Tennessee + Whiskey

"Too much of anything is bad, but too much of a good whiskey is barely enough"
--Mark Twain

The South is full of ridiculous liquor laws. No sales on Sunday. Beer sold only at room temperature. No sales after 10 PM. Or, no sales at all. Which is the case in Moore County, TN -- better known as the location of Jack Daniel's Distillery, where they produce somewhere around 35,000 gallons of whiskey per day. "Could I order a cold beer, Sir?" ILLEGAL. "Can I manufacture enough whiskey to inebriate the entire world?" Knock yourself out! Just so long as we protect the good Christian folks around here from buying it. Or just sell it in the next county over. Whichever.

This is the place where liquor and Jesus reach critical mass.

But, at any rate, they have been making some damn fine whiskey for over 100 years. Tennessee whiskey. Not bourbon, dammit. The two are very similar, save for a few key elements. TN whiskey is aged in plain maple barrels. Bourbon is aged in charred oak barrels. After aging, TN whiskey is filtered through charcoal. Bourbon isn't (it doesn't need it).

We toured the distillery recently. It's a pretty impressive spread, especially all of the barrel houses where they age the whiskey. And while you can't drink, you can get a bit of a head rush from the vapors seeping out of the few thousand or so whiskey-filled wooden barrels that surround you. It's kind of intense. Mostly just makes you fancy a drink. It is worth checking out. The tour guides are a hoot, and the tour is free.

When you go into town for lunch, just make sure you order a Jack and Coke.

Gem of Summer: Homegrown Tomatoes

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato"

-Lewis Grizzard

Its also difficult to describe how far superior fresh summer tomatoes taste than the miserable fruit that passes for tomatoes at the supermarket year round. We have been enjoying these sexy little beauties for about a month now, and I will be sad when they are gone. But let's not think about that. Now is time for celebration. And feasting. I would recommend to anyone with a patch of dirt to do yourself a favor and grow your own. It's fairly painless, and it's legal. If you don't have space, or are just too damn lazy, then seek out your green-thumbed acquaintances and mooch. You will be glad that you did.

a primer

I’m still not exactly sure what this blog is going to turn into, or if it will amount to anything at all. This may well be my final post. Though, I should try to stick with it a bit longer than that if for no other reason than to not feel like a jackass for discussing the future of a blog that will never be written to an audience that will never exist.

Anywho, so far the only concept I have for the blog is to write about stuff I like. I don’t think anyone has really thought of that yet. Examples of things I currently like (in no particular order): vegetable gardens, Ray Bans, my dog, The Band, beer, bikes, Paul Newman, grits, old guitars, porch swings, fainting goats, that really creepy tranny at the local Kroger who still dresses like a construction worker despite the lady hormones.

Americana seems to be pretty popular these days, so I’ll probably just wax nostalgic a lot. Maybe work in a few pictures, some music. I’m hoping that creating a platform will prompt inspiration. Until then I will write about the aforementioned interests. And try to remember my camera. Or not. We’ll see.

"To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi."
-William Faulkner