Roaming Tennessee Girl

international whiskey/BBQ relations

It was always interesting to hear what French people would say when I told them I was from Tennessee. I expected the Elvis comparisons and even country music would not have surprised me. However the first thing they usually said was 'Jack Daniels Whiskey'... The first time I heard that I thought how strange. Then I heard it almost everytime. I just never knew how famous the whiskey was outside of America. However this weekend I understood it!

I grew up about 30 minutes from the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. It is located in a small county that we rivaled in football when I was in high school. My senior year our physics teacher actually took us on a field trip to the distillery. The lemonade samples were great. Lynchburg is in a dry county so they can't actually serve the whiskey in the county. What a strange little world.

On Saturday for the first time ever I attended the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbeque. I spent the day weaving my way through crowds full of leather wearing motorcycle riders, small town folks, big town folks, canadians, and europeans. No I am not kidding about any of those. I saw more things covered in leather than anyone should ever have to see!!! But I digress...It was the countries represented that amazed me. Canada, Germany, Great Britian, Ireland, Poland, and Estonia just to name a few. I couldn't believe that people had actually come from all over the world to proof their BBQ skills to everyone else. Now I understand why people know about Jack Daniels well that and the whiskey is suppose to be really good....Those people from Europe sure did have some great BBQ, but I never had any when I lived there. I guess the French haven't attempted to turn it in to haute cuisine yet:)

posted by deanna @ 9:29 AM