Thankfully, the RPG headed towards Army National Guardsman Fred Minnick was a dud.
That was in 2004 when Minnick, a staff sergeant with the Oklahoma and Wisconsin Army National Guards, was a photojournalist deployed to Iraq. Today, after a successful battle against PTSD, the Kentucky native has ascended to the top of the spirits world — alcohol, not ghosts — as an author, critic, podcaster, festival creator, media personality and supporter of veterans.
“I could never do one thing,” Minnick said. “But around 15, I realized that I was better at that one thing if I had five other things to worry about. This made me well-suited for the military.”
But when Minnick left the Guard in 2005, he was angry, snappy and ready to explode.
“Maybe a month upon my return home, I went to a party of second lieutenants who were all bragging about avoiding deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan,” Minnick recalled. “I tried to fight them all and called them cowards. My buddy had to drag me out.”
Minnick couldn’t sleep. He jumped or ducked at every loud sound. Other people’s opinions (like anti-war protesters) triggered him into episodes of barely contained rage. He knew he was on a bad path that could end in homelessness, suicide or prison. And though he had recently met his future wife, he knew he needed professional help.
The photojournalist checked himself into the Louisville, Kentucky VA treatment facility, a decision he credits with saving his life. Eventually, he underwent several years of exposure therapy and cognitive processing retraining, where he wrote about his combat trauma almost daily and learned new ways to frame his daily experiences.
“In the example of the anti-war sign, I would immediately go to my car to fill out the worksheet,” Minnick said. “So, I could just walk by an anti-war sign and not be triggered and thus would not commit a crime. That took a ton of work, and let me tell you, it was hard.”
It did, however, lead to a revelation.
His therapist noticed that Minnick was a foodie, particularly with bourbon. He had gotten a gig as a food editor in 2005 and soon became a freelancer for the restaurant industry. He felt at home with the science of bourbon-making while being embraced by the people within the bourbon world.
So she placed a barbecue-flavored potato chip on his tongue.
“Equations started going off in my head,” Minnick said. “The point was to further disconnect trauma in my brain and bring me to focus on my palate, but it unlocked a skill I never knew I had.”
Minnick was good at detecting the tiniest nuances within food and drink. So good, in fact, that it launched him onto an entirely new career of the nation’s most esteemed bourbon critic.
He wrote three books about bourbon and its impact on the world and four more on other spirits. He served as editor-in-chief for Bourbon+ magazine and co-created the Bourbon & Beyond music festival.
Minnick is also a judge for the country’s top spirits competitions. His face and voice have made their mark on a wide variety of media outlets, including “Top Chef” and “Forbes.” He hangs out with celebrities on The Fred Minnick Show, his podcast. There’s also Bourbon Up with Fred Minnick, his Amazon show.
This substantial to-do list gets crossed off despite no longer having to wake up “at the butt crack of dawn or earlier,” he joked.
“I was an early riser until the military, which used up my life’s quotas for 4 a.m. wakeups,” he said.
Still, the military plays a significant role in Minnick’s life. For Veterans Day in 2022, for instance, the critic hosted a tasting event benefitting the USO. Helping veterans has been a goal ever since he realized he was going to conquer his PTSD, he said.
“I occasionally get emails from vets I helped a decade ago and there’s nothing greater, other than my family,” said Minnick, now a married father. “I try so hard for vet organizations because I was once a struggling kid and they are all there for them, especially the USO.”
Minnick trains in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with other veterans and says the Army-taught lesson to live a life of service still drives him. Some advice he gives veterans who may be where he was many years ago: consider starting your own business, like he did.
“Every veteran has accomplished something far greater and harder than a job interview,” he said. “Do not listen to the civilians trying to typecast you or push you in a job you do not want. Find what you want and take it.”
Then down it with a sip of bourbon, of course.
