8D ■ SUNDAY, JUNE 10,2012 coverx story THE TENNESSEAN 1 2 3 » ABOVE PHOTOS 1. Erik Rothfuss of Corsair Distillery stirs a vat of spirits at their facility in Marathon Village. GEORGE WALKER IV /THE TENNESSEAN Smooth as 2. Bottles of Jack Daniel’s are filled with spirits at the distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. FILE/ THE TENNESSEAN 3. Corsair Distillery whiskey and spirits age Tennessee whiskey in their barrels at their facility in Marathon Village. GEORGE WALKER IV / THE TENNESSEAN TASTING New distilleries carry on unique charcoal mellowing WHISKEY process that lends product its distinct flavor Jeff Arnett says he takes a Claritin every day to keep Tennessee his sinuses clear and his By Jennifer Justus Alifelong dream standards as having at least 51 taster working in perfect The Tennessean Ask Mike Williams about the percent corn. Jack Daniel’s, for whiskey 101 order. And while the aver- water he uses at his Collier and example, is 80 percent corn, 12 age Joe doesn’t need to go McKeel distillery, for example. percent malted barley and 8 Step 1: quite that far to enjoy the ou could say He comes from a long line of percent rye. Amixture of corn and occasional glass of whiskey, it’s in the whiskey makers. His family Bourbon also must be aged in other grains such as malt- we can learn about tasting water. That’s moved to the area in the 1790s new, charred American oak, and ed barley and rye is milled/ from the master. where it all after the whiskey rebellion and it must be bottled at 80 proof. ground partially to help When Arnett teaches peo- starts, any- brought with them their ances- While “Kentucky” bourbon must free the starch. ple to taste whiskey, he way. tors’ whiskey-making heritage be made in Kentucky, bourbons says, he isn’t as interested in When Jack from Scotland and Ireland. also can be made elsewhere. Step 2: Daniel master And although some whiskey The milled corn and grain what they taste as where So when Williams was 16 and they taste it. distiller Jeff procrastinating on a school makers say making bourbon in mixture is combined with Arnett stood Tennessee makes it Tennessee water in a tank. The mix- Gentleman Jack, for ex- science project, his father sug- ample, will show up more y by the famous gested that they drive to Lynch- whiskey, others, like Williams ture is cooked and en- cave spring in Lynchburg, Tenn., and Arnett, will argue that the zymes from the sprouted at the front of the tongue, burg and take a sample of the as it has sweeter notes than he spoke of how the water drew water. They continued gathering key difference in Tennessee grains help turn the starch Jack Daniel the man to the area. whiskey is its trip through the to sugar. Some whiskey Single Barrel Jack Daniel’s, samples all the way to his home which shows up toward the He spoke of its mineral content in Waverly, Tenn. charcoal mellowing process. makers also include part —iron-free and high in lime- Jack Daniel and Collier and of a previous batch to help back, where the tongue “We stopped at every mud tastes bitter flavors. stone — and of the distillery’s hole and creek,” he said. McKeel follow the process, and start fermentation (much purchase of the land above the it’s been taking place since the like in making sourdough Arnett is only the seventh The results revealed that the master distiller at Jack spring in the 1980s to ensure water in Lynchburg had the 1870s at Tullahoma’s George bread). This process is that it remained protected. Dickel, too. called sour mash. Daniel, including Jack him- same properties as the water at self. And he even spoke of a fam- every stop along the way and at Charcoal mellowing filters Step 3: —Jennifer Justus, ous singer from Nashville who Williams’ home. And since then, the liquid through sugar maple The cooked grain mixture The Tennessean was so curious to taste the water he has wanted to open a distill- charcoal to remove impurities goes into the fermenta- on a recent visit that she nearly ery of his own. and bitter flavor. Charcoal mel- tion tank. Yeast is added, fell into it. When Williams turned 50, lowing is also known as the which converts the sugars But how does the water turn still holding onto the dream, his Lincoln County process, named to alcohol. to whiskey? And, more specifi- wife finally delivered the line for the county where Jack Dan- cally, what makes it special to that moved him to action: “Ei- iel originally stood before coun- Step 4: ONLINE Tennessee? ther do it, or shut up,” she told ty lines were re-drawn. The fermented mixture Like the live music on every him. Arnett also proudly notes that goes into a still. Alcohol Go to Tennessean.com to corner in town, we sometimes in the early 1940s the federal tax see video from Jack Daniel Now, just five years later, boils at a lower temper- take for granted that just down Williams can be found in the authorities declared that the ature than water, so the Distillery and Corsair the road in tiny Lynchburg, flavor derived from the maple Distillery. Nashville distillery that he alcohol turns to gas. The every drop of the world’s most shares with Jenny and Jeff Pen- charcoal process made it differ- gas is collected through a popular whiskey is made and nington of SPEAKeasy, tasting ent enough to invalidate the use condensing column where shipped to 135 countries. his Tennessee whiskey for qual- of the word “bourbon.” But, it turns back into liquid More distilleries have been ity right out of the barrel. there still is no actual legal cate- alcohol. This clear alcohol popping up in Nashville since gory of “Tennessee whiskey.” is called White Dog or state laws changed in 2009 to “Tennessee whiskey has White Whiskey and is now allow for distillers in counties Whiskey vs. bourbon never really had an identifier,” being marketed as legal that serve liquor by the drink Whiskey production begins Williams said, “but we’re not moonshine. and in package liquor stores. when the water combines with a going to sell whiskey that Step 5: And while they might have al- mixture of corn and other doesn’t go through the Lincoln ternative ingredients or proc- grains, which brings us to an County process.” The white whiskey is esses, like Jack Daniel, it all important distinction: Tennessee filtered through sugar goes back to the water, Ten- whiskey is technically bourbon. Family traditions maple charcoal to nessee’s agrarian corn-raising But not all bourbon can be called Charles Nelson, 28, understands remove impurities roots and the traditional meth- Tennessee whiskey. both process and place. He will and bitter flavor. The ods in the craft. Bourbon is defined by federal tell you that his Belle Meade process is called charcoal mellowing or the Lincoln Coun- ty Process. Step 6: The filtered white whiskey goes into barrels for aging, which gives the whiskey color and depth of flavor. GETTY Astatue of Jack Daniel holds center stage in the visitors center at the Jack Daniel distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. IMAGES LARRY MCCORMACK / THE TENNESSEAN THE TENNESSEAN coverx story SUNDAY, JUNE 10,2012 ■ 9D 4 5 7 6 » Bourbon, one of the newer bour- “It was a commodity,” Wil- Darek Bell ABOVE PHOTOS bons available on shelves locally, liams added of whiskey. “It was of Corsair 4. Jack Daniel's Single is not necessarily Tennessee an antiseptic, and it was hard Distillery Barrel Whiskey. SAMUEL M. whiskey, but he hopes the money currency.” talks SIMPKINS / THE TENNESSEAN he raises from the bourbon will Bell’s copper still has seen about 5. Jack Daniel, the man. help him produce his great- many of these uses as it operated how 6. A look inside the Still great-great-grandfather’s recipe legally before prohibition. spirits are House, where the for Green Brier Tennessee Whis- “It was almost destroyed by a made at whiskey is being key, which will go through the revenuer’s pick ax,” Bell said, their distilled, at the Jack charcoal mellowing process. before it found its way to a farm facility in Daniel Distillery. KAREN Nelson says his family’s whis- where it operated illegally. Bell Marathon KRAFT / THE TENNESSEAN key, trademarked in 1860, is came across the still after it was Village. 7. Aerial of the Barrel older and was larger than Jack rejected due to its size from a GEORGE Houses at Jack Daniel. Daniel’s at the time. moonshine museum in Cali- WALKER “We knew that our family had fornia. He keeps it in use making IV/THE been in the whiskey business,” his award-winning Triple Smoke TENNESSEAN he said. “But we didn’t know it whiskey and Rasputin Hopped was such a big deal back in the whiskey. day.” Nelson, his father and his Taste of Tennessee brother were tipped off to their Williams likes to say that every whiskey-making heritage on a step involved with whiskey mak- trip to pick up some meat in ing happens better in Tennessee Greenbrier about six years ago. because of the conditions here. The butcher who sold the Take, for instance, the final Nelsons the meat happened to process of aging whiskey in live on part of the land where the barrels, which gives the whiskey old distillery had been. He color and depth of flavor.