Touring The Tennessee Whiskey Location In Lynchburg, A Dry County
Southeast of Nashville is a fun and free tourist attraction – the Jack Daniel’s Distillery.
The legendary sippin’ Tennessee whiskey is made in Lynchburg, where a mineral-free creek runs through a limestone cave, providing the perfect water for Old No. 7 and other products.
The distillery is in a beautiful setting. With its manicured lawns, flowers and stream running through the property, it brings to mind another Southern treasure, Augusta National.
The main building looks like a modern country store and rocking chairs out front make one want to sit back and whittle with a blue tick hound by the side, just like Jed Clampett.
Inside, displays tell the story of the creator, the whiskey and the company.
PubClub.com’s tour guide was the affable – and authentic – Dusty. The second coming of Junior Samples (Hee-Haw fans will recognize the analogy), Dusty speaks slowly and often stops in mid-sentence. The tour takes an hour, but it’s unclear how long it would really take if Dusty were to speed up his delivery and pace. Twenty minutes, perhaps 30?
Here’s one of his best lines: “They are people here who get to taste Jack Daniels before it goes into full production. They are called tasters. You are supposed to spit it out. If you swallow it as a taster (big pause), they make your a tour guide.”
One may not exactly learn a lot about how Jack Daniels is made from tour guides like Dusty, but it sure makes for a true Tennessee experience.
If Dusty is a Junior Samples clone, then Uncle Jesse of The Dukes of Hazzard is the driver of the van to the top of the hill.
It is here where the group gathers for a group photo and then goes through a few buildings that include the fermentation room, the mellowing room (where the likes of Dusty shake the tops of barrels to expose the smell of whiskey as it drips through the charcoal filtering) and finally into the barrel room, where some of the whiskey is aged.
The strong smell of whiskey in this room penetrates the pores, but as far as getting a pour of the product in the saloon afterward, forget it. Lynchburg is in a dry county and Jack Daniels can offer no free samples nor even sell the product on-site.
And while they don’t tell you this, for they like to maintain the facade the place is still a small country operation, the main production plant is a couple of miles down the road.
And that’s just fine, for walking through a huge production facility would ruin the home-spun feel of the tour. And it would also put some dust on Dusty’s delivery.
JACK DANIELS DISTILLERY LOCATION & DIRECTIONS
The Jack Daniel’s Distillery is located at 280 Lynchburg Highway. (take I-24 South to US 231 South, left on Highway 82 (the Flat Creek Highway to locals) and right on Lynchburg Highway.
The distillery is 3 miles on the left. Tour hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Phone: (931) 759-4221.
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