Jack Daniel’s Distillery Tour
I am a whiskey girl. It is my drink of choice. So, when we had a work trip in Nashville I was absolutely taking an extra day to drive the hour and a half south to visit the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. My hubby and I took a tour of the distillery and loved it for so many reasons. But even if you’re not a fan of whiskey, the tour was so informative that anyone who enjoys history or how things are made would have a good experience.
FUN FACT: Registering in 1866, The Jack Daniel Distillery is the oldest registered distillery in the U.S.
Visitor Information
Location: southern Tennessee
Open Hours: 9am-5pm
Fees: None to enter the Visitor Center. Tour prices vary.
Other Distilleries: Jack Daniel’s Distillery is part of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Other distilleries nearby are Prichard’s Distillery, George Dickel Distillery, and Nearest Green Distillery.
Jack Daniel’s Distillery Visitor Center
Plan to arrive early for your scheduled tour to explore the updated visitor center. It is beautiful and shares so much history.
The visitor center has one room dedicated to Jack Daniel’s memorabilia including photos, Jack’s funeral announcement, and a car that was used during the short time the distillery sold beer. Especially interesting was the iterations of the bottle. Originally sold by the barrel or jug, Jack Daniel’s incorporated the square bottle in 1895.
Process of Making Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7
• MILLING Corn, rye, and malted barley are finely ground.
• MASHING The grains are mixed with water and a little left over mash and cooked over high heat.
• FERMENTING The cooked mash ferments for 6 days, creating a liquid known as distiller’s beer.
• DISTILLING The distiller’s beer is pumped into a copper still, where the alcohol turns to steam. The steam condenses back to liquid creating 140 proof whiskey.
• MELLOWING The whiskey is mellowed by filtering through charcoal.
• BARRELING The mellowed whiskey is mixed with spring water and poured into barrels, where it matures.
Jack Daniel’s Distillery Tour
We chose the Angel’s Share Tour as it included a tour of the distillery grounds, as well as a tasting with single barrel whiskey. This tour has since been discontinued.
We began our tour within the visitor center, took a photo outside, then boarded a bus. The bus shuttled us up to a barrel house. Then throughout the tour we worked our way back to the visitor center on foot.
Barrel House
Jack Daniel’s Distillery has over 80 barrel houses, each holding 20,000+ barrels of whiskey. That is a staggering number.
Whiskey ages in the charred barrels for a number of years drawing out the amber color and unique flavor.
Two interesting facts about the barrels are:
- The barrels are handmade from American White Oak.
- Each barrel is used only once for making Jack Daniel’s whiskey, Then it is reused by other food and drink makers or crafted into something else completely.
Jack & Coke
Jack and coke is my go to drink. I was shocked to hear that until recently Coke wasn’t interested in a partnership with Jack Daniel’s.
Maybe now that canned cocktails are so popular they decided it was time to jump on board. Good move. But, they should have realized they were a winning team years ago. Whatever the reason, because of it we were able to get slushies from a Jack & Coke trailer during our tour. John got the Jack and coke, so I got the Jack and lemonade. We had to pay extra for the drinks, of course. But, it was refreshing to enjoy them on a warm summer day.
FUN FACT: In 1904, Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 took home their first gold medal for the World’s Best Whiskey at the St. Louis World’s Fair
After grabbing our drinks we were led to the rickyard. Part of the process of creating Jack Daniel’s whiskey is using charcoal as a filter. And not just any charcoal. This charcoal is made from burning pallets made from sugar maple trees. Ironically, moonshine from the stills is used to start the fires.
Grain Mill, Still House, and Mellowing Building
These buildings are working facilities and no photos were allowed inside. They house the grains, fermenting vats, and filtration tanks. I found it all fascinating. My favorite point was seeing the drip… drip… drip of the whiskey through the charcoal. It is an amazingly slow process for such a large production. This is the way they’ve always done it and they claim this charcoal filtering is part of what makes their whiskey stand out from others. So they continue the slow drop by drop process, but at a much larger scale than in the late 1800’s.
Bottling Building
We didn’t go inside, but we walked by the bottling building where workers apply labels to bottles of Jack.
Lincoln County Process
The Lincoln County Process, also known as charcoal mellowing, is the process of filtering unaged whiskey through maple charcoal to remove impurities and mellow the flavor. Nearly all the distilleries who create Tennessee whiskey use the Lincoln County Process. The general consensus is that the filtering process is what makes this alcohol not only a bourbon, but a Tennessee Whiskey.
Jack’s Office
The only original building remaining on the property is Jack Daniel’s office. Outside the building is a plaque noting that The Jack Daniel Distillery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
A notable item in the old office is Jack’s safe. Legend has it that Jack kicked the safe in frustration. Although his toe was injured he didn’t go to the doctor until it was gangrenous. His leg ended up being amputated and he later died of blood poisoning in 1911.
Jack Daniel’s Fire Brigade
Not a huge part of the tour, but certainly worth mentioning is the vintage fire equipment we walked by. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is only created at this one distillery. If a fire broke out among all that alcohol it could mean disaster for the company. To mitigate the risk they have their own fire brigade. As another precaution, the many barrel houses are spread out across the area.
Cave Spring Hollow
Good whiskey comes from good water, which Jack knew well. In 1884 he purchased property with access to pure, spring water within a limestone cliff. The layers of limestone add minerals and remove iron from the water. Every bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is made from this water.
The cave with the spring is behind the bronze statue titled Jack on the Rocks by Alan LeQuire.
Whiskey Tasting in the George Green Barrel House
Jack left home at a young age and was likely distilling whiskey by the age of 13. He came to live with Reverend Dan Call who owned a still. Much of what Jack learned about making whiskey came from an enslaved man named Nathan “Nearest” Green while living with the Call family. After the Civil War, Call sold the distillery business to Jack. Jack hired Nearest as the first head distiller. When Jack moved to Cave Spring Hollow, Nearest didn’t go with him, but his sons George and Eli did. In honor of the Green family, the oldest barrel house was renamed the George Green Barrel House.
It was within this barrel house that we enjoyed our whiskey tasting. We tried 5 different varieties, my favorite being a single barrel whiskey at 126.9 proof.
The White Rabbit Bottle Shop
At the end of the tour we exited into the gift shop. The gift shop doesn’t sell typical merch. But instead, sells bottles of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey. As the distillery is located in Moore County, which is still a dry county from the Prohibition days, this is peculiar. They get around this snafu with a clause in the law stating a distillery may sell limited commemorative products. In this case the commemorative products are bottles of alcohol.
Lynchburg Town Square
Lynchburg Hardware and General Store
Souvenirs and memorabilia are not sold at the distillery. Merch is located in the historic town square at the Lynchburg Hardware and General Store. They have all things Jack related you could want – shirts, hats, mugs, shot glasses, books, ornaments, signs, and so much more. The barrel shop has empty barrels, as well as items created from the barrels.
Moore County Courthouse
Sitting in the middle of the town square is the Moore County Courthouse and Jail. Originally constructed in 1885 of red brick, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. For treasure hunters, there is an easy to find geocache located near the entrance.
Final Thoughts
I am from the Pacific Northwest where lots of coffee, wine, and beer are produced locally. I prefer whiskey to all three of our local drinks. But, my knowledge on the craft of whiskey making is minimal. I enjoyed this tour immensely in large part because I learned so much. I was astounded to find out how meticulous the Jack Daniel’s Distillery is at creating a superb bottle every time. From making their own barrels, to creating and burning pallets to produce their desired charcoal for their drop by drop filtering process, it’s impressive that a company known world wide continues to put so much effort into their product. Also, it was refreshing to be among the employees. They all seem proud to be part of the story.
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