Saturday, August 4, 2007

Yeah! I Do Know Jack!!!




The historic little town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, is the original and surprisingly low-key home of Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey, and it is still made here, in refreshingly understated fashion, from the originally filtered springwater that it started out from - the purest water in the world. Nothing needs to be done to treat it in any way at all. The tour took us all over the plant, nestled into the Lynchburg hillside, where the process - which is surprisingly simply, but long - was explained. The end result is... well... I guess those who are interested already know! It was a fascinating experience, especially the bit about Jack coming to work one morning, being unable to open the safe, kicking it, getting gangerine in his foot, never recovering from it and dying 4 years later from blood poisoning. Ironically, it is said that had he stuck the offending foot in a nearby vat of what starts off as 140 proof whiskey, it would have cured it. He died at 61, unmarried but very much a ladies man, by all accounts - even at just 5'2' tall he was evidently quite a package - having made and sold whiskey since age 13. The distillery was left to languish, decay and rust for 29 years of Prohibition before being ressurected by Jack's visionary nephew (then in his late sixties), to whom Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey owes its survival. Various warehouses and holding facilities in the immediate area hold around 7 million gallons of JD at any one time, in various stages of fermentation. Its all farmed out for bottling now, too, as the plant is not equipped to deal with the volume. All that is bottled on site now are the special reserves, hand bottled, hand labelled, and hand packed. Samples are not available anymore, and its a "dry county" but the Company has been recognised as historically and commercially significant enough to have had special legislation written for them to be able to sell a very small amount at the visitor centre. But, in the nearby town, the little square - charming in its originality - hosts shops bulging at the seams with JD merchandise, including the whiskey itself. Huge thanks go to Avery and Keith for taking me down there, for what will no doubt linger, in my memory, as one of the most fascinating experiences I'm likely to have on this whole trip.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good girl, Max! Seeing the homeland of America's finest potable - it's the universal solvent! You can mix Jack with ANYTHING: lemonade, soda, juice, water!! Too bad about the sampling.

Glad to see you are having lots of fun!

The other night I met a woman at bike nite that is riding her v-star to Las Vegas. She and her husband are retiring of sorts to the west. TOo bad about the timing!

MMmmm. Makes me wonder when I am goingto be able to take MY cross country trip!!

Love you!
Candy

Mac_Muz said...

Gotcher call in the day time, and we are more outdoors now as before than in. I am cutting trees from that swap you wanted to see drained.... Moving rocks and in day 6 of learning the in's and out's of drivng a Bob Cat to move all that crap, plus doing what hand work needs done in the now dust bowl of a lawn, which was all bull dozed just after you left.

I guess I am ok, but I could be mistaked for a deer now more than before as I am somewhat fried for a Yankee... I am supposed to be blue, not tan... it has been in the 100's as well and the sun was feeling like a sting. The dust doesn't wash off any more dear...

So about 1 hour before the sun goes down where you are now I just might be washed, but still brown and able to answer a phone (if you get lucky) You are aware about How I Feel about phones RIGHT? grrrrr

I did take a stones and gravewl shower yesterday.. Not to bad, but I wouldn't reccomend it. It was hot and I was just a little bit sweaty, just slightly... And I was eagerly discovering just how much crappy sand and stone I could pick up with a machine. I took 2 big bites for a Bob Cat into the bucket and then a 3rd no less, going for numba 4 as I shook the now high bucket hi over head to get the carp back .....well rocks and dirt fell over the backside of that bucket and I got me a lesson in hard rock, cuts, a bruise except I don't, and I learned my lesson well to NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN... So yeah, I am fine and man kind is not due to the fact I wasn't killed... Still dangerous in New Hampster (but to whom?)

Hey Candy pass the jug over here will ya?

Maxine Cook said...

Hey Candy! Been thinkin of ya. Hope all is well with you, your lovely bike and your sweet little canines. I'm having the adventure I came for, huh? Warts and all!!!