Army National Guard captain: “You’re going to Iraq. Get ready,” he said. In the following months, Fred trained, overcame Lyme disease and led a small unit of Army journalists into an area of the world so tattered and torn that former Saddam Hussein exiles accompanied him on night patrols throughout Iraq, all for a chance to get their country back.
Fred became the Army’s leading photographer, photographing car bombs, fire fights, beheading chambers and multiple classified operations with special forces, generals, political leaders and many others. On numerous occasions, bullets missed Fred’s head by mere inches and an RPG landed 10 feet from him, but did not explode. It’s a miracle he’s still alive.
And with that gift of life came survivor’s guilt and the battles of war as a civilian. Fred fought post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and used a therapy technique called “mindfulness,” in which he focused on the tastes and smells to ground him.
Little did he know, Fred’s therapy turned into gift that allowed him to chase another passion—bourbon. Since 2005, upon returning home, Fred’s lived one of the most extraordinary lives, becoming the world’s leading whiskey critic, renown wine & spirits tastemaker, an iconic storyteller who practices the lost art of no bullshit interviewing with flares of dry wit and sardonic humor.
Fred has become a drinks whisperer. Through his television work and his live appearances, Fred engages with celebrities and pairs whiskies to their palate, while interviewing them about life, love and the pursuit of good drink. Billionaires, politicians, celebrities and regular folk fly into Louisville, Ky., Fred’s home, just to have drinks with the man, who is also considered the “face of bourbon.”