Day 174 - Jack Daniel Distillery Tour

We checked out of the motel and drove the short trip to the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. The first thing that surprised us both was how busy the car park was here; the town is only a small one but the distillery has a large car park and it was almost full.

We picked up our tour number and only had to wait about 15 minutes before we were on our way around the place. We were both impressed with how much they have stuck with their old traditions without being left in the past. Lots of care and attention goes in to all the processes here with the company even having their own oak barrels made for single use as well as them making their own charcoal especially for the mellowing process that makes the JD whiskey unique. The tour lasted about an hour and a half and was really good and informative. There was a part of it where we were allowed to have a smell from one of the 45,000 gallon mixing vats holding the: barley, rye, corn, water and yeast. Danny was first and for some reason he thought he’d struggle to smell the mixture so he craned right over the doors, which the tour guide then opened, and inhaled. What followed for him was the most intensely powerful smelling experience of his life. His eyes were forced shut and the fumes rushed up his nose and engulfed his brain with the most incredible stench of alcohol stuff imaginable. After seeing Danny’s reaction everyone else seemed to be fine with getting a whiff from a couple of feet back! We also got to smell 140 proof whiskey that was going through the mellowing process (being filtered through about 10 feet of those charcoal chips.) Both of us now want to save up for one of the barrels of JD’s select whiskey which comes empty with all of its contents in about 240 bottles just for you. You get your name engraved on the keg etc etc and all this costs is between £6000 and £9000.

The Barrel House

The Cave Spring: the iron-free water used in Jack Daniel's

        

After the tour we continued driving until we arrived at our overnight stop off of Nashville, Tennessee. Along the way we continued to see lots of marquees set up selling fireworks for the 4^th July celebrations. We couldn’t help but be slightly concerned that this didn’t seem like the smartest of moves in these record breaking high temperatures for this time of the year but oh well. Another thing we’ve found funny over here is that on some weather channels you get a smog level forecast for the days ahead so you know how polluted your lungs will be getting when you’re out and about! 

Also, we’ll have our tour group photo on www.jackdaniels.com in a day or so. Just click on Visit Us then find Tour Photos and put in July 2^nd as the date… we were tour 18.