Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
Charcoal-mellowed before the barrel, which is what makes it Tennessee whiskey rather than bourbon.
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Soft and sweet for an American whiskey: banana, vanilla and toasted oak, with the sharper grain edge filtered away before ageing.
Storage & Handling
Upright, away from light. Indefinite once opened.
Usage
The Lynchburg Lemonade and the distillery's other published serves. More broadly it suits long drinks and anything with citrus or cola, where its softness is an advantage; in a stirred drink it can read a little sweet against a spicier rye.
The difference between Tennessee whiskey and bourbon is one step. Before the spirit goes into the barrel it is filtered slowly through several feet of sugar-maple charcoal, a process named for Lincoln County where the distillery originally sat. It removes some of the sharper grain notes, which is why the whiskey arrives softer and sweeter than a bourbon of similar age.
Jasper Newton Daniel registered the distillery at Lynchburg, and the town has been the address ever since. Moore County has been dry since Prohibition and remains so, which produces the standing oddity that the distillery cannot sell a drink of its own whiskey to a visitor on the premises.
For most of its history the company told the story with one man in it. Recent research, and the company's own acknowledgement of it, credits Nathan "Nearest" Green, an enslaved man who taught Daniel to distil and who is now recognised as the first known African-American master distiller. The charcoal-filtering method he worked with has West African precedent. It is a better story than the one it replaced, and a good reminder that the received version of a drink's history is often the version somebody chose to keep.
Top Tips
- It is not bourbon, and the difference is the charcoal filtering before barrelling rather than anything about the mash bill.
- The softness suits long drinks. In an Old Fashioned it can read sweet, and a spicier rye usually serves that frame better.
- Lynchburg sits in a dry county, so the distillery cannot sell a drink of its own whiskey on site.
Possible Substitutions
- Another Tennessee whiskey is the closest match, since the charcoal filtering is the defining step.
- A wheated bourbon is the nearest bourbon in softness, though it will taste sweeter and less of banana.
Production Method
A corn-led mash distilled and then filtered slowly through several feet of sugar-maple charcoal before it goes into new charred oak. That filtering step, the Lincoln County Process, is what separates Tennessee whiskey from bourbon, and it strips a measure of the sharper grain character before ageing begins.
Common Questions
Is Jack Daniel's a bourbon?
It meets most of the legal requirements for bourbon but is sold as Tennessee whiskey, because of one extra step: the spirit is filtered through sugar-maple charcoal before barrelling. That filtering, the Lincoln County Process, is the defining difference.
What does the charcoal filtering actually do?
It strips some of the sharper grain congeners before ageing, which is why the whiskey reads softer and sweeter than a comparable bourbon. The effect is on texture and edge as much as on flavour, and it happens before the barrel rather than after.
Who was Nearest Green?
An enslaved man who taught Jasper Newton Daniel to distil, now recognised as the first known African-American master distiller. Recent research and the company's own acknowledgement have restored him to the account after a century of tellings that left him out.