Tennessee whiskey

Whiskey being aged at Jack Daniel's Distillery, c. 2000

Tennessee whiskey is straight whiskey produced in Tennessee. Although it has been legally defined as a bourbon whiskey in some international trade agreements,^[1][2][3] most current producers of Tennessee whiskey disclaim references to their products as "bourbon" and do not label them as such on any of their bottles or advertising materials. All current producers are required by Tennessee law to produce their whiskey in Tennessee and, with the sole exception of Benjamin Prichard's, to also use a filtering step known as the Lincoln County Process prior to aging the whiskey.

Beyond perceived marketing value of the distinction, Tennessee whiskey and bourbon have almost identical requirements and most Tennessee whiskeys meet the criteria for bourbon.^[4]

Tennessee whiskey is one of the top ten exports of Tennessee.^[5] According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, as of 2013, the U.S. market for bourbon and Tennessee whiskey reached $2.4 billion, and exports of bourbon and Tennessee whiskey grew to exceed $1 billion.^[5][6][7] There are currently two major producers of Tennessee whiskey – Jack Daniel's (owned by Brown-Forman) and George Dickel (owned by Diageo) – and other smaller producers (Nelson's Green Brier Distillery, TennSouth, Benjamin Prichard's, and Collier & McKeel). In June 2017, the Tennessee Distillers Guild launched the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, a 25-stop distillery tour across the state, to further promote Tennessee whiskey and local whiskey culture.^[8]

Legal status[edit]

On a federal level, what constitutes Tennessee whiskey is legally established under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)^[1] and at least one other international trade agreement^[2] that require that Tennessee whiskey be "a straight Bourbon Whiskey authorized to be produced only in the State of Tennessee". Canadian food and drug laws state that Tennessee whiskey must be "a straight Bourbon whisky produced in the State of Tennessee".^[3]

On a state level, the State of Tennessee has imposed stringent requirements. It is not enough under state law that the whiskey be produced in Tennessee; it must meet quality and production standards.^[9] On May 13, 2013, Tennessee governor Bill Haslam signed House Bill 1084, requiring the Lincoln County process (which involves maple charcoal filtering) to be used for products produced in the state labeling themselves as "Tennessee Whiskey", along with the existing requirements for bourbon (namely, mash consisting of at least 51% corn, aging in new charred oak barrels, and limits on alcohol by volume concentration for distillation, aging, and bottling). The law contained a specific exception for Benjamin Prichard's, which doesn't use the Lincoln County process.^[10][11] As federal law requires statements of origin on labels to be accurate, the Tennessee law effectively gives a firm definition to Tennessee whiskey.^[9][10]

While Jack Daniel's supported the 2013 legislation, stating it was necessary to bring the quality of Tennessee whiskey to the level of bourbons and Scotches, some of the state's smaller distilleries opposed it, arguing the process required by the law was too close to the process used by Jack Daniel's. Phil Prichard, the owner and distiller of Benjamin Prichard's, stated, "If I wanted my whiskey to taste like Jack Daniel's, I would make it like Jack Daniel's." Jeff Arnett, the Master Distiller at Jack Daniel's, noted that stringent requirements were required by Scotch makers in Scotland and Champagne makers in France, and said that Tennessee whiskey should be treated no differently.^[12]

In 2014, legislation was introduced in the Tennessee state legislature that would amend the 2013 law to allow the reuse of barrels in the aging process. Diageo, which owns George Dickel, supported the proposed change. Arnett blasted the proposed amendment, going as far as to accuse Diageo of attempting to weaken the quality of Tennessee whiskey to protect its Scotch and bourbon brands. Diageo argued that the 2013 law was an attempt by Jack Daniel's to push smaller competitors out of the market.^[5]

Relatively few brands of Tennessee whiskey survive today, due to a statewide prohibition that lasted longer than the national prohibition.^[13] As of 2013, many Tennessee counties still prohibit the sale of alcohol. In 2009, the Tennessee General Assembly amended the statute that had for many years limited the distillation of drinkable spirits to just three of Tennessee's 95 counties (Lincoln, Moore, and Coffee). The revised law allows distilleries to be established in 41 additional counties. This change was expected to lead to the establishment of small distilleries, thus increasing the number of producers of Tennessee whiskey.^[14]

Brands[edit]

As of March 2013, there are four brands with at least one Tennessee whiskey on the market, and several with whiskey in the barrel awaiting release.^[15]

Producers of Tennessee whiskey[edit]

• Jack Daniel's (a Brown-Forman brand) from Lynchburg
• George Dickel (a Diageo brand) from Tullahoma
• Benjamin Prichard's from Kelso
• Nelson's Green Brier Distillery^[16] from Nashville
• Collier and McKeel^[17] from Nashville
• TennSouth Distillery^[18] From Lynnville^[19][20]
• Fugitives Spirits^[21] from Nashville^{[22][23][24][25]}

New current production[edit]

The Chattanooga Whiskey Company currently mainly sells whiskey produced in Indiana, but the company opened a micro-distillery for production of Tennessee whiskey in downtown Chattanooga.^[26] Production was initiated in Indiana rather than Chattanooga due to Prohibition-era laws which prevented distilling within Hamilton County^[27] until the law was changed in May 2013.^[28] Chattanooga Whiskey opened a large-scale distillery in Chattanooga in 2017. The distillery started producing whiskey in March 2017. Their micro-distillery in downtown Chattanooga continues to make boutique whiskeys.

Historic producers[edit]

• Farrar Distillery

Whiskey made in Tennessee but not "Tennessee whiskey"[edit]

All Tennessee Whiskey is from Tennessee, but not all whiskey from Tennessee qualifies as Tennessee Whiskey.

Although the Ole Smoky Distillery (which began operation in 2010^[29]) is located in Tennessee and it produces a product that is a whiskey, the product cannot be sold as "Tennessee whiskey", because it is not aged. (It is legally classified as a corn whiskey rather than carrying the "Tennessee whiskey" label.) Their product is instead marketed as "Tennessee moonshine".

George Dickel began production of a rye whiskey in 2012, which also cannot be labelled as Tennessee whiskey, because it is produced from a rye-based mash and it is also not distilled in Tennessee. Most of the stages of its production are conducted under contract in Indiana, and the whiskey is then trucked to the Diageo bottling plant in Plainfield, Illinois for filtering with charcoal made at the Dickel distillery and bottling.^[30] In early 2014 they introduced a white corn whiskey using an unaged version of their standard mashbill; the Dickel mashbill is over 80% corn, allowing for its sale as "corn whiskey",^[31] but the bottle makes no reference to Tennessee whiskey.

Production began in 2012 of a Jack Daniel's Tennessee Rye.^[32] As it is 70% rye it is not labeled as a "Tennessee whiskey". A limited initial release, not aged in wood, bore the label "Spirits Distilled from Grain".^[33] A second limited release, called "Rested Rye", was released after two years of aging, and was labeled as a straight rye whiskey.^[34] A fully aged version was released in 2017.^[35]

Benjamin Prichard's also produces a Tennessee Rye Whiskey, an unaged corn whiskey called Lincoln County Lightning, a malt whiskey, and two whiskeys labeled as bourbon.^[36] Like Prichard's Tennessee whiskey, these are not charcoal filtered prior to aging.

Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey is an unaged corn whiskey.^[9]

Lincoln County Process[edit]

Jack Daniel's, George Dickel, Nelson's Green Brier Distillery, and Collier & McKeel Tennessee whiskeys undergo a filtering stage called the Lincoln County Process, in which the whiskey is filtered through (or steeped in) a thick layer of maple charcoal before it is put into new charred oak barrels for aging.^[37] The companies that produce whiskey in this manner suggest that this step improves the flavor of the whiskey. The filtering process is named for Lincoln County, Tennessee, which contained the Jack Daniel's distillery when it originally began its operation. However, in 1871, the boundaries of the county were changed, such that the Jack Daniel's distillery and the surrounding area became part of the newly created Moore County. The only whiskey currently produced within the current boundaries of Lincoln County is Prichard's, which does not use the Lincoln County Process.^[38]

In popular culture[edit]

Tennessee whiskey is the source of the name of the country music song "Tennessee Whiskey" by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, a hit for George Jones in 1983.^[39]

See also[edit]

• Distillation

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Waymack, Mark H., and James F. Harris (1999). The Book of Classic American Whiskeys. Open Court. ISBN 978-0-8126-9305-8