Another weekend and another set of visitors! This weekend, Justin's parents came to stay with us. So instead of heading to all of the same places we visited last weekend, we headed south to Lynchburg, TN---Home of the Jack Daniel's Distillery. Lynchburg is a town of just a little over 300 people and their downtown square reminds you of Mayberry. However, the people are friendly, the bbq is good, and our tour guide Paul had a great sense of humor! What's even better about the tour---it's FREE! Most of your tours in Nashville will cost you at least $12/person. And I know what some of you are thinking---how can a free tour be better than a free shot of whiskey at the end of the tour? Unfortunately, the Jack Daniel's Distillery is located in a dry county in Tennessee. They can sell it, but "there's no drinking." And as pictured above, Justin purchased his bottle of Old No. 7 in a commemorative bottle before we left.
In my opinion, this is a must-see place on your trip to Nashville. I'll give you a quick little trip through the distillery, but you'll miss out on all of the smells.
While waiting on your tour to start, you can hang out in the visitor center learning a few facts about Jack and the process of whiskey making. Also, since it began in 1866, Jack Daniel's has only had 6 Master Distillers. However, the current Master Distiller is retiring at the end of this month after 40 years with the company, 20 of which he has served as Master Distiller.
Here's a picture of part of the distillery that sits on over 1000 acres with 75 barrel houses.
Here is one of the stills
Of course there is the opportunity at the end of the tour to purchase some whiskey, and if you have an extra $8,000 - $10,000 laying around, you can purchase a whole barrel of whiskey. They'll let you taste 3 or 4 barrels to determine which one you want to purchase. However, you won't be able to take your barrel home that day. Crossing the state line with your barrel full of whiskey is considered bootlegging (not to mention it's extremely heavy!), but they will be glad to ship you your empty Jack Daniel's Barrel and 40 cases of your bottled whiskey. BUT, if you want people to think you spent all of that money...head on down to the town square and purchase yourself a couple of empty barrels and buy yourself a couple of bottles of whiskey when you get home.
At the end of the tour, they take you into a barrel house. (Sorry the photo is so dark - no flash photography is allowed inside.) Barrels of whiskey will then sit in a barrel house for at least 4 years before being bottled to ensure that the smooth taste of Jack is the same that it has always been. While some of the monitoring may be computerized now, the process is still the same as the way it was when Jack began making whiskey back in 1866.
In my opinion, this is a must-see place on your trip to Nashville. I'll give you a quick little trip through the distillery, but you'll miss out on all of the smells.
While waiting on your tour to start, you can hang out in the visitor center learning a few facts about Jack and the process of whiskey making. Also, since it began in 1866, Jack Daniel's has only had 6 Master Distillers. However, the current Master Distiller is retiring at the end of this month after 40 years with the company, 20 of which he has served as Master Distiller.
Here's a picture of part of the distillery that sits on over 1000 acres with 75 barrel houses.
Here is one of the stills
Of course there is the opportunity at the end of the tour to purchase some whiskey, and if you have an extra $8,000 - $10,000 laying around, you can purchase a whole barrel of whiskey. They'll let you taste 3 or 4 barrels to determine which one you want to purchase. However, you won't be able to take your barrel home that day. Crossing the state line with your barrel full of whiskey is considered bootlegging (not to mention it's extremely heavy!), but they will be glad to ship you your empty Jack Daniel's Barrel and 40 cases of your bottled whiskey. BUT, if you want people to think you spent all of that money...head on down to the town square and purchase yourself a couple of empty barrels and buy yourself a couple of bottles of whiskey when you get home.
At the end of the tour, they take you into a barrel house. (Sorry the photo is so dark - no flash photography is allowed inside.) Barrels of whiskey will then sit in a barrel house for at least 4 years before being bottled to ensure that the smooth taste of Jack is the same that it has always been. While some of the monitoring may be computerized now, the process is still the same as the way it was when Jack began making whiskey back in 1866.
No comments:
Post a Comment