Congratulations to the Competitive Enterprise Institute on their latest uplifting video, I, Whiskey: The Human Spirit. I saw the 8-minute film at a CEI event pegged to the 83rd anniversary of the end of Prohibition. I was not aware that my alma mater, Virginia Tech, played a role in the whiskey revolution of the past decade. Tech was not known for booze back in the mid-late 1970s and I’m happy to hear Blacksburg has upgraded.
No think tank has as much fun fighting for freedom as CEI. As CEI founder & former president Fred Smith commented in the film, “Spirits allow us to be a bit more spiritual – they give us a certain feeling of the sacred in our own lives – they make us more human.” This proves that whiskey makes people more eloquent than beer does.
CEI’s film won first place in the TIVA-DC contest. The film will be shown in an upcoming competition in Oxford, Mississippi. The video has been entered in other contests and more good news may follow.
I enjoyed meeting CEI’s new president, Kent Lassman, at the reception for the movie. Under Kent’s leadership, CEI is causing more controversy than ever – thanks in part to Myron Ebell, director of CEI’s Center on Environment and the Environment and the Trump transition chief on climate change. Drew Tidwell was there – he helped produce the movie – I had previously known him solely as a master chili chef.
Here’s CEI’s summary of the video:
I, Whiskey: The Human Spirit is a story about what we can accomplish when we’re free to create and innovate. It’s a celebration of human ingenuity and the market – how these forces have brought people together and shaped both whiskey and society for ages. From the distillers to the restaurant owners to everyone in this room, commerce is human connections. It brings us together and gives us products that we love and enjoy.
The story of whiskey is a story of entrepreneurs, scientists, and bootleggers and the whiskey they produce—a rebel spirit renowned for its individuality and colorful history. Whiskey is a distinct spirit—it is science, chance, time, risk, ingenuity, love, intensity—all in a glass, when it’s done right. Please join us in celebrating human creativity and craft by sharing the I, Whiskey story. Cheers to the makers!
Truly, dating back almost to the founding of the nation, whiskey has a connection to liberty. Think of the Whiskey Rebellion, not to mention the resistance to Prohibition. Too bad this wasn’t touched on in the film, but I suppose it would have blurred the focus of the filmmakers.
To answer the question, “How do you Whiskey?”, my answer is, “I Rum.” Rum has probably as storied a connection to American liberty as whiskey does. And as any visit to your neighborhood liquor store may tell you, the varieties of rums maybe as plentiful as those of whiskies. It might be interesting to see what the producers of this film would do with rum as a subject.