13 April ‘09 Monday
We’ve been here (in the Hohenwald area) for over a week already. It’s been long enough for us to fill the gas tank of our car 3 times and only have half a tank left now, we’ve been on the road. One of our destinations was a drive to Lynchburg so that we could visit the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Ole Jack, at the age of 13, was gave the distillery by an adult friend. His friend was a local pastor and a distiller in a dry county of Tennessee. His congregation gave him a choice…the distillery or them. He chose the congregation and Jack got the distillery. In 1866 Jack was able to license the distillery and become the first “licensed distillery” in the state of Tennessee. After finding that he (Jack) didn’t have a feel for numbers, he decided to bring his cousin Lem Motlow into the business. Lem had a head for numbers and soon was doing all the distillery’s bookkeeping. In 1907, due to Jacks failing health, he took over the day to day running of the “Jack Daniel’s Distillery”.
We’ve been here (in the Hohenwald area) for over a week already. It’s been long enough for us to fill the gas tank of our car 3 times and only have half a tank left now, we’ve been on the road. One of our destinations was a drive to Lynchburg so that we could visit the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Ole Jack, at the age of 13, was gave the distillery by an adult friend. His friend was a local pastor and a distiller in a dry county of Tennessee. His congregation gave him a choice…the distillery or them. He chose the congregation and Jack got the distillery. In 1866 Jack was able to license the distillery and become the first “licensed distillery” in the state of Tennessee. After finding that he (Jack) didn’t have a feel for numbers, he decided to bring his cousin Lem Motlow into the business. Lem had a head for numbers and soon was doing all the distillery’s bookkeeping. In 1907, due to Jacks failing health, he took over the day to day running of the “Jack Daniel’s Distillery”.
In 1947, Lem gave the business to his children following his death. Jack Daniels died in 1911 from blood poisoning that resulted from an infection that allegedly began from an injury resulting from kicking the office safe… It’s an interesting life and story that developed a great whisky that is still one of the favorites around the world today. Jack did change the location of the original still when he found the underground spring that is used for today’s water source. This spring flows out of a cave and is “totally pure” all the way into the distillery.
It was a great find… the tour we took started at the site where they stack and burn Sugar Maple 2”x2”x4’ stakes to make the charcoal that will be used to filter the pure “moonshine”.
Climbing the stairs to the first part of the distillery, we arrived at the “Number 4, 5, 6, and 7” pots.
From these pots come the pure 140 plus moonshine that will be transferred to the large charcoal vats. Our guide did lift the top of one of these vats to waif the amazing aroma to our ready nose…what a great smell. Our next stop was at one of the 17 huge warehouses. It was interesting to learn that the higher up in the warehouse the deeper color of the whiskey and the more mellow the taste.
Now it’s time to hit the “tasting” room. The only problem is this county is a “DRY COUNTY”… We were offered lemonade !!! All kidding aside, we really did enjoy this tour and highly recommend it to all that come close to Lynchburg, Tennessee. Besides, Lynchburg is a wonderful town to walk around in and mix with the great people of this community.
They have some fine restaurants, a great museum dedicated to the Tennessee Walking Horse, and lots of stores waiting to honor your visit. Louise and I didn’t know much about the Tennessee Walking Horse but after a short video and a tour through the museum we found ourselves looking forward to seeing and learning more of them.