How to Tour Whiskey // Jack Daniel’s Distillery Tour

When I think of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, I picture that iconic black and white logo. You know the one and at this point it’s taken on a life of its own. You can find it on the walls of bars and college dorm rooms, scarcely covering the upper half of every chick at a country music festival or SEC tailgate, and now even on the shelves in Home Depot. It’s been remixed to promote fraternity parties, rodeos, the state of California, and just about every single rock band or musician from Metallica to Blink 182 to Katy Perry. But mostly fraternities.

I think of how Jack Daniel’s is wide-world famous yet exclusively produced not that far from my hometown. I spent summers in both Taiwan and Italy and was never not amazed at how obsessed these two countries are with Jack (also, squat toilets and crazy cappuccino laws, respectively). I don’t know who came up with the phrase “You don’t know Jack” because… uhh, yeah we do. Everybody knows Jack. And every American worth his or her weight in Krystal burgers has a Jack-centric memory bank.

I remember drinking those new Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails at college parties and still have the shirt with the purple Downhome Punch stain on the front. (Does the fact that that shirt is now 16 years old disgust or impress you?) But my favorite is drinking Jack Daniel’s warm from the bottle with two of my best friends and the drummer for our favorite band on their tour bus after a summer show. Hilarious story, that one…

Jack Daniel’s is iconic. It’s Southern. It’s classic. And it’s a staple. (Have you ever been to a bar that didn’t have Jack? Daniel’s, that is.) None of us can remember a world before it and we’ll never know a world without it. Now, I have new Jack memories: touring their one and only distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee with one of my best friends on a rainy Thursday in January–or as we Southerners refer to it, “Whiskey Weather.”

WHERE IS LYNCHBURG, TENNESSEE?

In short, in the middle of nowhere.

In actuality, it’s a quick 1.5 hour drive from Nashville making Lynchburg and a Jack Daniel’s distillery tour the perfect day trip. You’ll leave the land of hipsters and hot chicken and enter a world where there are more cows and goats and bottles of Tennessee Whiskey than there are people. Actually, that’s a pretty great ratio. Or, a greatio, because if you’re drinking Jack while you’re reading this than that was probably really funny.

Lynchburg, Tennessee is your ideal Southern American town and was a major player in the late 1800s for, you guessed it, cotton ginning, mule trading and populating the Confederate army. It’s been home to, obviously, Jack Daniel, Davy Crockett and currently serves as the residence of a one Little Richard of Full House fame. Good golly Miss Molly, you mean he did other things? Well, wopbobalubabalabamboo.

Lynchburg’s got one traffic light, a couple of schools, a handful of shops, an ATM that I was told “may or may not be stocked,” and one serious drinking problem. And by that I’m referring to the fact that it’s located in a DRY COUNTY. You had no idea those still existed, did you? Welcome to the South–where the tea is sweet and the year is a perpetual 1940. O progress, where art thou? Every single drop of Jack Daniel’s whiskey consumed in every corner of the world is produced right here in Lynchburg, Tennessee in the biggest tease since they opened that Krispy Kreme next door to your gym.

A LIL’ BIT ABOUT JACK DANIEL’S TENNESSEE WHISKEY

The story of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey begins over 200 million years ago, so get comfortable. Not only is that the length of time it would take me, the slowest drinker in the world, to finish a bottle of Jack, it’s also about the time Cave Spring Hollow was formed. Cave Spring Hollow produces 800 gallons of consistently 56°F sediment + iron-free natural spring water from miles beneath the earth’s surface each minute–roughly the same amount of whiskey consumed in the parking lot of Neyland Stadium each fall.

This magical water is the reason there is one and only one Jack Daniel’s distillery on the entire planet. Great job, collision of the North American and African tectonic plates that resulted in the formation of limestone caves. Fast forward to the late Cenozoic era (you had no idea we’d be taking this turn, did you?) when Jack Daniel registered the United States’ very first distillery in 1866 and changed the landscape of dance clubs and TGI Fridays appetizer menus forever. He was 16. And what fresh hell were you getting into at that age, hmm? Well, Jack also only grew to 5’2″ so let’s let the little guy have this one.

Because Jack Daniel’s mellows their whiskey in charcoal of their own creation, it’s awarded the distinct right to be called Tennessee whiskey. While most people think it’s because it’s made in Tennessee or because it won’t be difficult to recruit volunteers to drink it, it’s actually the charcoal thing.

Besides making their own charcoal and oak barrels, they also make Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey according to Jack’s original recipe (and you really good at doing the robot). This recipe won him a gold medal at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri — the same event that brought us ice cream cones, hamburgers, hot dogs, peanut butter, iced tea and cotton candy. So basically… U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

What starts out as clear, 140-proof fire water takes between four and six years to become Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey — a span of time not determined by a calendar but instead by taste. The same could be said for making chili or deciding on when to get rid of the clothes you purchased at Contempo Casuals with your babysitting money. (Nope, not yet!)

FLIGHT OF JACK DANIEL’S DISTILLERY TOUR

FLIGHT OF JACK DANIEL’S TOUR

$17 | 1 hour, 30 minutes
18+ to tour | 21+ to sample
Military + Senior discounts available
Tours offered every 30 minutes
Monday–Saturday 9:30AM to 4:30PM CST
Sunday 11:00AM to 4:30PM CST
Samples: Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey | Jack Daniel’s
Gentleman Jack | Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel | Jack Daniel’s
Tennessee Honey | Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire

So I want to tell you all about the amazing Jack Daniel’s distillery tour I took but I don’t want to give away any of the secrets, the fun facts, or, more importantly, the punchlines (of which there are many). And I’m certainly not giving away any of the whiskey. I want you to experience your tour the way I did — not having a clue on Earth about how whiskey is made and being mostly fascinated by the wild turkeys and just how teeny Jack Daniel was (shoe size: 4).

At the Rickyard I want you to worry out loud the same way I did: “Umm, there’s a fire. Is no one concerned about this? Least of all the guy with the hose who’s just staring at it?” And when it comes to charcoal mellowing and your guide tells you to squat down next to the barrel and open your mouth and nose TO SMELL the 140-proof whiskey, I want you to freak out, just as I did, thinking that 140-proof whiskey was going to shoot from the pipe and into your mouth. Seriously, what kind of circus did I think they were running over there?

Isn’t life more fun when you don’t know what’s coming or which pipe it’s coming from?

I’d also like to give a shout out to our tour guide, Ben, for being the best tour guide a clueless whiskey drinker could ask for. Of all the tours I’ve taken all over the world he was, by far, the best. Unlike my Vatican tour guides, he speaks perfect English (though with a slight Southern accent that’ll make your grandmother blush) and doesn’t spit in your face when he talks. Unlike the guides in Iceland, he never answered “I don’t know” to a question that I asked. And unlike Pompeii, he didn’t leave me in both an actual maze and a terror of my own making.

Ben is entertaining, engaging, a sheer hoarder of Jack Daniel’s knowledge, and is totally OK with you making fun of him and the pictures he takes.

[I should also mention that photography is not allowed inside the buildings on the Jack Daniel’s distillery tour but I was given special permission from the ghost of Jack Daniel himself. He was all, “What’s the, I say, what’s the big idea, hon? What’re ya tryna do there? Just take some photographs for that there publication o’ yers? Well I reckon that’ll be alright–seems all fair and square to me.”       ⇡ true story]

THINGS TO KNOW

Obviously that picture pretty much covers it.

• No bags or purses allowed on the tours — a fact I wasn’t alerted to until I was in the parking lot, forcing a swift switch of items from my purse to the pockets of my rain coat (and how I ended up taking my health insurance card to lunch instead of my credit card. Imagine my embarrassment at having to ask, “Do you accept Blue Cross Blue Shield or just Visa?”).
• Most of the tour is outdoors so dress your service animal accordingly.
• Leave your guns and open containers at home – Where do you, I say, where do you think you are, son? Texas?

JACK DANIEL’S DISTILLERY TOUR VISITOR’S CENTER

Not to be confused with the brand new welcome center that opened (in the parking lot across the highway) the very day before our tour. So naturally, I got confused.

The visitor’s center is where your tour will begin and also where you can buy tour tickets (if you haven’t done so online already), learn a little bit about whiskey production so you don’t seem totally dim on the tour (a step I obviously skipped), and use the restroom. There are no restrooms anywhere on the tour. I repeat: no. restrooms. on the tour. Do yourself a favor and use the restroom whether you think you need to or not. I know I sound like a mother lecturing her five-year-old but if the fanny pack fits…

THE RICKYARD

The rickyard (I’ll admit I thought the letter ‘B’ had fallen off the sign because what is this word?) is where charcoal is made and fires run amok. If you remember, the whiskey must be “mellowed” through charcoal to be considered Tennessee whiskey and Jack Daniel’s makes their own. Everything else in the state is already mellow enough: our moonlit bonfires, our porches, our resistance to change, our lack of stringency in regards to grammar. You is smart. You is kind. You is gon’ get a whoopin’ if you don’ git yer elbas off the dinnah table!

I only wish I could watch as everyone not from the South tries to read that sentence.

In a testament to Ben’s fine tour guiding skills, I can tell you exactly how charcoal is made…

• Sugar maple from my current neck of the woods (New England) is piled high outside and in close proximity to a crapload of trees which is totally fine…
• It’s then doused with an accelerant — not kerosene, not butane… hmm, what do we have handy that we could use to start a massive yet controlled fire that doesn’t seem to worry anyone?
  Wait for it…
  Whiskey! Specifically, 140-proof “whiskey for destruction” — as if there’s any other kind.
  
• Now light that sum’bitch up!
• Twiddle your thumbs for two hours.
• Finally the guy with the hose wakes up and puts the fire out.
• Use a large piece of machinery to move the burnt tree pieces from one place to another.
• Touch the burnt tree pieces to ensure they are, indeed, now charcoal. Yup, charcoal-y.
• Wipe your hands off on your clothes even though Ben tells you not to wipe your hands off on your clothes.

Jack on the rocks

THE CAVE SPRING & JACK’S ORIGINAL OFFICE

Now that you’ve left the rickyard and walked past a couple of old-timey fire engines that only prove how seldom they actually need to use them and gives you a whole new respect for the guy with the hose, you’ll come to the Cave Spring.

It’s from this cave that the magically delicious Jack Daniel’s water comes and has for… how long, class? Right–a wicked long time. You may be asked at this point to “go ahead, step into the cave” but since you watched The Forest last night, you’ll know better than to follow a strange dude into a cave, no matter how delightful the drawl. Actually, you should know this already; SVU’s been on for 18 seasons.

In Jack Daniel’s original office, you’ll learn about the history of the Jack Daniel’s company, its business philosophies and operations, just what in the hell they did during that Prohibition nonsense, see firsthand where all the 19th and early 20th century biz went down, and see the safe that killed Jack Daniel. The real-life interpretation of a Roadrunner and Coyote bit. And why does that safe not say ACME across the front? I’ve been lead to believe my whole life that that was standard safe protocol. Who do I need to speak to about this?

GRAIN MILL, STILLS & MASH

If the Jack Daniel’s employees ever formed a cover band, that would totally be the name. Where they would play in a town without bars? Not my problem.

You’ll stroll past the grain mill and into the nearby Still House which begs the question, why isn’t this place called a Stillery? Dammit, I should’ve asked Ben. This is where your mash gets distilled (instead of stilled, for whatever reason) — or more understandably, where your stinky fermented corn goo enters the big leagues. Where that weak yellow sludge becomes clear, 140-proof whiskey. It’s also where you got contact drunk from alcohol fumes that one time and schvitzed like a hog in heat.

In the fermentation room I got to do the unspeakable. Not only did I get to peer into the million-gallon fermentation tanks (my personal estimate), I got to taste it! Yellowish-green goo alive with stinky yeast farts tastes a lot better than it sounds (and smells) and this experience was a far cry from every time my husband brews beer at home and declares, “STAY OUT! DO NOT ENTER THE KITCHEN. YOU’RE COVERED IN CAT HAIR.” He loves me so. 💕

CHARCOAL MELLOWING | BARREL MAKING | BOTTLING

Next up is a short stop inside the room where the whiskey is charcoal mellowed. Here, 140-proof whiskey is filtered drop by tedious drop through ten feet of those burnt tree pieces they call charcoal. Whiskey making is certainly not for the impatient. This is why I stick to making only Kool-Aid, coffee and people uncomfortable.

After this you’ll be shown a short video on how their American white oak whiskey barrels are made and, you should know, Jack Daniel’s is the only distillery in the world that makes their own barrels. They’re used by Jack Daniel’s just once then purchased by wine, scotch and hot sauce makers, or shipped off to the Etsy gods to be made into something dainty like votive candle holders, fruit bowls, ink pens or even wedding bands. OK, that last one sounds pretty cool.

Finally, you’ll end up in the bottling area questioning the intelligence and experience of all twenty people in the packaging assembly line like it’s their first damn day. “Umm, you’re putting those in the boxes without labels.” What would these people do without you, girl who just learned that whisky is actually spelled with an -e?

BARREL HOUSE + WHISKEY TASTING

Inside the barrel house is where the whiskey tasting and the tourist photos I’m never prepared for take place. In here you’ll sample five kinds of Jack Daniel’s whiskey: Old No.7 Tennessee Whiskey, Gentleman Jack, Single Barrel, Tennessee Fire and Tennessee Honey. Your flight will come with individual tasting cards and a pencil for note taking, a full glass of ice-water (you get me!), a lesson from Ben on the whiskey variations and a handful of cheesy beekeeping jokes from me.

WHITE RABBIT BOTTLE SHOP & JACK DANIEL’S HARDWARE STORE

Your tour will conclude in the White Rabbit Bottle Shop where you’ll pick up the pictures they took of you that you’re too embarrassed to post on your blog. For Ben, that is. I’m too embarrassed for Ben. In here you can BUY LIQUOR. You should do this, dry county and all. You can get any kind of Jack Daniel’s you like, even the elusive Green Label, and get your bottles engraved and personalized.

The Jack Daniel’s Distillery’s official gift shop is actually located a block or two away in the Lynchburg town square just past the ATM that probably doesn’t have any money in it. It’s fine though; the store takes Blue Cross Blue Shield. The Hardware Store, as it’s known, was actually that at one point–a hardware store owned by the Jack Daniel’s company to stay afloat during Prohibition. Now it’s a shop for Jack Daniel’s inspired glassware, bar supplies, T-shirts and miscellaneous other items for your Coyote Ugly uniform, and they even sell a miniature safe to add hilarious insult to devastating toe injury.

MISS MARY BOBO’S BOARDING HOUSE

You’ve made it to lunch and, trust me, it’s worth the wait. Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House Restaurant, as silly as you feel saying it, is pure and utter Southern hospitality. You’re sat with 8-10 strangers in a room of the former boarding house and everything is served family style. At the head of your table is a hostess who dines with you all while sharing the history of Lynchburg and the boarding house itself, describing the food and leading introductions around the table. “Hi. I’m Ashley. I’m visiting from Boston and I’m a travel writer.” You’ll feel like it’s 4th grade or after the first commercial break of Wheel of Fortune. Either way, for the love of God, NEXT PLEASE!

The menu changes every day and everything is made in-house. The day we visited we were served sweet tea, chicken + pastry, BBQ ribs, fried okra, black eyed peas, hash brown casserole, collard greens, cole slaw, cornbread and baked apples with a little bit of that “local product” in there if you know what I’m saying. And for desert, a massive fudge brownie with caramel and whipped cream, all of which was made fresh with that same Lynchburg sumpin’ sumpin’. Thank God I brought my health insurance card.

The food was PHENOMENAL (like, can a girl live on hash brown casserole?), the house was adorable with a fascinating history, they hire a hostess to eat lunch with you (umm, y’all hirin’?), and the servers are part of an exchange program where they work at Miss Mary Bobo’s in exchange for college tuition. I can’t stand it — don’t you just wanna pinch Lynchburg by its cheeks! There was even a gosh darn dinner bell if you can believe it.

This video explains it all.

WHY TAKE A JACK DANIEL’S DISTILLERY TOUR?

The main attraction for me, besides the whiskey and fried okra, is knowing that every single ounce of Jack Daniel’s whiskey is produced right here, in this one-stop light-town in Tennessee. Despite the fact that Jack Daniel’s is a HUGE worldwide brand and #1 of its kind, this town is still so humble, so Southern, so hospitable and so freaking adorable. They have a jail museum. And an old-timey fillin’ station. And for cryin’ out loud they don’t even know if the town’s ATM has money in it!

My Jack Daniel’s distillery tour was one of the most interesting learning experiences I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy and it’s obvious that no one takes more pride in their work than Jack’s employees who probably aren’t drunk at all.

MORE INFO

Heading to Tennessee? Find great places to stay in Lynchburg or nearby Nashville.
But where do I personally recommend? The Opryland Resort (Go big or go home, right?)
What camera did I use for this post? My Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II with 12-40mm lens
What other facilities have I toured? Check out these posts.
Want more whiskey? Check out the rest of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail.
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