The Surprising Distillery Tour
A tour of Mr. Jack's distillery isn't what you'd expect
Words Sarah Maree Cameron
IT'S 8AM
WHEN I GET INTO THE CAR TO LEAVE THE CITY TRAFFIC OF NASHVILLE BEHIND.
We're heading an hour and a half south-east to Lynchburg, the birthplace of Jack Daniel's.
Tennessee is whiskey. Whiskey is Tennessee. It almost seems criminal to be in the state without paying Lynchburg a visit.
I'm immediately taken by surprise at the beauty of Mr. Jack's distillery. Lovers of lawn porn would snap up a storm before they even step inside for the tour.
You’re probably thinking ‘who’s going on a whiskey tour at 9:30am?’. The answer to that is that it's 5.30 somewhere. While my body was crying out for more caffeine, I switched out the rich darkness of coffee for the golden hues of a perfectly aged whiskey. Morning drunk hits different.
Whiskey and symmetry. Perfection.
We peruse a display of JD bottles from years gone by, (remembering the ones I’d seen in my own family home throughout the decades) the tour group was greeted by the cheeky smile and warmth of our guide, Jed. A Lynchburg local, Jed now enjoys a short commute to work after his career change; he once worked for the U.S government. At this point the entire tour group is crunching the numbers on how old Jed must be, despite looking so young. He reckons the whiskey does wonders for his skin, and who am I to question the man’s skin routine?
We knew we should have held onto our old bottles.
He states the whiskey does wonders for his skin, and who am I to question the man’s skin routine?
How's the serenity?
Youthful tour guide, Jed. Easy to see why he loves his job.
They don't make 'em like they used to, a 1927 Ford Model T delivery truck.
We hop on a bus for a tour of the grounds, which saves us from walking up the beautiful hills on the property, where a man mowing the lawn gives us a Forrest Gump-style wave. Jed promptly tells us that he is one of the full-time groundsman, and that as much as possible is done in-house. JD pride themselves on a family-oriented culture, and we go on to meet some third-generation workers.
I’ll be honest; I wasn’t expecting the warm, family-feels on this tour but they were evident from the get-go.
Sun setting over the distillery. Has there ever been a more beautiful sight?
Stepping off the bus we’re greeted by a drinks van offering whiskey slushies with either cola or lemonade. I bucked the trend and went with the latter. Slushie in-hand, we stroll towards a bonfire of hard sugar maple pallets – all up-cycled – which have been doused in raw whisky and set alight, to create the charcoal needed in the whiskey mellowing process.
Stick your nose in here for a strong whiff.
You'd hate to lose track of a barrel in here.
From here we continued to learn just how committed Jack Daniel’s are to zero waste initiatives. Turns out 99% of the materials used in the distillery are reused or recycled, from the pallets, which is pretty much everything except the whiskey. Even the grain and yeast by-product of the fermenting process is recycled to become stock feed. Tennessee cattle love the stuff.
Thanks to their Cave Spring, they save approximately 30 million litres of water by pumping water from their reverse osmosis system. Old Jack was onto something when he bought the hollow and surrounding land for US$2,148 back in the day.
Fire is another flavour they have, and not to compare it to anything that Pitbull sings about, this is probably the best cinnamon-liqueur-inspired nip that I’ve ever had.
They’re upcycling, recycling, they’re even investing in renewable natural gas. With the help of 3 Rivers Energy Partners, they break down the by-product from the whiskey distilling process, which then generates methane gases recovered as biogases. Along the process they also get liquid fertiliser, which after that has been processed, gets distributed to assist the local agriculture demand.
Good to see the workers in high spirits. Don't worry, they're not on high spirits.
So whether you're enjoying a single nip of Jack or five, you can rest assured these are good people, which makes it all the sweeter. Speaking of sweet, you don’t need to just stick with just good Old No. 7. During this hard morning’s work I got to sample quite a bit of JDs other products. Working our way from the double-mellowed Gentleman Jack, to the classic Old No. 7, the mellow flavours of Straight Rye and then onto their flavoured offerings of Honey and Apple. Fire is another flavour they have, and not to compare it to anything that Pitbull sings about, this is probably the best cinnamon-liqueur-inspired nip that I’ve ever had. Flavoursome and fun, once you taste it, you’ll begin to question why anyone has ever hyped up anything similar. Not naming any names.
Wrapped like the perfect present that Old No. 7 is.
Caption.
After getting our steps up across the property, viewing just about every section of the Jack Daniel’s creation process, including watching bottles being hand-labelled and boxed adding to the soul of the distillery, I leave with a newfound appreciation for the humble JD. Given how much goes into making a bottle, I wondered why I’d never given more credit to America’s #1 selling whiskey.
If you are fortunate enough to find yourself in the southern state of Tennessee, sure, have a few drinks along the Honky Tonk Highway. However, if I were you, I'd make that booking for a tour of Mr. Jack's distillery too, and head on down to Lynchburg, even if it is 9.30am.
get in the know Bourbon and Tennessee whiskey are almost identical. The main difference with Tennessee whiskey is that it has to go through a charcoal filtering process, which results in a smoother overall product.
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