Leslie and David's Wanderings: 27 March 2022 Jack Daniels Distillery

On our to do list for Nashville was to visit the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg KY. David had been to it over a decade ago. We took the Flight of Jack Tour ($30 each) which included a tour and a whisky tasting. The tour started with a stop where they make their own charcoal. Jack Daniels is the oldest distillery in the United States. It is a Tennessee Whisky. To be a Tennessee Whisky it must be made with 80% corn and must be charcoal filtered. Jack Daniels makes their charcoal using sugar maple wood that they get from farms within 50 miles. Next we went down to the cave where JD gets its water for their whisky. They use water from this cave because it is filtered by the limestone rock that makes up the cave. This removes iron from the water. Iron causes the whisky to be bitter. They care so much about the water from the cave, they have bought up the farm land over the cave system to protect the water from pollution sources. Next we walked through the fermentation and distilling building. Here we learned the reason why the trees are all black, its called black frost, and it is caused by the CO2 that is released in the fermentation process. Then we went through the filtering room where the 140 proof distilled alcohol is filtered through the charcoal. The filtering process removes fatty acids from the alcohol which makes the alcohol smoother. Next the alcohol is mixed with cave spring water to reduce it to 120 Proof. Then it is poured into barrels. JD makes their own barrels out of American white oak. The barrels are charred on the inside before they are filled. The barrels then go to one of 90 barrel houses spread around the county where they will mellow for up to 4 years. It is not a set time, the time when it is ready is determined by tasters. In the barrels, the alcohol moves in and out of the wood of the barrel. It gets pushed into the wood by the heat of summer and moves out of the wood in the cold of the winter. It is this movement in and out of the wood that gives the whisky its flavor. There is more movement in and out of the on barrels at the top of the barrel house (hotter in the summer) and less at the bottom of the barrel stack (cooler in the summer). This results in a difference in the flavor from barrel to barrel. Single barrel bottling refers to whiskey taken from a single barrel. Usually at the top of the stack. Single barrel whiskey can be anywhere from 120 to 138 proof. For Old No7, they take whiskey from multiple barrels, mix them together to obtain a uniform taste and add cave spring water to bring the alcohol content down to 80 proof. Next we sat down in the first barrel house and did a tasting of Jack Daniels whiskeys (Gentleman Jack, Old No7, Rye) and liquors (JD mixed with flavoring) (Honey, Cinnamon, Apple). Of course the tour ended at the bottle house where we picked up some JD to take home with us. We had a great time and look forward to enjoying our Single Barrel bottles.