How A Sense Of Smell Saved This Celeb Bourbon Expert’s Life

World-renowned bourbon expert Fred Minnick joins WaitWhat’s Meditative Story to share an immersive first person story of how his senses have served as a lifeline back to the present moment and back to himself after experiencing childhood trauma and PTSD from war.

Listen to the full episode, here: listen.meditativestory.com/FredMinnick

Minnick goes into vivid detail about these experiences and how they’ve shaped his present:

• Growing up on a small farm in Oklahoma and the smells of his childhood
• How the gift of smell was passed down from his mother’s side of the family 
• The turbulence he experienced as a teenager: troublesome friends, abuse and toxic relationships in his community, drug abuse within his family and more
• How his admiration for the armed forces started as a child, watching AWACs planes fly near his home close to the Tinker Air Force Base
• How the FFA led him to pursue journalism and the purpose it gave him
• His photojournalism career in the Iraq War and the horrific combat situations he witnessed
• The dissonance between childhood dreams of becoming a war hero and the harsh reality of experiencing war up close, followed by a sense of duty that turned to anger 
• Going to the VA for the first time and experimenting with cognitive behavioral and exposure therapy
• How his therapist introduced him to a technique called mindfulness 

Minnick, who has created a bourbon media empire, dives deep into the world that mindfulness therapy opened up for him and how sense of smell became a whole new way of navigating life, drawing him away from painful memories and towards himself. It’s that technique that ultimately led him to build a bourbon-centric career that has reached more than 15 million people.

Following nearly two decades of spirits journalism, authoring seven books and the founding of the American Spirits Council of Tasters, Minnick has made appearances on The TODAY Show, Bravo’s “Top Chef,” Discovery’s “Moonshiners” and more. He hosts the Bourbon Pursuit Podcast, DASH Radio's "Minnick Minute” show and his Hermes Creative Awards Platinum-winning Podcast The Fred Minnick Show (PodcastOne), where tastes bourbon with celebrities like Peyton Manning, Mick Fleetwood, Miss America, Ludacris, Ashley McBryde and more.

For more information on Fred Minnick, visit fredminnick.com.

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Fred Minnick Press Page:

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