JACK DANIEL'S DISTILLERY

On April 28, 2008 Greg arrived in Lynchburg, Tennessee for a tour of America's most famous whiskey distillery. Marlene and Randall ensured that no detail was overlooked in a thorough, 7+ hour day in Lynchburg. Jack Daniel's Black Label, Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack and Jack Daniel's Single Barrel are all regularly shipped from this distillery throughout the United States. Certain productions are available only in Tennessee or select international markets. This tour was one of the longest and most informative tours we've taken. Note that a number of areas of the distillery are off limits to photography. 

And now, the tour...

American whiskey begins with a mash composed of corn, malted barley and/or rye. The picture above left was taken in the historic office building at the distillery. The mash for Jack Daniel's is composed of about 70% corn with the remainder being malted barley and rye. During the mashing process at Jack Daniel's, malted barley, corn and rye are combined with water sourced from the cave springs behind the statue of Jack (above right).

The mash is allowed to ferment in giant fermenting tanks (above left). Once the yeast has produced a low strength alcohol product the mash is sent to the stills. Some of the yeast are taken from each batch to be incorporated in the next batch thus ensuring continuity. In the above right picture notice the clear, high proof liquor coming off the still. The current generation of distillery workers at Jack Daniel's incorporate state of the art technology in their time honored process (above middle). Even with complex technology to guide their work, many workers at the distillery take time to taste test batches of their product.

In the above left picture notice the charcoal and pipes. After being distilled, the unfinished product is brought by pipe to be mellowed using maple charcoal. The whiskey is clear at this point and is filtered through ten feet of charcoal, stripping it of impurities. Just prior to bottling, Jack Daniel's Gentleman Jack is filtered through an additional two feet of charcoal. Of course, this second filtration takes place after undergoing the aging process. The charcoal is produced on site at the Lynchburg distillery. Enlarge the above right picture and look closely for the glowing embers.

In the photo of the Rickyard, notice how the maple is cut and stacked. This ensures that the wood dries properly before being burned to produce the Distillery's famous charcoal. This is also the area where tour photos are customarily taken.

Notice the staves (staves are the individual parts of a barrel) resting on the barrel in the photo above. Look closely to see just how far the spirit contracts into the wood of a barrel. Jack Daniel's is the only distillery in the United States to own the cooperage where approximately 8,000 white oak barrels per week are produced! The typical barrel will be toasted to the point of having an "Alligator" char, which caramelizes the sugars in the wood and allows the whiskey to pick up color and flavor nuances from the barrel. There is a shop in Lynchburg that sells barrel made products, such as tables.

After being placed in barrels the spirit rests in one of about 78 barrel houses until a select group feel it is ready for bottling. Enlarge this picture to notice the earthworks around the individual barrel houses. Each barrel house is surrounded by what amounts to a dry moat. This is designed to protect the individual buildings from fire should an adjacent building catch fire. Photography inside barrel houses is prohibited at almost every distillery because of the volatile nature of the buildings. (To take a look at the typical layout of a barrel house please refer to our Buffalo Trace Distillery Tour Page.) A 1996 fire devastated the Heaven Hill Distillery in Kentucky, prompting distilleries to review their strategies for preventing fire damage. Newer barrel houses are equipped with sprinkler systems, which require minimal heating in the winter time to keep them from freezing. Heating the barrel houses for such a purpose is new to the industry. On the standard tour at Jack Daniel's a visitor will see the historic fire trucks. Most visitors do not get to see Jack Daniel's very modern fire department that any city of 40,000 would be envious of!

The Jack Daniel's Old No. 7, Gentleman Jack or Single Barrel are ready to be bottled only after review by a select group of tasters at the Distillery, which includes the current and former Master Distillers. There is no set amount of time to age a barrel of whiskey at Jack Daniel's! Barrels will stay in the barrel houses until the distillers and others agree that it is ready to be bottled. In the picture above the bottling line is in operation. Notice the bottles of Single Barrel being filled below the tanks in the top middle area of the picture (just below the clipboards to the right of the worker in blue). The main bottling line is not allowed to be photographed and is not featured on the standard tour.

A link to Jack Daniel's website will be added as soon as it is approved by Louisville based Brown-Forman, owner of Jack Daniel's Distillery. In the mean time please search for Jack Daniel's and start planning your own visit to Lynchburg!

As always, should you have any questions or comments please use the form on our Contact & Hours Page.

Last updated August 22, 2008.