Can the Right Whiskey Lead You to God?

A few months back, I had the distinct pleasure of attending a conference with a man from Kentucky. The subject matter of the conference being literature, philosophy, and theology, we both found that it was an occasion that merited (if not, to an extent, required) whiskey.

Seeking the advice of a local, I was surprised to find...

I, being a man who both loves the juice of the barley and was the soul owner of an automobile, drove this Kentuckian to a liquor warehouse stocked with shelves of whiskeys, scotches, and—perhaps the crown jewel—bourbons. How lucky I deemed myself that I should have the opportunity to pick the mind of a man from the soul of the bourbon belt of his favorite beverages!

Surely this would be a man of exquisite experience and some secret knowledge whispered only in words that drawled as delicately as he did. And so I asked this good gentleman, and a gentleman he was if any American is still worthy of holding such an aristocratic title, which whiskey would he wish for?

Much to my chagrin—nay, horror—he selected a bottle of Crown Royale.

For ye who do not know the world of whiskeys, understand that this is a lower mid-shelf bottle of Canadian whiskey. How could a man from the Kentucky countryside, whose forefathers forged from the earth the finest of all drink, come to love a Canadian product which is so objectively antithetical of all that a bourbon is meant to be? Indeed, I was dumbstruck.

I asked my companion what led to his taste for that particular bottle, teasing as I went. His reply? He knew that it was not the highest-brow whiskey, but, he explained, he was a man of simple tastes and simple pleasures. Later, still trying to bring to reason this confounding mystery, I told the tale to my wife. She wisely explained to me, “People don’t always come to love the greatest good.”

Do not be content with mediocrity!

There is wisdom in this, but sadness, also. In what a world do we live when there is so much wonder, goodness, truth, and ability to come into direct contact with God, and they are so often not the preferred things.

I suppose it could be called the ‘Era of the Re-Run,’ though that could hardly catch on. Perhaps it’s that people are so disposed to sit through the status-quo that they don’t seek something better.

And so here is my urging: Do not be content with average content! Do not let life become like a re-run of a mediocre sit-com. Perhaps it was entertaining once, but would it not be better to introduce a variance that leads us to discovery?

Rather than watching a Netflix series for the third time, perhaps you could seek out a hill you’ve seen and never climbed. Instead of rereading the same favorite novel, pick up a text which has some challenge to you!

Seek out all of the goodness, truth, and beauty the world has to offer.

It’s not possible for me in this day and age of ‘progress’ to say that trying every new thing will always be good. Instead, the real challenge lies in the idea you oughtn’t be trying things just to post to social media about the experience, but rather so that you move from the familiar to the unknown and eventually, into perfect knowing.

There are things which are greater than others. And though God is equally present in the imperfect Canadian whiskey (which may be Royale but is no crown jewel), and the more refined Southern liquors, there is one that is more likely to direct you toward Him than the other.