For more than 150 years, Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee whiskey has been one of the
world's best-selling whiskies. The brand has carved out a special place in the hearts of
whiskey lovers while capturing a serious chunk of market, and here's what you might not know
about it.
The history of what is arguably America's most iconic brand of whiskey began with its
creator, Jack Daniel. According to The New York Times, Daniel was still a boy when he
went to work for whiskey-distilling preacher Dan Call in the 1850s. Call taught young Daniel
everything he knew.
Or, at least that had been the official history until new information came to light that painted
a very different picture. As the Times reported, in 2016 — the 150th anniversary of the Jack
Daniel's brand — the company revealed it wasn't Call who taught Daniel how to distill
whiskey, but Nearis Green, one of Call's slaves. It's also worth noting that the official Jack
Daniel's site offers a slight variation, identifying him as Nathan "Nearest" Green. While that
fact wasn't necessarily kept secret, it had only been in recent years that the distillery
began to open up about Green's key role in the distillery's early days.
"When we'd known, and understood, the weight of this story, all I can offer is anything
we can do to continue to honor the name of Nearest, we will do."
According to the company's website, after buying the distillery from Call, Daniel hired
Green to serve as his head distiller, which would be known today as the Master Distiller.
According to the company's media site, Jack Daniel's was registered in 1866 and boasts
the distinction of being the first distillery to be registered in the U.S. and is officially
designated with the National Register of Historic Places.
But is it actually America's oldest distillery? A 2011 report in the Wall Street Journal noted
there's no actual way to prove it, and pointed to some adjustments that Jack Daniel's was
making to its iconic label to address some issues related to the company's age. As Journal
reporter Barry Newman explained, a Jack Daniel's historian revealed that the only proof of
that 1866 date is
"One old photograph showing 'Est. 1866' scrawled in runny paint."
...on the wall of Jack Daniel's office, which had since been "painted over."
The new label, noted Newman, maintained the distillery's claim of being established in
1866; however, there is no other evidence to verify that the company's registration
is indeed America's oldest.
Each bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey is the result of a meticulous, painstaking
process, right down to the quality of the water that's used in the distillation. In
fact, notes the distillery's website, the water used in Jack Daniel's all comes from
the same source, Cave Spring Hollow in Lynchburg. Jack Daniel purchased the spring and surrounding
land for the then-hefty price of $2,148 after realizing the spring water would be a crucial
component in his whiskey.
According to the website, this natural spring is refreshed with 800 gallons of water per
minute, flowing from miles beneath the surface of the Earth, at a constant temperature of
56 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Jack Daniel's Distillery not only makes whiskey, the company also produces its own
barrels in which the whiskey is aged. As the distillery pointed out on its website, the
whiskey draws its famous "rich amber color and much of its distinctive flavor" from the
wooden barrels.
Leaving nothing to chance, the custom-made barrels are crafted from American white oak.
You won't find any glue or nails; instead, the barrels are held together by the pressure
created by precisely arranging 33 wood staves, of varying sizes. Because this is such a painstaking
and exacting process, each barrel is made by hand, not on an assembly line. The inside
of the barrels are then hit with flames until they're charred. This is necessary to extract
the natural sugar from the wood so it can become caramelized, as that sugar is integral
in providing the whiskey's distinctive flavor.
Jack Daniel's does not reuse its barrels. After a single use, they're then sold to hot
sauce makers, beer brewers, and Scotch whisky distillers, to be used in making their products.
As the company website states,
"We like to think we've done our part to help make these products just a little better."
Making its own hand-crafted, single-use barrels isn't the only thing that sets Jack Daniel's
apart from other distilleries. In fact, the Lynchburg distillery is also famed for having
its own dedicated fire department. As it turns out, there's a very practical reason for that.
As USA Today reported, a storage facility hosting thousands of barrels of alcohol is
a pretty severe fire hazard, meaning great care must be taken to ensure the distillery
and its contents don't erupt in flames. It's happened before — Jim Beam has suffered
a massive fire in 2019.
It's a particularly huge deal for Jack Daniel's. Master Distiller Jeff Arnett says:
"Every drop [of Jack Daniel's] is made here."
As Arnett explained, if the place were to burn down, the company has no second distillery,
and would suddenly have no product… and that would be a huge problem.
With that in mind Jack Daniel's has developed their own fire prevention system, including
its own private fire department with a team of 34 volunteer firefighters. In addition,
the company has invested more than $4 million into equipment such as custom-built fire trucks,
foam cannons, and a $400,000 training facility in which firefighters can practice extinguishing
both simulated and actual whiskey fires.
One of the enduring results of Prohibition was the establishment of so-called "dry counties"
in some states, in which the purchase of alcohol is illegal. While most of America re-legalized
booze after Prohibition was repealed in the 21st Amendment, some areas of the country
stayed dry, and remain so today.
Therefore it's beyond ironic that Jack Daniel's, one of the world's largest distillers, is
located in Lynchburg, Tennessee, situated in a dry county. According to the local Moore
County News, in order for a Tennessee county to be allowed to sell "intoxicating liquor,"
a referendum vote must be held. Lynchburg, however, never did put that to a vote, and
is still dry.
The only exception to that law is the White Rabbit Bottle Shop located within the Jack
Daniel's distillery's visitor's center, where those touring the facility can purchase a
"commemorative" bottle as a keepsake of their visit.
"Whiskey… and one for Ahab there."
When it comes to knowledge of Jack Daniel's, there's likely nobody on the planet more knowledgeable
than Master Distiller Jeff Arnett. Arnett — who's only the seventh Master Distiller
the company has had since its founding — spoke with Thrillist about what goes into the whiskey's
distinctive flavor.
A big part of the process is charcoal mellowing, in which the whiskey is filtered through special
"handcrafted" charcoal, typically taking about three to five days for the whiskey to work
its way through the charcoal. Why do this? Arnett says:
"It actually brings out the sweetness in the corn."
It's so important that the process has been nicknamed "the extra blessing," and as Arnett
pointed out, the charcoal mellowing achieves in days what would take additional years of
aging within a charred barrel.
However, Arnett was adamant that barrel-aging is still the most crucial aspect of the whiskey-making
process, explaining,
"There's no other one thing, in terms of flavor and color, that's as important as the barrel."
Anyone familiar with Jack Daniel's whiskey will immediately recognize the words Old No.
7 on the brand's iconic label. While Old No. 7 identifies the distillery's most popular
whiskey, what it actually refers to is actually unknown. In fact, even Jeff Arnett has admitted
that he has no idea what it means.
There has been much speculation over the years about the significance of the number seven,
whether it was referring to a particular recipe, a lucky number, or even the number of girlfriends
of distillery founder Jack Daniel. However, there has been no definitive proof that any
of those theories have any validity. Arnett told Business Insider,
"There's a lot of I guess mystery and myth that has formed around it whether it was a
lucky number or whether it was a recipe number. At the end of the day, the truth is we don't
know. Jack named the brand and it was a secret that he took to his grave."
While Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee whiskey remains the brand's biggest seller, in recent
years there have been other varieties introduced under the Jack Daniel's brand. Among these
is Tennessee Rye, which has a higher percentage of rye, 70 percent, than Old No. 7, described
as being "undeniably spicy and complex yet sippin' smooth." Then there's the Single Barrel
Collection, which includes Single Barrel Select and Single Barrel Rye, Single Barrel Barrel
Strength and Single Barrel 100 Proof.
Also available is Gentleman Jack, which has undergone a second run through the charcoal
mellowing process to result in an even smoother whiskey and what they describe as a "balanced
oak flavor with notes of caramel and vanilla." Meanwhile, fans of legendary singer-actor
Frank Sinatra will want to sample Sinatra Select, aged in specially constructed "Sinatra
Barrels," with deep grooves carved into the barrel's staves in order to increase the whiskey's
exposure to the charred white oak.
There are also a pair of flavored whiskeys: Tennessee Fire blends cinnamon liqueur with
Old No. 7 to result in what's said to be "a classic spirit with a surprisingly smooth
finish," while Tennessee Honey is described as "a unique honey liqueur of our own making"
that "offers a taste of the unexpected."
Jack Daniel's has had a long association with music as a sponsor of musical performances
and specific bands, and that's something that goes all the way back to the distillery's
founder. According to the company's website, after Jack Daniel set up his distillery in
Lynchburg, Tennessee, he bought some mail-order musical instruments that he gave to some of
the more musically inclined members of the community.
In an interview with Thrillist, Jeff Arnett offered his insight into the distillery founder's
affinity for music, saying:
"Jack Daniel never married and never had kids. He had two passions: whiskey and music."
According to Arnett, Daniel started his own group, the Silver Cornet Band, and would perform
in Lynchburg's town square. Of course, there was also a smart business strategy behind
the music, given that Daniel owned two bars in that square and the music produced lured
thirsty revelers into his drinking establishments.
Frank Sinatra was not averse to enjoying an adult beverage, and his drink of choice was
Jack Daniel's. As Jeff Arnett recalls:
"It was not that uncommon for Frank back in the mid-50s to hold up a glass of Jack Daniel's
on stage, and say that 'This is Jack Daniel's, and it's the nectar of the gods.'"
In fact, Arnett credits Sinatra's loyalty to the whiskey for transforming Jack Daniel's from
"A small, regional brand to being a household name."
In fact, the company was so thankful for Sinatra's patronage that a Jack Daniel's sales rep ensured
there was always a case delivered to Sinatra's dressing room wherever he was performing.
Sinatra's affection for Jack Daniel's managed to outlive him. According to Smithsonian Magazine,
he was buried with "a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey, a pack of Camel cigarettes, a Zippo
lighter, and a dollar's worth of dimes." Why the dimes? Just in case he had an opportunity
to use a payphone in the afterlife.
One of the most distinctive aspects of the Jack Daniel's distillery tour is that visitors
to the Lynchburg, Tennessee landmark learn about the bizarre circumstances behind the
death of founder Jack Daniel. They'll also get to a personal glimpse of his killer: a
large metal safe.
The story goes that Daniel arrived in his office early one morning before anyone else
had arrived. Needing something that was stashed in the safe, Daniel became so frustrated when
he couldn't remember the combination that he gave the safe a good, solid kick — something
that worked out better for the safe than the toe he injured in his angry outburst.
That injury led to an infection that spread from his toe to his foot, which had to be
amputated when it became gangrenous. Unfortunately, the infection spread even further, necessitating
the amputation of his entire leg. Daniel ultimately died at age 61 on October 8, 1911, from complications
from the infection that began in his toe. According to Business Insider, tour guides
have been known to tell distillery visitors that Daniel could have warded off infection
and prevented his death if he had simply dipped his toe in a glass of his own whiskey, although
we'd recommend you just stick to drinking it.
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