Jackdaniel'S

Charcoal Mellowed Drop By Drop!

Officially registered with the U.S. government in 1866, the Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Proprietor, is the oldest registered distillery in the United States and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Based in Lynchburg, Tennessee, the Jack Daniel Distillery is the maker of world-famous Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey, Gentleman Jack Rare Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel’s Bonded and Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey.

“Back in 1941, the federal government sent a letter to the Jack Daniel Distillery. They wrote ‘charcoal mellowing imparts to your whiskey characteristics unbeknownst to bourbon. You are a Tennessee whiskey’,” said Roger Brashears, Jack Daniel Distillery spokesperson.

“After more than 50 years, they finally recognized our whiskey is different than Kentucky bourbon, something we’d known all along.”

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is made with the finest corn, rye and barley malt.

It's distinctive character is a result of natural fermentation, careful distillation and use of the Distillery’s iron-free water from the Cave Spring that runs at a constant 13 degrees C. This cave spring is why Jack Daniel built his distillery in Lynchburg. If the spirit were placed in a barrel and aged immediately after distillation, it would be a bourbon, but it goes through a final step that makes it distinctly a Tennessee whiskey.

Jack Daniel’s is mellowed drop by drop through 10 feet of charcoal made from hard sugar maple trees, which smoothes and refines the whiskey. Gentleman Jack is charcoal mellowed twice, once before and once after aging. Back in the early days the same procedure was designated the “Lincoln County Process,” named for the Middle Tennessee county neighboring Moore County where charcoal mellowing began. “In Lynchburg, we call it charcoal mellowing,” said Brashears. “When you taste whiskey straight from the still, you can taste the corn and other grains, but the charcoal mellowing changes the whiskey, giving it a head start before it ever goes into the new, charred white oak barrels for aging.”

According to lore, charcoal mellowing was inspired by early settlers who sometimes would sweeten whiskey drinks with maple sugar. Someone in Lincoln County thought to use sugar maple charcoal for the same effect, and the Lincoln County Process was born. At one time, the process was used by almost all the distilleries in the county.

In the fall, when the sap is down, sugar maple trees are cut from high ground. The logs are aged for a year, sawed into slates and carefully stacked into ricks. The ricks are burned in the open air. The burning is controlled by a hand-held water hose that keeps the pile from being reduced to ashes. What’s left is pure, clean maple charcoal without a trace of smokiness or impurities.

The charcoal is ground up and tightly packed into mellowing vats. It takes the whiskey about 10 days to drip through the charcoal.