By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — It’s the first Friday in April and Jack Daniel’s Executive Administrator Marsha Hale, dressed in her Fairy Godmother finest, zips around the distillery’s north campus distributing bottles of Old. No. 7. With Oprah-like glee, she exclaims, “You get a bottle, and you get a bottle.” It’s Good Friday here in Lynchburg.

At least that’s how I imagine it happens.

In reality, Hale pulls around seven cases of local product from the “whiskey closet” in her Lynchburg office located just outside the famous Cave Spring and employees pop by throughout the day to retrieve their bottles. Fellow employee Robin LaCook oversees a similar process 2.15 miles south as the crow flies at Jack Daniel’s South Bottling House. Bottles are also distributed at The Jack Daniel Employee Credit Union.  In total, around 700 full time employees receive a complimentary portion of the whiskey their collective efforts produced. It’s a tradition that’s come to be known as Good Friday here in Lynchburg, and it doesn’t just happen around Easter.

Once called sample day

The tradition of Good Friday in Lynchburg likely stretches back all the way to the times of Jasper Newton Daniel himself, Hale tells us.

“I don’t know that for a fact, but I’m not aware of a time when we didn’t give out whiskey to employees on the first Friday of the month,” she says. “It’s been happening since my first day and I’ve worked here over 40 years.”

It’s a local tradition that happens like clockwork – always on the first Friday of the month. Old timers from the distillery may remember it as sample day – a name Hale still calls it today. The moniker of Good Friday came from the marketing department.

“Marketing came up with a clever ad that called it Good Friday. It caught on at the Visitor’s Center with the tour guides, and so that’s how we started referring to it,” Hale says.

Hale says initially, salaried employees received a 750ml bottle every other month, while hourly employees got a 375ml bottle monthly. Now, all full-time employees receive a 375ml bottle monthly.

“There’s always been whiskey to give out,” Hale jokes. “No shortage of whiskey around here.”

I remember these bottles well from my childhood. My grandfather, G.W. “Pug” Evans worked as a security guard at the distillery his entire career. My grandmother, Willie Marie – a staunch Church of Christ woman – allowed no drinking in her house. Instead, my grandparents kept their own whiskey closet just outside the kitchen – filled floor to ceiling with Jack Daniel’s whiskey. When the lawn guy came or a friend popped by to help my grandfather fix his car, they always left with a bottle of Old No. 7 as a thank you. Ironically, alcohol never tempted me as a teenager. It didn’t seem forbidden because there was no shortage of whiskey around there either.

A tradition from The Donations Man

The intention of the long-standing program isn’t just generosity. The tradition aims to boost employee morale and pride in their work. It reflects Jack’s appreciation for his employees, and contributes to a positive company culture.

Unlike many brands based on a personality, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey springs from a real person … one who lived and breathed right here in Lynchburg, and historical records show that during his time, Jack Daniel lived as a very generous man.

He threw lavish parties at his home, – which once sat on a bluff overlooking the East Fork of the Mulberry Creek near the old Lynchburg, Fayetteville Turnpike – and invited the community to attend.

He became known around town as The Donations Man, who financed many a church project, farm, business, or family emergency. He was known for giving lavish birthday and wedding presents and often loaned money even though he knew there was little chance he’d be repaid.

In fact, it’s a local legend that Jack Daniel financed every church in Moore County — save the one that refused money from that “whiskey maker.”

“Jack was very generous. He always wanted to help everybody, and I think giving whiskey out to his employees back then was just a gesture of his appreciation for their work,” Hale says. “Today, I think the employees are proud of where they work, and they’re proud of Jack and what they do for the company.”

The legend of Christmas whiskey

Hale says the spirit of generosity that existed in Jack got handed down to her father, Charles D. Manley, who served as Jack Daniel’s Senior Vice President and Director of Operations beginning in June 1979 until his untimely death on May 18, 1984 at the young age of 57. 

When we ask her what her father did with his sample bottles, she laughs.

“Dad always had me wrapping bottles of whiskey, especially around Christmas. I remember going to the Green Frog, the Black liquor store in Fayetteville, and handing out bottles with him,” she says. “We would bounce up in there and give out some whiskey. We’d go to all the banks. With him being in the position he was, everybody was looking for Charlie Manley to come by with the Christmas whiskey.”

Trickle down appreciation

The Good Friday tradition’s sparked generosity in Jack employees as well. Senior Buyer Jose Reynoso says he drinks his fair share of Good Friday bottles but also likes to spread the whiskey love around.

“My Good Friday bottles generally don’t make it too far,” he jokes. “I drink most of them, but I also do like to give them away to folks that have never tried the brand or as a thank you for helping me out when I need something.”

Some say they come in handy. Tour guide Bob Burt remembers in 2021, on the trip home from his Georgia honeymoon with his wife, Cheryl, they experienced car trouble. Adding to the stress of the situation was the fact that Burt needed to have a medical procedure done in the next few days, which required a COVID test.

“We found the nearest Chevy dealership and pulled up. A guy greeted us, and we told him what was going on,” Burt says. “Then he asked if we had our oil changed lately and when we confirmed that we did, he discovered that the cover over the air intake had come off. He popped it back on and we were fixed.”

Burt says when the mechanic spotted his employee pass on the windshield, he asked about it, and confessed he was a big fan of our local product.

“I had a Good Friday bottle in the car, and I gave it to him. He was so excited. I now always bring a Good Friday bottle when we travel just in case.”

Sometimes Good Friday bottles are a family tradition. Courtney Bradford, who supervises guest experiences at the Visitor’s Center, says she gives her Good Friday bottles to her parents each month as a sign of appreciation for picking up her son from school.

“Needless to say, that is enough whiskey to get them through a month,” she jokes.

Bottling Crew member Holly Bearden says Good Friday bottles of whiskey were part of her landscape even before she became a full time employee.

“Before becoming a full-time employee, I knew about the Good Friday bottles. I was born and raised here, so my whole life has been about seeing a Good Friday bottle once a month,” she says. “My parents would give me a teaspoon full of Jack with some sugar as a cough suppressant before bed if I was sick.”

Today, she uses her bottles to relax at home with a Jack and Sundrop or gives them away at Christmas and weddings.

One employee, Warehousing Lead Jason Bobo says Good Friday bottles from employees just seem to mean more to the average consumer.

“I have been known to barter with them. A bottle of whiskey from an employee seems to go farther than the actual monetary cost of the whiskey itself.”

It’s a sentiment that Distillery Supervisor Brian Hardison echoes.

“I’ve been with the company for just over 14 years, so I’ve received around 170 sample bottles,” he says. “I’ve both enjoyed and given away many bottles. I’ve noticed that people get excited when they learn that a bottle is a sample, because to them it’s something special.”

Token of appreciation

Hale says change is constant at the distillery, but she can’t imagine a day when Good Friday stops happening. It’s become part of the fabric of the distillery meant to build a spirit of appreciation in the culture.

When we ask her what Jack himself might have written in a personal note to place on every bottle that’s given away to employees, she says it would simply state, “We appreciate all that you do for Jack and for the company, and here’s a little token of my appreciation.” •

{The Lynchburg Times is a nonpartisan, independent community newspaper serving Lynchburg, Tennessee and the surrounding counties. We are dedicated to public service journalism for the greater good of our community. You can support us, by clicking here.}