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On March 3rd, Analogue – a cozy cocktail bar in New York City – will celebrate the arrival of their first ever single barrel pick of Jack Daniel’s Rye Whiskey. Analogue’s co-owner, Jared Gordon, had been in contact with Henry G. from the New Jersey Bourbon and Yacht Club to split a barrel that would be chosen in December of last year. I was grateful for the opportunity to be part of the pick crew that included Ryan B. and Mike D.
You might be surprised to know that I had never been to Jack Daniel’s Distillery before. I have written many reviews and studied a fair bit of history about the brand, but this would be a totally new experience for me. So I’d like to share with you the things I saw, expand on the things that they wouldn’t show us and reveal the whole experience of picking a barrel. I hope that each and every one of you reading this will get a chance to do the same in the future.
Transportation to the Distillery
Our day began bright and early with a special coach picking us up from Mint Julep Tours at our hotel in Nashville. The bus driver was friendly and quite the morning person. Our group was the opposite. I guess you could say we were a little sluggish after a night of “prepping our palates” at various bars and with some bottles we brought.
Along the ride, the driver shared a few stories about the distillery and the process of making Tennessee Whiskey. But she quickly switched into more in-depth information after realizing this wasn’t our first rodeo. Let that be a lesson to anyone taking a distillery tour or doing a barrel pick – if you let your guides know you already know the basics, they might switch over to more interesting information.
As we passed the Nearest Green Distillery, the bus driver began to talk about Nearest Green’s relationship with Jack Daniel. I had just done a ton of research into the story and knew a decent amount about the new distillery. So it was interesting to hear the Jack Daniel’s side because it felt like they were telling a slightly skewed version while acknowledging some of the story. In contrast, the Nearest Green Distillery makes the history between the two men a focal point of their operation.
Upon arrival, there was a check-in process that allowed just enough time to peruse the small museum and gift shop (if it’s open yet). Then the tour guide came to get the group. An obligatory group picture was taken before we boarded the bus to our first stop – the large fire pit area where they make their sugar maple charcoal.
First Stop – Making Sugar Maple Charcoal
Lucky for us, this crisp December morning was made a little bit warmer by the piles of seasoned sugar maple wood being lit on fire and allowed to burn down to sizeable chunks. These chunks would be collected and crushed until it was the size of golf balls. All of it would be collected and stored until it was time to swap out one of the charcoal vats. More on those in a minute. As we viewed the pallets of wood that were on fire, there was a complimentary beverage station where you could get either hot cider or hot chocolate.
Most groups won’t get to see the fire burning under the giant chimney structure, but one cool fact I learned was that the structure was built to control the massive amount of smoke that would probably linger around the campus from all the burning wood. The chimney has multiple filters inside that take care of the dirty stuff. Of note, this is one of two charcoal producing areas at Jack Daniel’s. The second is on Jack’s second campus according to satellite imagery.
This stop was also the only chance to “try” some white dog (unaged distillate) from Jack Daniel’s. Due to certain rules, Jack cannot allow visitors to sample the white dog spirit by drinking it. Instead, they used a spray bottle to mist your hands and encouraged you to hold it up to your mouth and nose. I tried licking my hand and found the white dog to be mellow and enjoyable as is. In previous tours at Maker’s Mark and Wild Turkey, I also found the white dog to be quite delicious straight off the still. This proves that great whiskey really does start out from great distillate. The reason they have unaged distillate on hand is because they also use it to light the stacks of sugar maple on fire.
Second Stop – Limestone water cave
Most people know that Kentucky distilleries love to brag about their limestone filtered water as the reason why their whiskey is so good. But in reality, the “limestone shelf” that acts as a filter for underground aquifers runs far more north and south than just the Bluegrass State.
Jack Daniel’s rests on top of the same shelf and takes advantage of their water source underneath. This is a main reason why Jack set up shop at this location back in the late 1800’s. The tour guide will show you the nearby cave where some of the water is exposed.
Third Stop – The history of Jack Daniel
After turning around from the Limestone Cave, you’ll be confronted with a bronze statue of Jack Daniel and a house in the behind it full of memorabilia where you’ll learn about his story.
If your group is rather rambunctious like mine was, you may point out how suspect it seemed that a young pre-teen boy ran away from his family to live with a preacher who teaches him how to make whiskey and allows him to hang around for as long as he’d like. That’s a story that definitely wouldn’t fly if it happened today 😂
Fourth Stop – The still house
Jack Daniel’s has six column stills – four 54″ diameter ones and two 76″ diameter ones. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside of the room we went into, but the columns that were jutting out of the floor were marked with a number as to which still was which. We noticed the room we were in did not have all 6 stills in it – that’s because a second distillery building at the top of the hill to our east has some of the stills located there. They call it Jack Daniel’s Distillery 2 (known internally as JD2) and one of the main differences between that and JD1 is that they make their rye and malt whiskey there. More on those in a bit.
The still room operation was a fairly standard affair and nothing particularly interesting stood out to me. I believe that Jack’s Tennessee Whiskey comes off the still at around 140 proof which is about the same compared to other distilleries (they all seem to be within the 130-140 range).
Some facts and figures I recorded from our tour guide included learning that these column stills are 40 feet tall with 18 copper plates inside of each stack. Just for reference, Wild Turkey’s Column Still uses 19 copper plates while Four Roses only uses 14. I would assume that more plates equals a smoother end product because it would strip more of the impurities from the vapor.
Jack Daniel’s has 68 individual stainless steel fermentation tanks on site with each holding 40,000 gallons of liquid in them. This is absolutely massive to think about and I’ve never so many in one place ever at any distillery (I’m sure Beam and Heaven Hill are right up there).
Fifth Stop – Charcoal Mellowing
After the distillate comes off the still, the secret ingredient for Tennessee Whiskey is applied – the Lincoln County Process. This involves giant wooden vats holding all of that crushed charcoal we last saw during our first stop. We were told no photography was allowed, but each vat looked to be about 8-10 feet in diameter and tall enough to hold 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal. On the top was a grid of copper pipes that fed the distillate through and had upward-facing holes that allowed the liquid to run down the sides and drip into the vat.
The tour guide claimed that they do it this way to ensure a more even and gentle absorption into the charcoal instead of aiming nozzles directly down. Each vat (there were at least a dozen) had a clear Lexan window on the top to prevent foreign objects from contaminating the tanks. Once the liquid passes through the bottom, it likely heads to a storage tank where it will be filled into a barrel.
The barrels, by the way, are now sourced primarily from Independent Stave Company. Brown-Forman had previously sold their 2nd cooperage (which was located right across the state line in Alabama) to ISC a year or so before. And just a few months later after our barrel pick was done, the news came out that they were shuttering their cooperage in Kentucky meaning that Brown-Forman essentially makes no barrels of their own anymore.
One more thing I was dying to know from the tour guide was if the distillation process was still the same at their second distillery site since we were not allowed to go there. It was, she said, but she let us know that the malt whiskey Jack makes does not go through the Lincoln County Process. I asked her a follow-up question of if the rumor was true that their rye whiskey only goes through 3 feet of sugar maple charcoal, but she declined to answer if that was true.
Sixth Stop – Bottling Facility
At this point, we knew we were getting close to completing our tour. We knew as much because we were led through the last step in Jack Daniel’s before it gets shipped to a distributor: the bottling facility. That day, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey was being bottled. As you pass down the hallways of the bottling house, you’re bombarded with tiny brass plaques listing every organization that has ever picked a single barrel. There are even digital screens for you to scroll through their database.
Last Stop – George Green Barrel House
The George Green Barrel House (Also known as Barrel House 1-14) is an aging warehouse that has been customized for the single barrel program. The Barrel House designator 1-14 stands for the 14th barrel house on the first campus. For reference, when Jack had the partial barrel house collapse back on February 10, it was reported to be Barrel House 2-15 which meant it was the 15th barrel house on the 2nd campus. The more you know…
There are still ricks inside of Barrel House 1-14 that hold whiskey. But a large portion of the ricks on the first floor have been removed to make way for four large tasting room areas separated by glass walls. This allows unlimited viewing of the barrels around you while you taste through your options. The second (top) floor contains more ricks with barrels that are used for the single barrel program. That’s where you’ll actually head first.
Your guide will help instruct the group on how to pop the bung on each barrel and then allow you to fill the sample bottles to take back down to the tasting room. Our guide was Warehousing Supervisor Clint Bailey and we can’t say enough about how helpful, knowledgeable and downright nice he was the whole time. Cheers to you, Clint!
Once you’re in the tasting room (which was thankfully temperature controlled on our cold December day), the guide will lead you through the selection process and may even partake to give their own opinion. We were given information about where each barrel came from, its age and the proof. The group very quickly threw out one barrel that we all didn’t like and carefully deliberated two others.
Surprisingly, one of the rye whiskey barrels was from Coy Hill, but we did not end up picking it. This proves that not everything from Coy Hill is the best.
With the barrel pick done, our time at the distillery was pretty much over. We were told that by time our barrel was dumped, it would be late February or early March which meant that the rye whiskey inside would be 9 years old!
The final specs of the barrel yielded a little over 120 bottles at 134.1 proof.
That’s a wrap!
There was one part that we skipped on our tour and it was the included lunch at Miss Mary BoBo’s in Lynchburg. This family-style dining establishment puts groups of people together at tables and serves them from shared plates. The next course is not served until everyone is done and there is a storyteller that drives the conversation in the room. We were told to expect a dining experience that could approach 90 minutes. Unfortunately (or luckily?) one of the guys in our group has Celiac Disease which nixed the whole meal.
Upon returning to our hotel, we recounted our amazing day and eagerly looked forward to when we could get our bottles. Out of all the barrel picks I’ve been on at the actual distillery (Heaven Hill, MGP and Four Roses), Jack definitely ranks a solid #2 for the total experience (Four Roses is still my favorite). As far as tours go that I’ve been on (pretty much every major Kentucky Distillery including Michter’s Shively location), this is also close to the top for education and genuinely interesting things to see. If you haven’t been yet, this is your sign to book a tour.