Investigate new things

One thing that I find helps a ton is being curious about things that I’m not fully knowledgable about. I’d always wanted to investigate jack Daniels as Lynchburg isn’t too far away and it seemed like a thing to do. I had family in town and one was almost exclusively a JD drinker and wanted to visit the distillery. We went and what an eye opener. I hadn’t liked Jack Daniels much due to it’s image of bikers or rock stars and the black label everything. Taking that tour, twice, that day made me appreciate the effort and care it took to create that whiskey. I always thought the charcoal process was a cheap way to smooth an alcohol but when I saw the care they went through to use only sugar maple and burning it on site to just the right amount and break into just the right size I was amazed. While drinking can certainly be a hot button for many, I was really transformed to appreciate what it takes and the tradition of creating something that seemed so mass produced and really isn’t. Sometimes digging into something to gain a better understanding can really open our eye and appreciate what it’s really about. It’s realy a part of going through life with a beginners mind rather than preconceived notions.