Bill's Aviation Log

Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" Tennessee whiskey Old No. 7 sold 12.9 million nine-liter cases in 2017. Other brand variations, such as Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Apple, Gentleman Jack, Tennessee Fire, and ready to drink (RTD) products brought the total to more than 16.1 million equivalent adjusted cases for the entire Jack Daniel's family of brands. That's a lot of Jack!

Here my road-trip partner Don stands next to the great man.

Jasper Daniels was born around 1850, and learned the distilling trade as an apprentice when he was a young man. In 1875, on receiving an inheritance from his father's estate (following a long dispute with his siblings), Daniel founded a legally registered distilling business. In 1884, Daniel purchased the hollow and land where the distillery is now located. By the 1880s, Jack Daniel's was one of 15 distilleries operating in Moore County, and the second-most productive. He began using square-shaped bottles, intended to convey a sense of fairness and integrity, in 1897.

Jack Daniel's had a surge in popularity after the whiskey received the gold medal for the finest whiskey at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

Jack Daniel never married and did not have any known children. He took his nephews under his wing – one of whom was Lemuel "Lem" Motlow (1869–1947). Lem was skilled with numbers and soon took responsibility for the distillery's bookkeeping. In failing health, Jack Daniel gave the distillery to Lem Motlow and another nephew in 1907. Motlow soon bought out his partner, and went on to operate the distillery for about 40 years. Daniel died in 1911 from blood poisoning, some say from kicking a safe in anger.

Tennessee passed a statewide prohibition law in 1910, effectively barring the legal distillation of Jack Daniel's within the state. Motlow challenged the law in a test case that eventually worked its way to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court upheld the law as constitutional. National prohibition followed passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920.

While the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933 repealed prohibition at the federal level, state prohibition laws (including Tennessee's) remained in effect, thus preventing the Lynchburg distillery from reopening. Motlow, who had become a Tennessee state senator, led efforts to repeal these laws, which allowed production to restart in 1938, after a hiatus of 28 years.

The Jack Daniel's distillery ceased operations from 1942 to 1946 when the U.S. government banned the manufacture of whiskey due to World War II. Motlow resumed production of Jack Daniel's in 1947 after good-quality corn was again available. Motlow died the same year, bequeathing the distillery to his five children upon his death.

The company was sold to the Brown–Forman Corporation in 1956.

The distillery continues to operate in Lynchburg, Tennesee which is a tiny town with a population of a little over 6,000.

The tour started in Jack's Office, the oldest building in the hollow, and Mr. Jack's original office.

Left to right: #27 "Gold", Sinatra Select (the Chairman of the Board liked his Jack; he was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel's in 1998), Single Barrel Select, Single Barrel Barrel Proof, Single Barrel Rye.

April 5, 2017 - The Road to Alamogordo Jack Daniels Distillery
Our first scenic stop was the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Is there a person in the USA who isn't aware of Jack Daniel's whiskey? Here I am standing next to the man, the myth, the legend himself: Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel. .

Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" Tennessee whiskey Old No. 7 sold 12.9 million nine-liter cases in 2017. Other brand variations, such as Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Apple, Gentleman Jack, Tennessee Fire, and ready to drink (RTD) products brought the total to more than 16.1 million equivalent adjusted cases for the entire Jack Daniel's family of brands. That's a lot of Jack! Here my road-trip partner Don stands next to the great man.

We had some time before the tour started to check out the Jack Daniel's museum.

Jasper Daniels was born around 1850, and learned the distilling trade as an apprentice when he was a young man. In 1875, on receiving an inheritance from his father's estate (following a long dispute with his siblings), Daniel founded a legally registered distilling business. In 1884, Daniel purchased the hollow and land where the distillery is now located. By the 1880s, Jack Daniel's was one of 15 distilleries operating in Moore County, and the second-most productive. He began using square-shaped bottles, intended to convey a sense of fairness and integrity, in 1897. Jack Daniel's had a surge in popularity after the whiskey received the gold medal for the finest whiskey at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Jack Daniel never married and did not have any known children. He took his nephews under his wing – one of whom was Lemuel "Lem" Motlow (1869–1947). Lem was skilled with numbers and soon took responsibility for the distillery's bookkeeping. In failing health, Jack Daniel gave the distillery to Lem Motlow and another nephew in 1907. Motlow soon bought out his partner, and went on to operate the distillery for about 40 years. Daniel died in 1911 from blood poisoning, some say from kicking a safe in anger. Tennessee passed a statewide prohibition law in 1910, effectively barring the legal distillation of Jack Daniel's within the state. Motlow challenged the law in a test case that eventually worked its way to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court upheld the law as constitutional. National prohibition followed passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920. While the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933 repealed prohibition at the federal level, state prohibition laws (including Tennessee's) remained in effect, thus preventing the Lynchburg distillery from reopening. Motlow, who had become a Tennessee state senator, led efforts to repeal these laws, which allowed production to restart in 1938, after a hiatus of 28 years. The Jack Daniel's distillery ceased operations from 1942 to 1946 when the U.S. government banned the manufacture of whiskey due to World War II. Motlow resumed production of Jack Daniel's in 1947 after good-quality corn was again available. Motlow died the same year, bequeathing the distillery to his five children upon his death. The company was sold to the Brown–Forman Corporation in 1956. The distillery continues to operate in Lynchburg, Tennesee which is a tiny town with a population of a little over 6,000. The tour started in Jack's Office, the oldest building in the hollow, and Mr. Jack's original office.

Then we headed over to the Rick Yard. This is where they make their own charcoal, burning stacks of hard sugar maple wood.

The Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg is situated in and around a hollow known as "Stillhouse Hollow" or "Jack Daniel's Hollow", where a spring flows from a cave at the base of a limestone cliff (pictured here). The limestone removes iron from the water, making it ideal for distilling whiskey (water heavy in iron gives whiskey a bad taste). That's our tour guide on the right. She was excellent. Really knew her stuff and delivered the information in a funny way.

Next we headed over to the Still House. I took no pictures for some reason. But it was the usual distillery stuff: separation and cleaning of the finest of grains, grinding the grain, a mash and yeast tubs where the cave water and mixed grain is added, the fermenter, the still tower coils, the charcoal mellowing vats, and finally barreling. The mash for Jack Daniel's is composed of 80% corn, 12% rye, and 8% malted barley, and is distilled in copper stills. It is then filtered through 10-foot stacks of sugar maple charcoal. The company refers to this filtering step as "mellowing". This extra step, known as the Lincoln County Process, removes impurities and the taste of corn. The company says this extra step makes the product different from bourbon. A distinctive aspect of the filtering process is that the Jack Daniel's brand grinds its charcoal before using it for filtering. After the filtering, the whiskey is stored in newly handcrafted oak barrels, which they make themselves, and which gives the whiskey its color and most of its flavor.

It goes without saying that of course we signed up for the "premium" sampling tour.

Left to right: #27 "Gold", Sinatra Select (the Chairman of the Board liked his Jack; he was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel's in 1998), Single Barrel Select, Single Barrel Barrel Proof, Single Barrel Rye.

One night Don conned me into having dinner at Chez Guevara -- a play on the Marxist thug Che Guevara. Guevara played a pivotal role in the two-year guerrilla campaign that deposed Cuba's Batista regime and allowed Castro to become dictator in early 1959 and turn Cuba into a basket case which continues to this day. Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to foment continental revolutions across both Africa and South America, first unsuccessfully in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia, where he was captured by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and summarily executed. The food was mediocre.

More to my liking was breakfast at a Waffle House!


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April 5, 2017 - The Road to Alamogordo Jack Daniels Distillery

April 5, 2017 - The Road to Alamogordo
Jack Daniels Distillery