Not too long ago, the Today Show found out about how I became a professional taser, which was a taste mindfulness exercise of like how I tasted a barbecue potato chip.

And it helped me like understand my palate and how I could connect my brain to my palate while thinking about the chip separating on my tongue and the salts and sugar separating on my tongue. That moment helped me understand that I could taste things that I couldn't. Otherwise,

and the whole point of that was to disconnect my brain from snipers, you know, thinking about

snipers on rooftops and car bombs and things like that. But it really showed me that I could

taste things at a very, very high level that I didn't know I could taste.

This is Bourbon Pursuit, the official podcast of Bourbon, bringing to you the best in news, reviews, and interviews with people making the bourbon whiskey industry happen.

And I'm one of your hosts, Kenny Coleman.

Do you think a forgotten, dusty bottle of bourbon could actually save a person's life?

Well, that's the question that we're going to go over today is we get to

sit down with our friend, the one and only Mr. Fred Minnick. Fred gives us his first-hand account

on this personal project from his new book, Bottom Shelf, How I've Forgotten Brand of Bourbon

saved one man's life. Fred gets incredibly candid about his battles with PTSD following

his military service and how that legacy of Old Crow, which is a brand that many of us look

at today on the bottom shelf and particularly just don't care about, how this played a pivotal

role in his journey towards healing. But it's not all heavy. In classic Fred fashion, he shares

some hilarious and heartwarming

personal anecdotes, including the story of his first date with his wife and how after that

she has just been somebody who has pushed Fred over and over to be better and makes him really

what he is today in his bourbon career. We also go into the history of the

legendary James Seacrow and how his innovations shape the industry that we all love today.

And this episode is more than just a history lesson. It's a powerful look at resilience,

the importance of storytelling, and a reminder to keep chasing your passion no matter how

...