Retail Latin America: How Jack Daniels Makes So Much Whiskey In Such An Old Distillery

Despite being one of the most valuable alcohol brands in the world, Jack Daniel's is manufactured in a 147-year-old distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. that is actually on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Register of Historic Places.

It's so old that I was worried while standing in a hot and deafening room of whiskey stills on a recent tour that one of them might erupt.

Nonetheless, the 1,700-acre operation has around 435 workers and ships out 119 million bottles in a year.

To meet rising global demand, in August parent company Brown-Forman Corp. announced a major expansion for the distillery costing more than $100 million. The enlargement will provide 20 percent more production and storage capacity while preserving the familiar landscape.

Maintaining traditional methods, after all, is key both to the brand and the product.

The distillery was founded almost 150 years ago when Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel ran away from home and started making whiskey with a Lutheran Minister when he was only seven years old.

"Church people started talking about how the minister was working for God on Sunday and then making liquor on Monday. In order to keep the church family happy the Minister sold the business to Jack for $25," distillery tour guide Jesse James told me.

We took a tour to see how the whiskey is made.

The Jack Daniel Distillery is located in Lynchburg, Tenn., a dry county that's a 90 minute drive from Nashville.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Everywhere you look there are creative uses of whiskey barrels.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

There was already a crowd at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, with 1,300 guests expected over the course of the day.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The visitor center feels like a modern log cabin with high wooden ceilings, great natural light, and clean architecture.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

They are really good at making use of old barrels, which are handmade at the distillery and only used once for whiskey.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

"You only use your coffee filter once so why would you reuse a barrel? The first use is always the best so we can't fill the barrels more than once," James said.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Our friendly Southern tour guide meets us by this statue of Jack Daniel in the center of the visitor center. His name really is Jesse James.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Our tour began at the rickyard, where a sign notes the "Southern schedule" which means you have to wait. "People aren't in a rush around here so we painted this sign to let farmers know that," said James.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The giant open furnace is hard to miss. All of the sugar maple charcoal for the whiskey mellowing process is made right here.

Jack Daniel's

The sugar maple stacks are doused with Jack Daniel's Old. No. 7 ...

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

... and then set to a blaze inside the furnace. Temperatures reach up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than cremating a body or tempering steel.

Jack Daniel's

Extra charcoal is held in this room where employees have playfully tagged the walls.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Every drop of Jack Daniel's will pass through charcoal like this in the mellowing process.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

We pass by a few retired fire trucks on our way to the cave spring. James tells us that the distillery has never lost a barrel due to a fire. He doesn't elaborate on other possible sources for missing barrels.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Next stop was the natural spring that provides water for making whiskey. The limestone rock removes iron from the water which can give whiskey an undesirable taste and color.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The water stays at a chilly 56 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. This cave spring is the reason why the distillery is located in Lynchburg.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

This is the "Jack on the rocks" statue, which is deceiving because he appears much taller than he actually was. Jack and I are both 5 foot 2 inches.

Amanda Macias / Business Insider

In Jack Daniel's dingy office, we hear the story about how Jack died: He came into work early to get some paperwork done and was frustrated that he couldn't open the combination on the old safe ...

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

... so he kicked it and ended up getting an infected left toe which was amputated. Eventually, his entire left leg had to be removed. Jack died from this injury when he was 61 years old.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

"So the moral of the story is never come to work early. It'll kill ya," James joked with us.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Before leaving Jack's office we are shown portraits of the Master Distillers. There has only been seven in the history of the distillery. Jack Daniel was the first (pictured left) and Jeff Arnett is the current Master Distiller.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Here are the three main ingredients in Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Each raw ingredient is grated into a finer consistency as seen in the small glass containers.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Yellow corn is the primary grain used in Jack Daniel's. This is one of the many reasons why Jack Daniel's is a Tennessee Whiskey and not scotch.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Our tour is interrupted by "Tennessee peacocks" which roam the distillery grounds. These turkeys snack on the extra corn around the grain silos.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Looking up at the hilltop you can see one of the 78 barrel houses. The barrel house pictured here holds about 1 million gallons of whiskey which is 20,000 barrels.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

I was actually a little scared going into the still house because the machinery was really loud.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The room was deafening and super hot. This is where the alcohol steam from the sour mash is captured and turned into liquid form. The product is moonshine at this point. I wanted to get out of there because I was worried the ancient still would erupt.

Jack Daniel's

The sour mash is made in one of 64 fermenters. Fine-grain yellow corn, barley, rye and yeast ferment for 4–6 days. The smell was intense and made my eyes water. We all leaned in for a second sniff though.

Jack Daniel's

Leaving the still house was one of my favorite parts of the tour because I noticed all the trees have a striking appearance. The bark is covered with a black mold that naturally occurs near distilleries.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The bridges, pipes, buildings, and trees are covered with this mold. It doesn't smell bad it just makes everything look a bit dirty.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

This is the charcoal mellowing building that houses 72 vats. This room had the best aroma and you start to recognize Jack Daniel's in the air.

Jack Daniel's

Every drop of Jack Daniel's whiskey drips through 10-feet of charcoal. Gentleman Jack is the only product that drips through the charcoal twice. This mellowing process is the reason why Jack Daniel's is not a bourbon.

Jack Daniel's

We make our way to the oldest and smallest barrel house at the distillery which hold about 6,000 barrels.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Each barrel is rolled into place and weighs about 560-pounds. The temperature can reach up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and drops to 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. The barrels sit here for the next 4 to 7 years.

Jack Daniel's

The barrel gives the whiskey all of its color and some of its flavor. The premium Single Barrel Whiskey is kept on the top floor, Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 comes from the middle floor, and Jack Green Label is from the lowest floor.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The walls of this room are covered with name plaques of those who purchase a barrel of Jack Daniel's. The US military is the largest buyer of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. Seal Team 6 bought a barrel after the successful raid of Osama Bin Laden.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

When you buy Jack Daniel's Single Barrel you get the original whiskey barrel and 240 bottles of single barrel whiskey. This can cost you around 9–12 thousand dollars since no two whiskey barrels have the same volume.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

This small building was where Federal Tax Agents double checked the distillery's accounting books. "They aren't there anymore. We operate on the honor system now," James said.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Our tour is almost over as we head to the gift shop. The distillery is located in a dry county which means you can't purchase alcohol, but the distillery has a slight exception since they can sell commemorative bottles like these.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

The bottles are etched and personalized on site.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

This statue of Jack is a true measure of his 5'2" stature. He wore a size 4 in men's shoe and sculptors were worried the statue would topple over since Jack had tiny feet.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

Naturally, there is complimentary lemonade at the end of the tour.

Amanda Macias/Business Insider

On our way out we see the holiday barrel tree made from 240 barrels. Workers told me it takes about a week to construct and that all the whiskey from the barrels are bottled in Jack Daniel's Holiday Select.

2013/12/10

How Jack Daniels Makes So Much Whiskey In Such An Old Distillery

The Jack Daniel Distillery is located in Lynchburg, Tenn., a dry county that's a 90 minute drive from Nashville.

Everywhere you look there are creative uses of whiskey barrels.

There was already a crowd at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, with 1,300 guests expected over the course of the day.

The visitor center feels like a modern log cabin with high wooden ceilings, great natural light, and clean architecture.

They are really good at making use of old barrels, which are handmade at the distillery and only used once for whiskey.

"You only use your coffee filter once so why would you reuse a barrel? The first use is always the best so we can't fill the barrels more than once," James said.

Our friendly Southern tour guide meets us by this statue of Jack Daniel in the center of the visitor center. His name really is Jesse James.

Our tour began at the rickyard, where a sign notes the "Southern schedule" which means you have to wait. "People aren't in a rush around here so we painted this sign to let farmers know that," said James.

The giant open furnace is hard to miss. All of the sugar maple charcoal for the whiskey mellowing process is made right here.

The sugar maple stacks are doused with Jack Daniel's Old. No. 7 ...

... and then set to a blaze inside the furnace. Temperatures reach up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than cremating a body or tempering steel.

Extra charcoal is held in this room where employees have playfully tagged the walls.

Every drop of Jack Daniel's will pass through charcoal like this in the mellowing process.

We pass by a few retired fire trucks on our way to the cave spring. James tells us that the distillery has never lost a barrel due to a fire. He doesn't elaborate on other possible sources for missing barrels.

Next stop was the natural spring that provides water for making whiskey. The limestone rock removes iron from the water which can give whiskey an undesirable taste and color.

The water stays at a chilly 56 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. This cave spring is the reason why the distillery is located in Lynchburg.

This is the "Jack on the rocks" statue, which is deceiving because he appears much taller than he actually was. Jack and I are both 5 foot 2 inches.

In Jack Daniel's dingy office, we hear the story about how Jack died: He came into work early to get some paperwork done and was frustrated that he couldn't open the combination on the old safe ...

... so he kicked it and ended up getting an infected left toe which was amputated. Eventually, his entire left leg had to be removed. Jack died from this injury when he was 61 years old.

"So the moral of the story is never come to work early. It'll kill ya," James joked with us.

Before leaving Jack's office we are shown portraits of the Master Distillers. There has only been seven in the history of the distillery. Jack Daniel was the first (pictured left) and Jeff Arnett is the current Master Distiller.

Here are the three main ingredients in Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Each raw ingredient is grated into a finer consistency as seen in the small glass containers.

Yellow corn is the primary grain used in Jack Daniel's. This is one of the many reasons why Jack Daniel's is a Tennessee Whiskey and not scotch.

Our tour is interrupted by "Tennessee peacocks" which roam the distillery grounds. These turkeys snack on the extra corn around the grain silos.

Looking up at the hilltop you can see one of the 78 barrel houses. The barrel house pictured here holds about 1 million gallons of whiskey which is 20,000 barrels.

I was actually a little scared going into the still house because the machinery was really loud.

The room was deafening and super hot. This is where the alcohol steam from the sour mash is captured and turned into liquid form. The product is moonshine at this point. I wanted to get out of there because I was worried the ancient still would erupt.

The sour mash is made in one of 64 fermenters. Fine-grain yellow corn, barley, rye and yeast ferment for 4–6 days. The smell was intense and made my eyes water. We all leaned in for a second sniff though.

Leaving the still house was one of my favorite parts of the tour because I noticed all the trees have a striking appearance. The bark is covered with a black mold that naturally occurs near distilleries.

The bridges, pipes, buildings, and trees are covered with this mold. It doesn't smell bad it just makes everything look a bit dirty.

This is the charcoal mellowing building that houses 72 vats. This room had the best aroma and you start to recognize Jack Daniel's in the air.

Every drop of Jack Daniel's whiskey drips through 10-feet of charcoal. Gentleman Jack is the only product that drips through the charcoal twice. This mellowing process is the reason why Jack Daniel's is not a bourbon.

We make our way to the oldest and smallest barrel house at the distillery which hold about 6,000 barrels.

Each barrel is rolled into place and weighs about 560-pounds. The temperature can reach up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and drops to 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. The barrels sit here for the next 4 to 7 years.

The barrel gives the whiskey all of its color and some of its flavor. The premium Single Barrel Whiskey is kept on the top floor, Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 comes from the middle floor, and Jack Green Label is from the lowest floor.

The walls of this room are covered with name plaques of those who purchase a barrel of Jack Daniel's. The US military is the largest buyer of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel. Seal Team 6 bought a barrel after the successful raid of Osama Bin Laden.

When you buy Jack Daniel's Single Barrel you get the original whiskey barrel and 240 bottles of single barrel whiskey. This can cost you around 9–12 thousand dollars since no two whiskey barrels have the same volume.

This small building was where Federal Tax Agents double checked the distillery's accounting books. "They aren't there anymore. We operate on the honor system now," James said.

Our tour is almost over as we head to the gift shop. The distillery is located in a dry county which means you can't purchase alcohol, but the distillery has a slight exception since they can sell commemorative bottles like these.

The bottles are etched and personalized on site.

This statue of Jack is a true measure of his 5'2" stature. He wore a size 4 in men's shoe and sculptors were worried the statue would topple over since Jack had tiny feet.

Naturally, there is complimentary lemonade at the end of the tour.

On our way out we see the holiday barrel tree made from 240 barrels. Workers told me it takes about a week to construct and that all the whiskey from the barrels are bottled in Jack Daniel's Holiday Select.

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