By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — It’s Friday night – a little over two weeks from Christmas Day here in Moore County. Hundreds of locals and visitors from not only across Tennessee but also across the United States and even a couple of foreign guests gather at the Jack Daniel’s Visitor’s Center for one of the most popular events of the holiday season, the lighting of The Jack Daniel Distillery Barrel Tree.

Everyone is dressed in warm sweaters, scarves, and down jackets except for one guy standing just right off the stage dressed in a dapper black suit and top hat in a seeming homage to Mr. Jasper Newton Daniel himself.

Each year, Distillery officials pick one person who gets the honor of leading the countdown and lighting the tree. This year it’s Diane Potts, one of the events coordinators at the Visitor’s Center. Despite her very public role, Diane does not like the spotlight. She sheepishly joins Homeplace Director Christine Poston at the stage and together, they lead the countdown, “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

And suddenly the crowd erupts as the 30-foot tree –constructed entirely of 223 white oak whiskey barrels – bursts with lights. It’s the jolliest day in Lynchburg and a tradition beloved around the world.

From Lynchburg to London to Nashville and beyond

It all started back in 2011 as the mastermind of the Jack Daniel’s brand team in Louisville. They wanted to emphasize the the hand-built, white oak barrels in which whiskey gets aged here in The Holler.

“It’s a key ingredient,” says Greg Luehrs, Jack Daniel’s Director of Partnerships and Events. “It’s what gives the whiskey a lot of its flavor and character.”

Armed with this marketing idea, the Louisville crew visited and joined forces with a local contractor named Benny Hoover to build the first Lynchburg tree.

“The first year, it probably looked like a hundred extension cords behind there, but we did it safely and it worked” Luehrs says.

{Editor’s Note: That first tree is the one you might happen upon this holiday season while watching TV. It’s the one featured in the Jack Daniel’s Barrel Tree commercial that airs each December. To see it, click this link.}

Hoover and friends built that first tree to the left of the Motlow House, where it could be visible from the road. Based on some safety concerns, Luehrs moved it several years ago to its current place at the Whiskey Garden inside the gates at the Visitor’s Center.

“I did that for safety,” Luehrs explains. “People often stopped at night and pulled over on the side of the road to take pictures. That’s great, but our security and local law enforcement had a few concerns, so we moved it.”

The year after the first Lynchburg barrel tree, the branding department decided to take the concept international and build a sister tree in London and sent three Jack brand ambassadors – Goose Baxter, Phil Whitaker, and Mark Lonardo – to “oversee” the project. Then in 2018, they expanded the barrel tree programs again – this time to Nashville.

“Nashville was the first city where we really started to refine how we build them,” Luehrs says. “I hired an engineering firm and with the help of “The Barrel Man” Kevin Sanders, we figured out a way to build them soundly and quickly. That helped us expand to cities across the U.S. in 2019.”

An experience, photo op, and a good cause

The Barrel Tree concept sits right at the intersection of marketing, community, and giving back. Yes, it has become a yearly tradition for folks in Lynchburg and beyond. And yes, there are more than a couple of Christmas card photos made in front of it each year. But it’s much more than that.

The public can purchase barrels from the Lynchburg tree or those erected around the country. Proceeds from those sales go to Operation Ride Home – Jack Daniels partnership with the Armed Services YMCA. Together they help junior-enlisted service members, and their families travel home for the holidays.

“We have 13 trees up around the country this year which is the most we’ve ever had,” says Luehrs. “Out of those 13 trees, we’re selling 700 barrels.”

Luehrs tells us that as of this publication date, there are just 40 barrel still available.

“The Lynchburg tree had 60 barrels available, but they do have the most barrels, available for sale. So, they have sold the most,” Luehrs says. “We have a few smaller trees this year for the first time like the one at the Buffalo Bills Stadium. The Bills Mafia showed up strong and they had bought every barrel on that tree already.”

The website to buy barrels from the barrel trees will remain up through the end of December. Each barrel costs $200 and must be picked up by the purchaser. If they sell all 200 barrels, they will raise $140,000 for Operation Ride Home. Jack Daniel’s kicks of the campaign each Veteran’s Day with a $100,000 donation.

“We make our donation of $100,000 to Operation Ride home each Veteran’s Day, no matter if the Barrel Tree program existed or not,” Luehrs says. “There’s also a lot of Jack Daniel’s Squires groups that fundraise on their own and donate to charities we support like Operation Ride Home and Friends of Animals here in Lynchburg.”

Building barrel trees and community

Luehrs tells us that beyond the marketing and the fundraising, one of the things he loves most about the Jack Daniel’s barrel trees is the way they build community.

“What it really has done is bring a lot of togetherness around to the country,” he says. “Our brand team really loves the concept too. They compete to see which cities will get a barrel tree, because obviously, logistically, we can only do so many.”

In total, trees went in 13 locations this year including Lynchburg, Nashville, Tampa, San Antonio, Washington, D.C., New Brunswick, New York, San Francisco, and Venice as well as a couple of military bases.

“We do have two at a military bases this year, one in Fort Campbell and one down in Alabama, at Redstone Arsenal,” Luehrs says. “We don’t always publicize those because the general public can’t access them.”

End the end, Luehrs says Operation Ride Home and the barrels they use to build the barrel trees mirror each other. They both tell a story.

“Every barrel has a story, you know. If you have a barrel in the warehouse, it’s gonna have a different story than the one right next to it. It’s gonna taste a little different and everybody that comes to watch that barrel tree has a story as well, and so we think it just ties into the whole holiday theme of bringing people together.”

Gathering is a word that keeps coming to mind as Luehrs talks. Locals and guests gather around the Lynchburg tree. Friends of the brand gather around the satellite trees. Enlisted men and women get to gather around their own family trees thanks to Operation Ride Home.

When we ask Luehrs about the concept of gathering, he agrees.

“I think it’s the family. It goes back to even what’s on our commercial: It’s not about what’s under the tree that matters. It’s who’s around it.”

If you’d like to purchase a barrel, there’s still time. You can visit https://ridehome.asymca.org/barrel-tree today and purchase one of your very own. You can find a list of Barrel Tree addresses if you click through to the fundraising link. Not every Barrel Tree location is participating in barrel sales. There are also small barrel display locations like Oklahoma City that are offering barrels, but which don’t have a full-size barrel tree.•

{The Lynchburg Times is a locally-owned and locally-operated community newspaper in Lynchburg, Tennessee and one of the few women-owned newspapers in the state. It’s owned by a Tulane University-educated journalist with over 20 years of experience. We’re supported by both readers and community partners who believe in independent journalism for the common good. You can support us by clicking here. }