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History Of Jack Daniels

The Jack Daniel's website suggests its founder  Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel was born in 1850

(and his tombstone bears that date[9]), but says his exact birth date is unknown.[10] The website

states that it is customary to celebrate his birthday in September .[10] The Tennessee state library

web site says that records list his birth date as September 5, 1846, [9] and in the 2004

biography Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel , author Peter Krass says he was

born in January 1849 (based on Jack's sister's diary, census records, and the date of death of

Jack's mother).[11] 

Jack was one of thirteen children fathered by Calaway Daniel and was the youngest of his

mother's ten children.[11]  According to the Tennessee state library, Jack's mother, Lucinda Cook

Daniel, died in 1847[9] (making an 1850 birth date impossible). After Jack's mother died, his father

remarried and had several more children. Jack Daniel's grandfather, Joseph "Job" Daniel

emigrated from Wales along with his Scottish wife, Elizabeth Calaway, to the United States.[12] He

was of  Welsh, Scottish, English, and Scots-Irish descent.[13] Jack's father died in the Civil War , 

and he despised his step-mother, and as a result he ran away from home and was essentially

orphaned at a young age.[11][14] 

Statue of Jack Daniel in front of the subterranean fresh water spring from whence he once drew the water

used in the production of his whiskey (Jack Daniel's Distillery,  Lynchburg, Tennessee) 

Jack was taken in by a local lay preacher and moonshine distiller named Dan Call, and began

learning the distilling trade as a teenager from Call and Call's slave Nearest Green, who stayed

on with Call after his emancipation.[14] In 1875, on receiving an inheritance from his father's estate

(following a long dispute with his siblings), Daniel founded a legally registered distilling business

with Call. He took over the distillery shortly afterward, when Call quit for religious

reasons.[11][14] The brand label on the product says "Est. & Reg. in 1866", but his biographer has

cited official registration documents to assert that the business was not established until 1875. [9][14] 

 After taking over the distillery, in 1884 Daniel purchased the hollow and land where the distillery is

now located.[12][14] By the 1880s, Jack Daniel's was one of fifteen distilleries operating in Moore

County, and the second-most productive behind Tom Eaton's Distillery.[15] He began using

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square-shaped bottles in 1897, with the square shape of the bottle intended to convey a sense of

fairness and integrity.[11][14] 

 According to Daniel's biographer, the origin of the "Old No. 7" brand name was the number

assigned to Daniel's distillery for government registration.[11][14] He was forced to change the

registration number when the federal government redrew the district and he became Number 16

in district 5 instead of No. 7 in district 4. However, he continued to use his original number as a

brand name, since his brand reputation had already been established.[11][14] 

Jack Daniel's experienced a surge in popularity after the whiskey received the gold medal for the

finest whiskey at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair , although his local reputation was suffering as

the temperance movement was gaining strength.[11][12][14] 

Jack Daniel never married and did not have any children. However, he took his nephews under

his wing  – one of whom was Lemuel "Lem" Motlow (1869 –1947).[11][14] Lem, a son of Jack's sister,

Finetta,[12] was skilled with numbers, and was soon doing all of the distillery's bookkeeping. In

1907, due to failing health, Jack Daniel gave the distillery to two of his nephews. [11][14] Motlow soon

bought out the other nephew and went on to operate the distillery for about forty years.

 Ad for Old No. 7 from a May 1908 issue of The Nashville Globe 

Tennessee passed a statewide prohibition law in 1910, effectively barring the legal distillation of

Jack Daniel's within the state. Motlow challenged the law in a test case that eventually worked its

way up to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court upheld the law as constitutional,

however .[16][17] 

Jack died in 1911 from blood poisoning. An oft-told tale is that the infection began in one of his

toes, which Daniel injured one early morning at work by kicking his safe in anger when he could

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not get it open (he was said to always have had trouble remembering the

combination).[18] However, Daniel's modern biographer has asserted that the story is not true. [11][14] 

Because of the prohibition in Tennessee, the company began distilling operations in  St Louis,

Missouri, and Birmingham, Alabama, though none of the production from these locations was

ever sold due to quality problems.[19] The Alabama operation was halted following a similar

statewide prohibition law in that state, and the St. Louis operation was halted by the onset of

nationwide prohibition following passage of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920. While the

passage Twenty-first Amendment in 1933 repealed prohibition at the federal level, state

prohibition laws (including Tennessee's) remained in effect, thus preventing the Lynchburg

distillery from reopening. Motlow, who had become a Tennessee state senator , led efforts to

repeal these laws, allowing production to restart in 1938. The five-year gap between national

repeal and Tennessee repeal was commemorated in 2008 with a gift pack of two bottles, one for

the 75th anniversary of the end of prohibition and a second commemorating the 70th anniversary

of the reopening of the distillery.[20] 

The home of Lem Motlow, proprietor of Jack Daniel's from 1911 to 1947, still stands at the Jack Daniel's

Distillery in Lynchburg

The Jack Daniel's distillery ceased operations from 1942 to 1946, when the U.S. government

banned the manufacture of whiskey due to World War II. Motlow resumed production of Jack

Daniel's only in 1947 after good quality corn was again available. [19] Motlow then died the same

year. He bequeathed the distillery to his children, Robert, Reagor, Dan, Conner, and Mary, upon

his death.[21] 

The company was later incorporated as "Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Prop., Inc." This has

allowed the company to continue to include Lem Motlow, who died in 1947, in its marketing, since

mentioning him in the advertising is technically just citing the full corporate name. Likewise, the

advertisements continue to use Lynchburg's 1960s-era population figure of 361, though the city

has since formed a consolidated city-county government with Moore County, and its official

population had thus grown to over 6,000 by the 2010 census. 

The company was sold to the Brown-Forman Corporation in 1956.[4] 

The Jack Daniel's Distillery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

In 2012, a Welshman, Mark Evans, claimed to have discovered the original recipe for Daniel's

whiskey,[22] in a book written in 1853 by his great-great-grandmother, whose brother-in-law

emigrated to Tennessee.

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Moore County, where the Jack Daniel's distillery is located, is one of the state's many  dry

counties. Therefore, while it is legal to distill the product within the county, it is illegal to purchase

it there. However, a state law has provided one exception: a distillery may sell one

commemorative product, regardless of county statutes. [23] Jack Daniel's now sells Gentleman

Jack, Jack Daniel's Single Barrel, the original No. 7 blend (in a commemorative bottle), and aseasonal blend (on rotation) at the distillery's White Rabbit Bottle Shop.

Recent history [edit] Lowering to 80 proof [edit] 

Jack Daniel's black label was historically produced at 90 U.S.  proof  (45% alcohol by

volume).[24] The lower-end green label product was 80 proof. However, starting in 1987, the other

label variations were also reduced in proof. This began with black label being initially reduced to

86 proof. Both the black and green labels are made from the same ingredients; the difference isdetermined by professional tasters, who decide which of the batches would be sold under the

"premium" black label, the rest being sold as "standard" green label.

Finally, starting in 2002, all generally available Jack Daniel's products were diluted to 80 proof

(including both black label and green label).[25] The reason stated for this was that the distillery's

marketing had found that customers preferred a lower-proof whiskey; this also simplified the

production process,[citation needed ] and lowered production costs. This reduction in alcohol content was

condemned by Modern Drunkard Magazine and a petition was formed for drinkers who disagreed

with the change.[25] 

Jack Daniel's has produced higher-proof products at times. A one-time limited run of 96 proof, the

highest proof Jack Daniel's had ever bottled at that time, was bottled for the 1996 Tennessee

Bicentennial in a decorative bicentennial bottle. The distillery debuted their 94 proof "Jack

Daniel's Single Barrel" in February 1997. The Silver Select Single Barrel is currently the

company's highest proof at 100, but is only available in duty-free shops. 

Sales[edit] 

Jack Daniel's Black Label Tennessee Whiskey remains the flagship product of the Brown-Forman

Corporation. In the fiscal year ended April 30, 2013, the company sold a total of 11 million cases

of the beverage.[26] 

Sponsorships[edit] 

The Kelly Racing Holden VE Commodore of Todd Kelly at the 2010 Clipsal 500 Adelaide

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In 2006, Jack Daniel's sponsored the Perkins Engineering team in the Australian V8

Supercar  series, which continued until the end of 2008. From 2009 their sponsorship moved to

the newly formed Kelly Racing team, formed from the remnants of Perkins Engineering and now

defunct HSV Dealer Team.[27] Jack Daniel's also sponsored the Richard Childress Racing 07 car

(numbered after the "Old No. 7") in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series from 2005 to 2009.[28] JackDaniel's also sponsors Zac Brown Bands Tour.

Master distillers[edit] 

Jeff Arnett, a company employee since 2001, became Jack Daniel's master distiller in 2008. He is

the seventh person to hold the position in the distillery's history. His predecessor, Jimmy Bedford, 

held the position for 20 years.[29] Bedford retired in mid-2008 after being the subject of a $3.5

million sexual harassment lawsuit against the company that ended in an out-of-court settlement,

and he died on August 7, 2009, after suffering a heart attack at his home in Lynchburg . [30][31] 

Other former Master Distillers include Jess Motlow (1911 –

1941), Lem Tolley (1941 –

1964), Jess

Gamble (1964 –1966), and Frank Bobo (1966 –1992).[32] 

Tennessee Squires[edit] 

 A Tennessee Squire is a member of the Tennessee Squire Association, which was formed in

1956 to honor special friends of the Jack Daniel's distillery. [33] Many prominent business and

entertainment professionals are included among the membership, which is obtained only through

recommendation of a current member. Squires receive a wallet card and deed certificate

proclaiming them as "owner" of an unrecorded plot of land at the distillery and an honorary citizen

of  Moore County, Tennessee.[34] 

Production process[edit] 

Making charcoal at the distillery, ca. 1920-1935

The mash for Jack Daniel's is made from corn, rye, and malted barley, and is distilled in copper

stills. It is then filtered (or "mellowed") through 10-foot (3.0 m) stacks of  sugar

maple charcoal.[35] This extra step, known as theLincoln County Process, removes impurities and

the taste of corn,[12] and is not used in the production of Bourbons. [36] The company argues this

extra step makes the product different from Bourbon. However, Tennessee whiskey is required tobe "a straight Bourbon Whiskey" under terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement[37] and

Canadian law.[38]  After mellowing, the whiskey is stored in newly handcrafted oak barrels, which

give the whiskey its color and most of its flavor .[35] 

The product label mentions that it is a "sour mash" whiskey, which means that when the mash is

prepared, some of the wet solids from a previously used batch are mixed in to help make the

fermentation process operate more consistently. This is common practice in American whiskey

production. (As of 2005, all currently produced straight bourbon is produced using the sour mash

process.)[39] 

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 After being used for the aging of Jack Daniel's whiskey, many barrels go to Scotland to be used

in the production of  Scotch whisky. Some barrels are leased from Glenmorangie distillery. Some

of the barrels are sold toMcIlhenny Company of   Avery Island, Louisiana, for production

of  Tabasco sauce and to both the Mount Gay Rum company of  Barbados and  Appleton

Estate of  Jamaica for use in the aging process of their distinctively flavoredrums.[citation needed ] Somebarrels are also cut in half and shipped to Lowe's Home Centers to be used as planter pots. They

retain the whiskey smell for some time after arriving there and must be watered every couple of

days to keep them intact before they are sold and filled with soil.

Legal status[edit] 

On a state level, the State of Tennessee has imposed stringent requirements. To be labeled

as Tennessee Whiskey, it is not enough under state law that the whiskey be produced in

Tennessee; it must meet quality and production standards. These are the same standards used

by Jack Daniel's Distillery, and some other distillers are displeased with the requirements being

enshrined into law.[40][41] 

On May 13, 2013, Tennessee governor  Bill Haslam signed House Bill 1084, requiring the Lincoln

County process to be used for products produced in the state labeling themselves as "Tennessee

Whiskey", with a particular exception tailored to exempt Benjamin Prichard's, and including the

existing requirements for bourbon.[41][42]  As federal law requires statements of origin on labels to be

accurate, the Tennessee law effectively gives a firm definition to Tennessee whiskey, requiring

Tennessee origin, maple charcoal filtering by the Lincoln County process prior to aging, and the

basic requirements of bourbon (at least 51% corn, new oak barrels, charring of the barrels, andlimits on alcohol by volume concentration for distillation, aging, and bottling).

In 2014, legislation was introduced in the Tennessee state legislature that would modify the 2013

law to allow the reuse of oak barrels in the Tennessee whiskey aging process. Jack Daniel's

Master Distiller Jeff Arnett vehemently opposed the legislation, arguing the reuse of barrels would

require the use of artificial colorings and flavorings, and would render Tennessee whiskey an

inferior product to Scotches and bourbons.[43] 

The company has also been the subject of a proposal to locally  surtax its product. It is claimed

that the distillery, which is the main employer in a company town, has capitalized on the bucolicimage of  Lynchburg, Tennessee, and it ought to pay a tax of $10.00 per barrel. The company

responded that such a tax is a confiscatory imposition penalizing it for the success of the

enterprise.[44] The proposed tax faced a vote by the Metro Lynchburg-Moore County Council and

was defeated, 10 to 5.[45]