In America today there exists a debate. The debate reaches from the board rooms of Wall Street to the tiki bars of the California coast. Which is better; Jack Daniel's or Jim Beam? 

Whiskey is a past time of mine. My wife and I both enjoy it but even in the politically mellow house of Average American the debate raises it's ugly head. You see I drink Jim, with a splash of Coke or straight. My wife prefers Jack and Coke, a 50/50 mix.

Jack the whiskey was born in 1866, while Jim came into this world some time earlier in 1795 though under a different name at the time. While both are 80 proof and 40% alcohol, Jim is a Bourbon Whiskey and Jack is mellowed over charcoal. The two are so very different that it is almost like comparing apples and oranges. But to the greater American continent they are two sides of the same coin.

Jack drinkers like to claim that it is the story behind the whiskey that gives it it's flavor. Jack the man was a colorful guy with a history of outrageous outbursts. Even his death is attributed to such an outburst when he forgot the combination to his safe and kicked it breaking his toes. Six years later he died from blood poisoning which they say came from this incident. (I am no Doctor, I don't even know if that's possible)

Jim the man however was not the one who created this receipe for the now famous whiskey, it was his Great Grandfather Jacob who came up with it. James (Jim) was the man who after Prohibition rebuilt the distillery and reintroduced the whiskey to the country. He rebuilt it by hand in only 120 days.

But the debate is over taste. Jim goes down smoothly and has a sweet taste to it. Jack has a bite and let's you know it's there.  Jack mixes well with Coke as does Jim, but a real whiskey drinker will insist on Jack over Jim because it puts hair on your chest. Well, my wife likes it but still has not sprouted the tell tale hair. Jim tends to be drank by a more refined crowd. (personal observation, not solid evidence to confirm)

Today there is Makers Mark (120-130 proof depending on which one you get a hold of), Knob Creek (100 proof and named for Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home) and others who are trying to move in on the big two.

Both Jack and Jim (the whiskeys and the men) were instrumental in the building of the Old West and much of its lore. To this day it is hard tell a story about the west without hearing the word whiskey in it. Many a gunman's death was over, after or while on the way to get a shot of whiskey. Like poker, horses and the stage coach, whiskey conjures up for many a simpler time. And like Harley Davidson, Chevrolet, Baseball and Apple Pie these two whiskey's are a part of Americana.

This topic may not be that important to some of you, and it really isn't all that important to me, I drink Jim, even before I knew it was our President's Achilles Heal, and I will always drink Jim, I like it. But I thought if we are all trying so hard to get along these days I would come up with a topic that whether we agree on it or not, it isn't going to change the world we live in.

Then again, what if we air lifted a bunch of whiskey to Iraq and Iran, we just might get them to take each other out, cleaning up the mess and eliminating the need for further military action in either place. We could tell them that Jesus drank Jim and Muhammad drank Jack, that should get thing rolling.

In any case, that's just a thought from the Average American, here to give you something to bitch about.