both as a deacon and a preacher. I currently teach a College and Career Sunday School class in what classifies as an IFB church. The fact that I read/interpret Scripture in its historical/cultural context doesn’t mean I am anti-Christian. It means I am an honest Christian. I happen to like blue shirts and believe there is no punishment strong enough for a sexually abusive predator. I dislike Metallica, but only because my tastes run to a different style of music. You obviously are familiar with them, and I do not hold that against you.

          I will not be replying to any more of your comments. Not because I don’t enjoy a good argument, but because this isn’t one. And because of Proverbs 26:4.

          Good day!

        7. Unc – stacymcanderson is impossible to reason with. She refers to anyone she is interacting with here as “all of you”. As in “I bet all of you voted for Clinton twice”. She reminds me a few people who are no longer allowed to post here.

          Since I live in New York I actually have had the chance to vote for Clinton more than twice. 🙂

        8. Uncle, see how much more interesting it is when you actually engage in civil conversation instead of overreacting and jumping all over anyone who you might think might not be a Progressive or hate Christianity? Keep this up and you’ll start to gain more friends other than the paid protesters at your Occupy Wall St. sit ins!

          You call ME arrogant? All I did was give a balanced approach to the conversation. Some clever chap made a cogent and humorous point about alcohol by posting a song that talked about the enjoyable aspects of responsible alcohol use. In order to balance the conversation, and in following the actualy flow of the conversation, I mentioned a song that happened to talk about the negative effect of alcohol use, when it is not used carefully. You were the one who arrogantly jumped all over me and started treating me like a deranged fundy because I made comments alluding to the fact that alcohol needs to be treated with care. You went way overboard and started bringing in other topics not remotely related to the conversation. Just because I happened to make a point that alcohol needs to be taken with care you start accusing me of being a fundy heretic.

          How are you jaded and hate Christianity? You overreacted over a small comment and acted as if you needed to defend the blog from any conservative or Christian who might happen to post here. Just because a lot of IFBs have and do warn against the abuse of alcohol, you mocked anyone who might also point out the same dangers. Plus, the fact that you are here implies this is well. The stray poster who once in awhile comes in here and gives even a hint of a leaning to Christianity and/or conservative values is excoriated; you are known by the crowed you hang around with. You people are so jaded that my example was hardly even hyperbole. Because you had a bad experience in an IFB environment, you have gone, way, way off the deep end and turned into leftist nutcases and mock any and all associations with any Christian or conservative values, just because an IFB happens to hold the same position. The old phrase about the baby and the bathwater is a major understatement!

          Perhaps you are telling the truth and you really do not hate Christianity and are one of the few Christians here. My apologies if I too soon lumped you into the majority of the crowd.

  29. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Arthur Guinness used to help the poor and needy from sales of his beer and even set up a welfare type program to help his employees.

    Also I recommend New Holland’s Dragon’s Milk which is a bourbon barrel stout.

    As far as the “evils of drinking” a little common sense and moderation can go a long way, but that can be said about those who love to preach against it and turn a blind eye when it comes to their gluttony.

  31. Of course, nobody yet mentioned my two other favourites, but then few people outside France indulge in them (not that I’ve ever been there, sniff sniff):

    Armaganc – Cognac’s earthier cousin. Distilled only once, but with the same strength, thus less forgiving – you get it right first time! Exceptional!

    Pastis – anise flavoured liquor, diluted with cool/cold water – about 1:5. The best drink for a blazing summer’s day…

  32. If the Fundy’s can’t get gods stance on what humans are allowed to drink(assuming a god cares in the infinite scheme of the universe) what else are they getting wrong? Answer key: Everything.

    1. Eh, I don’t know about getting everything wrong. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and even a politician occasionally tells the truth (though probably not on purpose).

  33. A lot of mixed feelings reading the original post and the comments.

    I did not grow up in a fundamentalist home; my father drank beer once in a while; my mother didn’t drink that I knew of. As children, we were essential told that it was for adults.

    During my grade school/high school years, there were classes warning us against how drink impairs judgment.

    Jesus saved me when I was in grade school, and I became serious about following Him in high school. I got involved in a decent (non Hyles type) IFB church and began to hear messages against alcohol.

    I’ve been involved with IFB churches for many years, and even in the absurd types, I’ve never heard a preacher say things like the author claims – that one taste would force one to became a wife & child beater who killed other people on the road.

    But I am sensitive to drunken drivers, having lost a good friend to a drunk truck driver. It holds painful memories.

    I still don’t drink; as Pastor’s Wife has said, I have lived many years without it, and don’t miss it at all. In addition, I fear that I may be one that would not be able to stop.

    The Bible does have many warnings against strong drink; that it is deceptive, that it is not for priests or kings. I choose the safer path of avoiding it altogether.

    Having said all of that, it seems to me that many preachers stretch things when they try to make a case for total abstinence. The verse in Habakkuk is twisted to say what it does not say; it is more about getting someone drunk to take advantage of them than merely giving them a drink. On the balance, Jesus probably turned the water into “wine” (of that day).

    I do find it interesting that in the gospels, the descriptions of the institutions of the Lord’s Supper always says “fruit of the vine” instead of “wine”.

    1. The fruit of the vine comes directly from the HaGafen – the prayer for before drinking wine:

      Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, Melekh ha’olam, bo’re p’ri hagafen

      This prayer is only for drinking wine fermented from grapes, not for other alcoholic beverages.

      There’s no real doubt among scholars that Jesus turned water into (alcoholic grape) wine – both the steward’s remarks and the known practices of historical Judaism leave no room for doubt on that score.

      A careful reading of the Biblical warnings about wine make it clear that what is condemned is drunkenness – both indulging in drunkenness one’s self and inflicting it upon others.

        2. Orthodox Judaism has different prayers to be said over different foods and drinks, mostly according to the ingredients in each food or drink. But I honestly don’t know the one for tequila or other distilled alcohol.

        3. Dear God, bless this drink,
          Even as with the lime, it doth sink;
          And entering my blood, ignite the song;
          That will gladden my lips, the whole night long!

          How’s that?

  34. I took the bourbon trail recently, and honestly I haven’t met a bourbon I didn’t like. But if I had to choose one, it would be Four Roses. I have to finish the rest of my trail souvenirs before buying more. I am currently working on a bottle of Maker’s Mark 46. As in, right … now.

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