By Tabitha Evans Moore, EDITOR & PUBLISHER

LYNCHBURG — It’s a warm fall afternoon, and I’m doing something I’ve done dozens of times – the tour at The Jack Daniel’s Distillery. In elementary school, our class would go together on field trips. As teenagers, we always seemed to gather at least once a summer to play tourist and annoy the local guides with our giggling. In college, I often tagged along with out-of-town guests. But today, I’m here as official media to experience something I’ve never done before – take a tasting tour at the distillery.

Tasting tours are nothing new here in Lynchburg, but a recently constructed building behind the Motlow House now boasts six new rooms where local guides can walk folks through one of three distinct tasting experiences: the Jack Daniel Distillery Tour, the Innovation Tasting, and the Bonded Tour. 

A peek behind the curtain

The project kicked off last fall under the direction of former Homeplace Director Erik Brown. At the time, he told The Times that the six new tasting rooms weren’t necessarily about growth, but instead were intended to give visitors a deeper, more immersive whiskey experience.

“We’re very customer-focused here and always asking ourselves what we can do better,” Brown told us. “Expanding the tasting rooms is not about trying to get to 500,000 visitors a year. It’s not necessarily about growth. It’s about making the experience of those who are already coming the best that it can possibly be. We want to expand on the storytelling without making the guests feel rushed.”

For the media preview, I get the pleasure of experiencing Madeline Durm (or Maddy as she likes to be called) as my guide. I’ve walked the tour path with multiple guides including some of the legends and Maddy absolutely stands out.

As a local, the in-depth, historical accounts always intrigue me, and Maddy is nothing if not a natural-born storyteller. She possesses homespun charisma and warm energy that’s impossible not to love. She also clearly enjoys her job. It effortlessly oozes out of her. There’s not an ounce of “put on” here. 

On the tour path, we stop in the rickyard where Daryl Lipham and Tracy Matlock have been making charcoal together for generations. 

“They’ve been showing up to work at 6:30 a.m. every morning for the last 20 years. So, for 20 years, every sip of Jack Daniels has dripped through charcoal they’ve made.” 

It’s details like this and Maddy’s ability to juxtapose the global reach of our hometown distillery alongside our family, friends, and neighbors who work there that make the experience interesting for me despite the familiar topic. It also highlights the fact that despite the distillery’s endless expansion, many things haven’t changed. 

The Jack Daniel walking path also offers a peek behind the curtain — a point Maddy makes in the still and charcoal mellowing portion of the tour. 

“This is what it looks like before the world gets to see it,” she says. “I think that’s pretty cool.” 

Blending history and product knowledge

Once inside one of the new tasting rooms, Maddy proves that she’s not just an enthralling storyteller. She also knows her whiskey. Today, we’ll taste six Jack Daniel’s expressions – starting with Black Label, Gentleman Jack, and the Bonded Series before moving on to Single Barrel, Jack Daniel’s Rye, and finishing with Tennessee Apple.

Maddy purposely starts with the traditional Old No. 7 Black Label before moving onto some of the newer things coming out of The Holler.

“Generally, the first sip of any tasting is going to be your least favorite because your taste buds aren’t doing their job yet,” she explains.

“That’s probably the number one seller in the world, right? It’s consistent, it’s reliable. You can go anywhere to any country and walk into a bar where your bartender does not know any English and probably find it. It’s the universal language for whiskey.”

Then she moves on to some of the innovations that started back in the 1980’s under Master Distiller Frank Bobo. Bobo oversaw whiskey-making during a time of rapid growth in the Holler. During his tenure, the distillery went from operating just two stills to five and created their first “new” product Gentleman Jack back in 1988. It’s a smooth, 80 proof whiskey matured on the lower levels of local barrelhouses.

“Frank Bobo, John Nolan, and a few others started asking themselves the question: how can we make a Jack Daniel’s that’s different without stripping Jack of what it’s known for” Maddy explains.

What they came up with was charcoal mellowing the whiskey twice – once before it’s filled into the barrel and then again before it’s bottled. This process makes for smoother whiskey. It’s details like this that matter to those who consider themselves whiskey connoisseurs.

During the Bonded Series sips, Maddy explains that the bonded concept comes from a time when some industry rascals diluted whiskey for profit. Again, Maddy blends history and product knowledge together seamlessly.

“They’d take all kinds of things – prune juice, unsweetened tea, even tobacco spit – and add it to the whiskey,” Maddy explains with a disgusted face. “Finally, distilleries were like, what can we do to prove what’s in the bottle? That’s how bonded whiskey came about.”

And then she lets us in on a little secret, “It just ramps the whiskey up a couple of notches. I think the Bonded Series and the Sinatra bottle are pretty close, but there’s a big difference in price point.”

As Maddy moves on to Single Barrel, she talks about the tasting rooms and the thought put into their design.

“This room absorbs sound. So, if there was another tasting happening next door, it’s not like we were fighting each other for attention. You can hardly hear anything going on in the next room,” she explains.

There are many details of the local whiskey making process that just don’t fit on the walking tour path, and one of them is the painstaking exclusivity of choosing barrels for the Distillery’s popular Single Barrel line. It was the brainchild of former Master Distiller Jimmy Bedford.

“Next up is Single Barrel and it represents maybe one to two percent of our daily production here in Lynchburg,” Maddy explains. “Each barrel is hand-selected by at least seven of our Master Tasters. There are only 21 total and all seven must agree that a single barrel deserves its own bottle.”

Then she explains why Single Barrel bottles tend to taste creamer than Black Label or even Gentleman Jack.

“When you get to those top floors of a barrel house where it’s over around 120 degrees, that barrel gets saturated with whiskey for four to seven years. The wood can soften up, and create pulp just like in orange juice. That pulp will literally dissolve into your whiskey, and it thickens and produces a silkier whiskey,” she explains. “That why I always tell people not to do too much with Single Barrel. Just leave her. She’s the chosen one, and she’s perfect just as she is.”

More new experiences coming

As we finish up, Maddy explains that the six expressions offered in the new Jack Daniel Distillery Tour will change from time to time, so you’re likely to get to try something new the next time around. The Jack Daniel Distillery Tour will be a traditional tour experience, taking guests along the current tour path, and end with a tasting. The cost is $35 per adult.

Although the sampling portion of the Jack Daniel Distillery Tour is only open to folks who are 21 years of age or older, those under 21, including children with their parents or guardian, can be included. All others will be for ages 21 and up.

If you are interested in the latest whiskey innovations and experiments coming out of Lynchburg, then the Innovation Tasting may be right up your alley. This experience won’t walk the tour path. Instead, visitors will get to taste the latest from their innovation line and experience limited release products. This tasting will be focused on the past Tennessee Tasters and Distillery Series bottles as well as new product innovations. The Innovation Tasting is for folks over age 21 only and costs $45 per person. Each tasting will be limited to eight people.

It’s no secret that Jack Daniel’s Bonded Series whiskeys have generated a ton of consumer and industry buzz. In fact, in 2022, Whisky Advocate Magazine ranked Jack Daniel’s Bonded Tennessee Whiskey as the Most Exciting Whiskey of the year. It’s also become the most popular tour at the distillery and sells out quickly. The Bonded Tour will give visitors a behind-the-scenes look into the Distillery’s rich history and explore just how the award-winning Bonded Whiskeys are crafted. Visitors will get a peek into special production areas, learn about new innovations, and enjoy an exclusive tasting of these new expressions in the original Revenuer’s Office. The Bonded Tour costs $75 and is for ages 21 and up only. It takes around two hours to complete, so plan accordingly.

Distillery officials say they also plan to offer a few more experiences soon including a tour highlighting Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel that gives visitors a chance to experience just what a Personal Collection Tour and Selection is like. They also plan a shorter tasting-only experience that will allow guests who don’t have time for a full tour to sample some of their most popular expressions. Both tours will also be 21 and older only.

The Distillery tours 365 day a year except for seven major holidays: New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. They are happy to accommodate any special needs, just let Visitor Center employees know when you check in. You can learn more and book a tour on the Distillery’s website. Just follow this link. •

{The Lynchburg Times is the hometown newspaper of Lynchburg, Tennessee the home of The Jack Daniel Distillery. We get an up-close, insider view of news and events happening in The Holler. If you’ve visited, and would like to follow goings on here in Lynchburg until you return, give us a follow over on Facebook or check out our website.}