What a place.

550, 000 bottles per day

That had the factory on tv, explained the whole process. It was very interesting, the difference between plain whiskey and bourbon is charing the inside of the barrels. If I’m wrong, someone will correct me.

I doubt if they're still doing it, but Austin Nichols (Wild Turkey) in Lawrenceburg, KY used to conduct tours. During the tour they would allow people to sample their bourbon from every year from when it was green until it had aged 8 years in order to taste how the aging process mellowed it. 8 little shots of Bourbon in a one hour tour.

A friend took the tour and showed up at my place afterwards with a significance buzz.

The DUI laws are a lot stricter now than they were then. So I doubt if they include that element in their current tours.

Well ok

Thanks the pics

I will upload some pics this evening but there were several places that pictures were not allowed to protect proprietary secrets and customer safety

The difference was that it is charcoal mellowed by dripping through a vat of sugar maple charcoal.

The vats are ten feet tall and it takes 4 days for the whiskey to go through it.

Jack tastes exactly like charcoal. No thanks.

Bourbon is so much better.

Strange.....Bourbon is aged no differently then Jack Daniels

I’d like to check it out sometime, as well as bourbon county

According to the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau), these are the only requirements for the production of “authentic” bourbon: that it’s produced in the United States, made with a minimum 51% corn content, distilled to no higher than 160 proof, and barreled at no higher than 62.5% ABV in charred, new oak containers.

Jack Daniels is Tennessee Whiskey which by law has to be made in Tennessee and has to be filtered by the Lincoln County Process (the charcoal vats). Most Tennessee Whiskey meets the requirements to be called Bourbon also, but they're usually not labeled as Bourbon.

Did the tour guide explain that the ATF said the distillery can't make charcoal by burning maple trees, but the distillery just keeps on making charcoal this way.

It has worked for a long time and they aren't about change a thing.

The distillery is in a "dry" county. The guide told us that the workers got a pint (maybe it was a 1/2 pint) with their paycheck on Friday. You only missed payday if you were on vacation, or deathly sick.

They get a fifth the first Friday of the month and an additional 5th on Good Friday.

The charcoal has to be burned under a catalytic scrubber.....its now in use.

Our tour guide mentioned that they pay $13 per gallon in tax and pay just over $500,000,000 in tax per year

That’s fugking depressing.

I've been a Tennessee Squire since early 1982, when my FIL nominated me for it. I've been to the 'hollow' a couple of times and even asked to see my 'plot' of land. (As a Squire you are deeded an undivided 1" square plot of land on a hill in the hollow so that you are a true landed Squire.) If you're a Squire you can ask for a special tour given by a historian when you visit.

As part of the 'Shtick', they'd send out letters supposedly written by Squires about their experiences in the Hollow. In the mid 80's I wrote and asked if they'd mind if I started a Christmas Tree grove on my land to raise money for the local charities (just in fun). Next thing I know they had a whole thing going about the tree farm in a couple of letter mailings saying that some other Squires had shown interest in expanding the tree farm past just my 'plot'.

They'd also send out calendars every year with nice pictures of the people who live and work there. They use to send out some nice things from time to time like a set of 6 whiskey glasses I got back then with Tennessee Squire and a Jack Daniels logo on one side and one of 3 different Tennessee Toasts on the back:

"May you ride an easy-walking horse,
Sleep 'neath a rain-tight roof,
And eat high on the hog,
Every day of the year."

"May you always have,
Red-eye gravy with your ham,
Hushpuppies with your catfish,
And the good sense not,
To argue with your wife."

"May your sons be brave,
Your daughters marriageable,
Your wire loving,
And your kinfolks rich."

It was fun contributing to their news letter and writing letters to them back then, especially as my roots are in the South; my mother was from Ellisville, Ms and my uncle lives in Trenton, Tn.

All in all it's a fun way to keep in touch.

We drink a lot of Jack, I never thought it tastes like charcoal. I like it with water, wifey likes it with Coke.

Don’t they sell the used barrels to people that make Scotch, no trees to make barrels in the old country I think???

They sell 100% of the used barrels to other whiskey, bourbon and scotch distillers or anyone who wants to buy one for that matter.

Jack Daniels make their own barrels and only uses brand new barrels to age their whisky.

You try Jack, you never go back!!

Awesome!

Stacks of Sugar Maple ready to burn into char coal....
This is done three days a week



This is the EPA contraption they burn under

We had a very good line up of great whiskey to taste

This is the cave spring. All the water comes from here.



Some random old fart enjoying the trip and a day off from work.



A bronze statue of Jack Daniels in front of the cave spring mouth.

This is the oldest barrel house on the property and the location of the tasting rooms



This is one of 81 barrel houses that are for aging the whiskey.
Each one hold over 50,000 barrels



Distillery house #1
There are several of these on the propery

^ ^ ^

Replace with...

"I've been a Packer fan since..."

Didn't know they made 5 different products - what are the names, and differences - if you will.

Very cool!

Those were just the five we tasted

I couldn't tell you how many varieties they sell but its way more then five.

The ones we tested were all top shelf and very good

I really like the regular Single Barrel on the rocks.



Never been able to try the others.

The #27 and the Sinatra were both $100-is a fifth

Slightly more than the Old Granddad I like.....wowsa!

Not bourbon.

New barrels only.

I need to visit.

Cool story, thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing, I really should visit someday.

I typically drink mine with ice, which turns into water if I sip too slowly.

I have enjoyed Original, Gentleman and single barrel.

Make no mistake, the consumer pays this tax.

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

What do they do with all the waste mash? Do they convert it to animal feed?

George Dickel No. 12 is better Tennessee Whisky imo.

Doesn’t bourbon have to come from Kentucky? Like champagne has to come from France?

IIRC bourbon has a French history. That’ll bum out the haters.

They re-use a portion of the mash into each new batch of mash but the rest is sold to feed stock.

The charcoal melowing vats last six months...after that they are emptied and the used up coals are sold to Kingsford and then compressed into bouquets and sold under the Kingsford/JD name

Of course we do....all business pass along the manufacturing cpst to the end consumer.....tax is a cost

The finished product for the end consumer is 67% tax for JD #7

If it's made in a state other than Kentucky, it can't be called "Kentucky Bourbon"...

Legal requirements we've had for awhile.

They excluded the French version from being called bourbon...

Bourbon Requirements



http://bourbonbuzz.com/bourbon-requirements/

My wife and I stopped by there last summer on our way back from Stone Mountain. Neat place, but I didn't think it was worth the price of admission to take a tour, and I don't drink, so didn't care to taste it. They also had a no firearms allowed policy, so I did a quick look around, and left.

It is common for a workplace to ask you to leave your firearm outside.

I have the same policy in my factory

Can I ask your reasoning for that?

Modern reality...... it's insurance driven

But in actuality non-employees arent allowed and this is also insurance driven

I don't advertise the fact that I carry, and I carry in a lot of places that I'm not supposed to......but they are places where I have a need to be, hospital, school, some stores. If a business is adamant about no firearms allowed, then I don't go there. Same way with states that don't honor my CC permit, I don't travel there.

My wife is a nurse in a lock down unit "Behavioral Health" not even LEO are allowed inside with a firearm. I would hope if you ever viseted a place like that you would leave it outside.

Old Granddad 100 proof. That was my choice, too!

I enjoyed the pictures and education. As a Scotch drinker (and almost none now), I thank JD and other distillers for selling off barrels to the Scots.

School?! JFC.....you get caught carrying in a school they'd [bleep] crucify you.

I carry when I'm in the chinese buffet.

Never know what's going to happen when nem krab laags come out

Didn’t take the tour either....walked around the little town, ate some ice cream, called it a day.

I see none of the resident whiskey snobs have participated in this thread.

Obviously they belong to a union.

Don't you know it !!!

LMAO... You're right..

I grew up close to Lynchburg. In the 1950s the emptied barrels were not designer furniture and otherwise highly desired items. When a run of barrels was bottled the freshly-emptied barrels were either sold cheap or given away if you knew someone who worked there and didn't get greedy. My dad got one for a dog house. All he did was saw out a door for a medium-sized dog in one end of it, lay it on its side, and block it to keep it from rolling. The smell was strong in the beginning but Spot didn't seem to mind. Even after a dog had lived in it for a couple of years, you could faintly smell the whiskey on a hot day.

They also used to sell the used mash to cattle farmers. The farmers would have a metal trough close to the road so they could get their tank truck close enough to dump the mash in it. it is a good memory to be riding a back road, smell mash, and see a bunch of cows lapping it up. Bet that was some good beef.

My wife visited the Makers Mark distillery--
Very interesting tour--
When in the tasting room, i found a brand that I liked. Was gonna buy some for my son and I.
t the gift shop. I was very disapointed when the one I liked was not available for sale.
I asked why it was not and was told-- it was all in shipping.
BTW, there was a lot of the two brands they wanted to sell!

Bullspit!

Left empty handed and went elsewhere

Will never buy from them-- told them so too.
There were a lot of folks disapointed in that sales shop.

In the early 70's you could buy a just opened/drained barrel for $7. Put 4 gallons of distilled water in the barrel, leave it in a hot garage and shake it every few days. In a few weeks you had 4 gallons of 60 or so proof whiskey. Great if you like it over ice. Only got to do it twice, before moving out of town. Those were the good old days.