Behind the Scenes Tour of Jack Daniel’s Distillery

Jack Daniel’s invited the Chicago Chapter of Women Who Whiskey for a behind the scenes tour of Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Our small group received an exclusive look inside the distillery (including places not open to the public), complete with stays in the Airstreams, a hike to Motlow cave, and lunch at Miss Mary Bobo’s. We also picked the first ever single barrel of barrel proof rye!

(I have been President of the Chicago Chapter of Women Who Whiskey since 2017. Read more about the international club here!)

This trip was especially meaningful for me since Jack Daniel’s holds a special place in my heart. It was the first whiskey I ever drank, back when I was way younger than I want to admit, and was my drink of choice for years. Finally touring the distillery felt like making a pilgrimage to the place that I owe so much of my passion — and my life — to. My love of whiskey has brought so much to my life, from friends, opportunities, trips, and even my boyfriend!

But enough sappy stuff. Here’s a look at the behind the scenes tour at Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, known as Jack Backstage.

Behind the Scenes Tour of Jack Daniel’s Distillery

You (Probably) Don’t Know Jack

First, before you scoff at Jack Daniel’s whiskey and question your trust in my whiskey expertise, it’s important to know that Jack Daniel’s is the top selling whiskey in the world. And with good reason. Even though they make approximately 2,500 barrels of whiskey per day (!), each stage of the process is done with excruciating detail and care. It wouldn’t be wrong to call Jack Daniel’s a craft distillery — it’s just done on a very, very large scale.

If you want to truly know Jack Daniel’s, taste their single barrels. They are amazing, and not your usual No. 7!

Jack Daniel’s is so precise about its whiskey-making process, it controls every step of the whiskey-making process. I’m talking every step of the process. Read on to see what I mean.

Jack Daniel’s Water Source: Cave Spring Hollow

One of the main components of whiskey-making is water. Without good water, good whiskey wouldn’t exist. And distillers have known that for centuries. Most distilleries, especially older historic ones, are located where they are because of nearby water sources.

For Jack Daniel’s, the water source is the Cave Spring Hollow, right on the property. Drawing 800 gallons of water from miles beneath the surface every minute, the water is filtered through limestone and stays at a constant 56 degrees year round. And so does the cave surrounding it! The air was immediately cooler when we walked up to it.

Jack Backstage: Motlow Cave

While the Cave Spring Hollow is part of the regular tour of Jack Daniel’s, seeing where the water source begins is not. Luckily, our behind the scenes tour of Jack Daniel’s distillery included a late-night hike to Motlow Cave.

The Cave consists of three large rooms with high ceilings. In the passage to the cave, there is a signature on the wall dating to 1877. Elsewhere within the cave are signatures from Civil War soldiers dating to January 1864, likely hanging out in the cave for shelter.

Just like being near the Cave Spring Hollow, the cave itself was a cool 56 degrees — even though outside it was in the 70s!

Sugar Maple Charcoal Mellowing

One of the signatures of Jack Daniel’s whiskey — and Tennessee whiskey as a whole — is charcoal mellowing. Formally known as The Lincoln County Process, charcoal mellowing is a requirement of Tennessee whiskey (with the exception of Benjamin Prichard Distillery). Essentially it just means filtering new make spirit through charcoal before barreling. It removes oils and impurities, just like a Brita filter.

At Jack Daniel’s distillery, charcoal mellowing starts at the Rickyard. First, sugar maple wood sits outside for six months to dry out. Then it’s sprayed with “whiskey for destruction” — 140 proof unaged whiskey. Then the wood is started on fire and burns at 1800 degrees. Within about an hour-and-a-half, the sugar maple wood has turned into charcoal. The charcoal is then ground into pea-sized bits, ready for filtering whiskey.

Jack Backstage: Lighting the Ricks

The regular tour takes guests through the Rickyard, and if you’re lucky, it’s on one of the three days a week that the sugar maple is lit on fire. For our behind the scenes tour of Jack Daniel’s, we not only got to experience the ricks on fire, we got to help light it!

Each person in our group got to spray the ricks with Whiskey for Destruction, helping to turn the sugar maple wood into the next batch of charcoal. We also got to see the charcoal grinding room, where they ground charcoal into pea-sized bits. And graffiti-like signatures written in charcoal cover the walls of the room. (Of course we signed Women Who Whiskey Chicago!)

The charcoal mellowing room (which is on the regular tour) shows the vats with 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal, and the tiny drops of new make spirit dripping through it. After 3-5 days of filtering, the whiskey comes through the bottom before being barreled.

Whiskey Warehouse

Once the whiskey has gone through the charcoal mellowing process, it’s put into new, charred American White Oak barrels. They are one of the only distilleries in the world that make their own barrels. (Unfortunately, the cooperage is not in Lynchburg, so it’s not part of the distillery tours.)

The barrels go into one of the 92 warehouses on the distillery property. Each warehouse contains 20,000 – 60,000 barrels of whiskey! The warehouses are not temperature controlled, so the barrels on the upper floors mature faster than those on the lower floors. (The upper floors are where Jack Daniel’s single barrels come from, like the single barrel of rye that we picked! But more on that here.)

There is one warehouse on the distillery tour, which shows how the barrels are lined up and arranged all the way to the ceiling. Guests will also notice the numerous warehouses all around the distillery grounds.

Jack Backstage: Quality Control

One of the buildings most guests walk right by without noticing is where the Quality Control takes place. It’s also where the yeast lab is located, which is not on the regular tour. We got to not only see the yeast lab during our behind the scenes tour of Jack Daniel’s distillery, but got a yeast lesson from Master Distiller Chris Fletcher and Assistant Distiller Lexie Phillips.

“We want you to know as much about how we make whiskey as possible,” Chris Fletcher told us. “There are no secrets! We want you to know everything because we’re not cutting any corners.” He explained that when things get proprietary and secretive, corners can be cut.

Yeast is the second most important contribution to whiskey flavor. At Jack Daniel’s, they only use natural yeast (one of the few distilleries not using yeast enzymes) and can trace their yeast strain to 1938. “That’s the very thing that makes our whiskey,” Chris told us.

The yeast used to be kept in the river (because it’s always 56 degrees) but is now kept in the fridge. They scale it up from a small beaker, growing it until it gets to 1700 gallons a few days before fermentation.

Jack Backstage: Jack Daniel’s Fire Brigade

Jack Daniel’s is the only distillery in the world with its own fire department. Named after the famous No. 7 whiskey, Firehouse No. 7 is staffed by 35 volunteers who all work at the distillery. They have several branded fire trucks, and more firefighting foam than anywhere east of the Mississippi! The Jack Fire Brigade is not normally on the distillery tour, or even open to the public, but we got to see it as a special treat.

Jack Backstage: Jack Airstreams

Since our behind the scenes tour of Jack Daniel’s was two days long, they hosted us in the Jack Airstreams overnight. Located on distillery property a few minutes’ drive from the distillery itself (known as BBQ Hill), there are a dozen Airstream trailers lined up. Each of us got our own trailer, stocked with drinks and snacks and even a gift bag.

The Jack Airstreams are not open to the public and are usually reserved for special guests, bartenders, and groups picking single barrels of whiskey.

Picking the First Ever Single Barrel of Jack Daniel’s Barrel Proof Rye

The highlight of our trip to Jack Daniel’s distillery was picking the first ever single barrel of barrel proof rye. Before we arrived, Master Distiller Chris Fletcher and Assistant Distiller Lexie Phillips picked three barrels from different warehouses for us to pick from.

Lexie taught us how to open the barrel bung holes and use a whiskey thief to extract whiskey from the barrels. We filled half-bottles, then took them to the tasting room for decision making. Together Lexie and our Women Who Whiskey group tasted and dissected the three whiskeys, eventually settling on our single barrel pick. (More on the entire process here.)

We picked an incredible barrel proof rye. But the labels for barrel proof rye haven’t even been designed yet, so our whiskey will have to wait until Spring 2023 to be bottled. Until then, I will dream about the delicious rye, and no doubt about the amazing experience we had at Jack Daniel’s.

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How to Tour Jack Daniel’s Distillery

Jack Daniel’s offers tours of the distillery every day. Several different tours are available, but note many of the places in this article are not open to the public. (The distillery granted Women Who Whiskey Chicago access as a special treat.) If you’re staying in Nashville and want transportation to the distillery in Lynchburg, this tour includes it. Or if you want to see Jack Daniel’s Distillery with George Dickel Distillery, check out this tour.

Related :: The First Ever Single Barrel of Barrel Proof Rye, Six Tips for Visiting the Bourbon Trail, and more American Distilleries

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