What Makes Your State Great? Tennessee

What Makes Your State Great? Tennessee!

What is it about the Volunteer State that draws people like bees to nectar? Is it the breathtaking vistas of the Great Smoky Mountains? The awe inspiring magnitude of the Cumberland Gap?  Do they want to see the place that inspired Harry Warren and Mack Gordon to write a li’l ol’ song about a choo choo train? Are they packing up the kiddies and heading for a fun filled family vacation to Dollywood? Maybe they’re reveling in the rich musical history of the Grand Ole Opry, or paying their respects to The King at Graceland? Wait, surely it must be the barbeque?

No.

What makes Tennessee great can be distilled down to two words: Tennessee whiskey. This libation is so distinct that it actually has a legal definition, and if a whiskey doesn’t fit that definition, it cannot by law call itself Tennessee whiskey. That’s pretty fancy for corn squeezins, and when it comes to corn squeezins, nobody is more famous for their use than the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg Tennessee. Reportedly the best selling whiskey in the world, Jack Daniel’s is probably responsible for more births than any other beverage. It has inspired a plethora of country and western songs and more than a few rock‘n’roll songs. And while the powers-that-be at the JD distillery might disagree with me, I would bet that more than one long term prison sentence can be laid squarely at the feet of Old No. 7. Why, without Tennessee whiskey, there might not even be country music! No Opry. No Dollywood. No Hee Haw.

So the next time you extol the virtues of sobriety, think where we would be without Tennessee whiskey, and ask yourself, “WWJDD?”