Jack Daniel's

• 1. Introduction

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  Jack Daniel's, a Tennessee whiskey brand, sold 12.9 million nine-liter cases of its Black Label in 2017, making it the best-selling whiskey in the world. It is made in the small town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, in a hollow beside a limestone cliff.

  The man whose name sits on the bottle is harder to pin down than the whiskey. Three sources give three different birth years, and even the founding date printed on the label has been challenged.

  The documentary that follows asks how a farm boy with no fixed birth date built a name that outlasted him. What does a charcoal filter have to do with state law? How did a distillery survive a ban on its own product? And what happened when the strength of the whiskey was quietly lowered? Why do a crooner, a heavy metal bassist and a racing team all turn up in its story?

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• 2. A Disputed Birth

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  The tombstone of Jasper Newton Daniel, called Jack by nearly everyone, carries the year 1850. The brand's official website accepts that date but admits his exact birth date is unknown. By company custom, his birthday is celebrated in September.

  In 2013, the Tennessee state library website listed the 5th of September 1846 instead. It argued that 1850 was impossible, because his mother died in 1847.

  Biographer Peter Krass disagreed with both. His 2004 book Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel placed the birth in January 1849. Krass relied on a diary kept by Jack's sister and on census records. His sources also indicated that the mother apparently did not die in 1847 at all.

  Jack was the youngest of ten children born to Lucinda Cook Daniel and Calaway Daniel. After Lucinda died, Calaway remarried and had three more children. Calaway's own father, Joseph "Job" Daniel, had emigrated from Wales with his Scottish wife, the former Elizabeth Calaway. Jack's ancestry also included English and Scots-Irish lines.

  Jack did not get along with his stepmother. His father died in the Civil War, and a family friend named Felix Waggoner then legally adopted the boy. Jack was soon taken in by another local farmer, Dan Call. Call also served as a lay preacher, and he distilled moonshine.

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• 3. Roots of the Brand

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  Nathan "Nearest" Green was an enslaved African-American man, and he served as Master Distiller for Dan Call. Under Green, the teenage Daniel learned the distilling trade, including the Lincoln County Process. That method filters whiskey through sugar maple charcoal. It created the line between bourbon and the Tennessee whiskey known today. Green kept working with Call after emancipation, and the distillery's list of former Master Distillers includes him for 1875-81.

  In 1875, Daniel received an inheritance from his father's estate after a long dispute with his siblings. He used it to found a legally registered distilling business with Call. When Call quit for religious reasons, Daniel took over. The label claims the business was established and registered in 1866. Krass cites official registration documents to argue it began only in 1875.

  The recipe's origin has been contested too. In 2012, a Welshman named Mark Evans claimed to have found the original recipe in an 1853 book written by his great-great-grandmother. He said her brother-in-law, John "Jack the lad" Daniels, had carried it to Tennessee.

  In 1884, Daniel bought the hollow and land where the distillery now stands. By the 1880s, his was one of 15 distilleries operating in Moore County. Only Tom Eaton's Distillery produced more.

  In 1897, Daniel began using square bottles, meant to convey fairness and integrity. The name "Old No. 7" has two rival explanations. Krass says it was the number the government assigned to the distillery for registration. When the federal government redrew the district, Daniel became Number 16 in district 5, replacing No. 7 in district 4. He kept the old number as a brand name because its reputation was already established. A 1967 book, Jack Daniel's Legacy, tells a different story. It says the name was chosen in 1887 after a visit to a merchant friend in Tullahoma, who had built a chain of seven stores.

  The whiskey won the gold medal for the finest whiskey at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, and its popularity surged. At home, though, its local reputation suffered as the temperance movement gained strength in Tennessee. Statewide prohibition was only six years away.

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• 4. Dry Years

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  Jack Daniel never married and had no known children, so he looked to his nephews. One of them was Lemuel "Lem" Motlow, who lived from 1869 to 1947. In 1907, with his own health failing, Daniel gave the distillery to Lem and another nephew.

  Tennessee passed a statewide prohibition law in 1910, effectively barring legal distillation of Jack Daniel's in the state. Motlow challenged it in a test case that worked its way up to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court upheld the law as constitutional.

  Daniel died of blood poisoning in 1911. A well-known tale says the infection began in a toe he injured while kicking his safe in anger one early morning, because he could never remember the combination. His modern biographer has asserted that this account is not true.

  With Tennessee closed to them, the company shifted its distilling to St Louis, Missouri, and Birmingham, Alabama. None of the production from those two places was ever sold, because of quality problems.

  The Twenty-first Amendment of 1933 repealed prohibition at the federal level, but state laws, including Tennessee's, stayed in force. Motlow, by then a Tennessee state senator, led the effort to repeal them. That allowed production in Lynchburg to restart in 1938. In 2008, the company marked the five-year gap with a gift pack of two bottles. One honored the 75th anniversary of the end of prohibition, and the other the 70th anniversary of the distillery's reopening.

  From 1942 to 1946, the distillery stopped again, because the U.S. government banned whiskey manufacture during World War II. Motlow resumed production in 1947, once good-quality corn was available again. He died that same year and left the distillery to his children Robert, Reagor, Dan, Conner and Mary.

  The Brown-Forman Corporation bought the company in 1956. In 1972, the distillery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

  The company was later incorporated as "Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Prop., Inc.", which lets it keep Motlow in its tradition-minded marketing. Advertisements likewise still cite a 1960s population figure of 361 for Lynchburg. The town has since formed a consolidated government with Moore County, and the 2010 census put its official population above 6,000.

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• 5. Charcoal and Law

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  At the base of a limestone cliff in Stillhouse Hollow, also called Jack Daniel's Hollow, a spring flows out of a cave. The limestone strips iron from the water, which matters because iron-heavy water gives whiskey a bad taste. The spring feeds East Fork Mulberry Creek, part of the Elk River watershed.

  The mash is 80% corn, 12% rye and 8% malted barley, and it is distilled in copper stills. The whiskey then passes through stacks of sugar maple charcoal 10 feet tall. The company calls this step "mellowing". It removes impurities and the taste of corn. Jack Daniel's also grinds its charcoal before using it, which is a distinctive part of the process.

  Aging takes place in newly handcrafted oak barrels, which give the whiskey its color and most of its flavor. Until 2014, Brown-Forman made the barrels in Louisville, Kentucky. That year, the company opened a new cooperage in Trinity, Alabama.

  The label also says "sour mash". When the mash is prepared, wet solids from a previous batch are mixed in so that fermentation runs more consistently. This is common practice in American whiskey production.

  The company argues that the charcoal step makes its product different from bourbon. Yet under the North American Free Trade Agreement and Canadian law, Tennessee whiskey must be "a straight Bourbon Whiskey".

  On the 13th of May 2013, Governor Bill Haslam signed House Bill 1084, which gave Tennessee whiskey a firm legal definition. To use the name, a whiskey must be made in Tennessee and filtered through maple charcoal by the Lincoln County Process before aging. It must also meet the basic bourbon rules. These include at least 51% corn, new charred oak barrels, and limits on alcohol by volume for distillation, aging and bottling. The law carries an exception tailored to exempt Benjamin Prichard's. Some other distillers were displeased to see the standards of Jack Daniel's written into law.

  In 2014, legislation was introduced to allow oak barrels to be reused in aging. Master Distiller Jeff Arnett vehemently opposed it. He argued that reuse would require artificial colorings and flavorings, and would make Tennessee whiskey inferior to Scotch and bourbon.

  Local politics tested the company as well. In 2011, a proposal would have taxed the distillery $10 per barrel. Supporters claimed the main employer in a company town had capitalized on Lynchburg's bucolic image. The company called the tax a confiscatory penalty for its success. The Metro Lynchburg-Moore County Council defeated it 10-5.

  Moore County is dry. Distilling the whiskey there is legal, and buying it there is not. One state law offers an exception, letting a distillery sell one commemorative product at a time regardless of county statutes.

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• 6. Proof and Labels

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  Until 1987, Black Label was bottled at 90 U.S. proof, which is 45% alcohol by volume. That year began a series of reductions, starting with Black Label at 86 proof. The lower-end Green Label was already 80 proof. Both are made from the same ingredients, and professional tasters decide which batches earn the premium black label.

  In 2002, every generally available Jack Daniel's product dropped to 80 proof. The change cut production costs and excise taxes. There was no announcement, no publicity and no change of logo or packaging. The magazine Modern Drunkard noticed, condemned the move, and started a petition that collected more than 13,000 signatures. The company replied that it believed consumers preferred lower-proof products and that sales had not been hurt. It held firm. In 2005, Advertising Age said that "virtually no one noticed" and confirmed that sales had actually increased since the dilution began.

  Stronger bottlings have appeared from time to time. For the 1996 Tennessee Bicentennial, a one-time run reached 96 proof, the highest Jack Daniel's had bottled up to then. It came in a decorative bicentennial bottle. In February 1997, the distillery debuted Single Barrel at 94 proof. Silver Select once held the top spot at 100 proof but is sold only in duty-free shops. Barrel proof editions now run from 125 to 140 proof.

  Other labels follow their own rules. Gentleman Jack is charcoal filtered twice, compared with once for Old No. 7. A label called 1907 is sold in Australia at 74 proof. Bottled-In-Bond, at 100 proof, is sold only on military bases, and the domestic version is called Bonded. Sinatra Select, at 90 proof, is named for Frank Sinatra, and a limited Sinatra Century edition marked his 100th birthday.

  Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Fire, Tennessee Apple and Tennessee Blackberry are liqueurs blended with less than 20% whiskey, at 70 proof. Winter Jack, a seasonal mix of apple cider liqueur and spices, is only 30 proof.

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• 7. Sales and Spectacle

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  On top of Black Label, variations such as Tennessee Honey, Gentleman Jack and Tennessee Fire added another 2.9 million cases in 2017. Ready-to-drink products contributed 800,000 equivalent cases. Together they lifted the whole family of brands past 16.1 million equivalent adjusted cases.

  Underlying net sales for the brand grew by 3%. Tennessee Honey grew 4% and Tennessee Fire 14% on an underlying basis. Gentleman Jack grew by mid-single digits, and the ready-to-drink segment rose 6%.

  In the IWSR 2013 World Class Brands rankings of wine and spirits brands, Jack Daniel's placed third in the world. In 2017, it ranked 16th on the IWSR Real 100 Spirits Brands Worldwide list. The consultancy Intangible Business put it fourth on its Power 100 Spirits and Wine list in both 2014 and 2015.

  The trade war started by Donald Trump in 2025 pushed sales down. Exports to Canada in the second quarter of 2025 were 62% lower than in the same period a year earlier.

  The distillery is also a major tourist attraction, drawing more than a quarter of a million visitors each year. Its visitor center, dedicated in June 2000, holds memorabilia and a gift shop. Paid tours run several times a day, and a premium sampling tour is also offered. Some 1.9 million barrels of aging whiskey sit in several dozen barrelhouses, and some of them crown the hilltops around Lynchburg. In February 2016, a $140 million expansion was announced, with a larger visitor center and two more barrelhouses.

  From 2005 to 2009, the brand sponsored the Richard Childress Racing 07 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, a number echoing Old No. 7. Dave Blaney drove first, and Clint Bowyer soon took over. From 2006 to 2015, it sponsored the V8 Supercar teams Perkins Engineering and Kelly Racing. It also sponsors tours by the Zac Brown Band.

  In September 2022, Jack Daniel's signed a multi-year partnership with McLaren, starting with the 2023 season. A limited edition Old No. 7 paid tribute to the two founders, Jack Daniel and Bruce McLaren. For the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, both McLaren cars carried a Jack Daniel's livery, with a collage across the rear sidepod and engine cover.

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• 8. People and Pop Culture

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  Jess Motlow was Master Distiller from 1911 to 1941, followed by Lem Tolley from 1941 to 1964 and Jess Gamble from 1964 to 1966. Frank Bobo held the post from 1966 to 1992. Jimmy Bedford then served for 20 years. He retired in mid-2008 after a $3.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit against the company ended in an out-of-court settlement. He died of a heart attack at his home in Lynchburg on the 7th of August 2009.

  Jeff Arnett, a company employee since 2001, became Master Distiller in 2008. On the 3rd of September 2020, he announced he was stepping down. On the 20th of April 2021, he announced that he and partners were opening Company Distilling, a new whiskey distillery near the Great Smoky Mountains. Chris Fletcher became the 8th Master Distiller in 2020, after six years as Assistant Master Distiller. He is the grandson of Frank Bobo.

  The Tennessee Squire Association was formed in 1956 to honor special friends of the distillery. Membership comes only through the recommendation of a current member, and many prominent business and entertainment figures belong. Each Squire receives a wallet card and a deed certificate. These name the holder as "owner" of an unrecorded plot of land at the distillery and as an honorary citizen of Moore County.

  Frank Sinatra was a Jack Daniel's drinker, and he was buried with a bottle in 1998. Lemmy of Motörhead cited it as his drink of choice, usually mixed with Coke. He reportedly drank a whole bottle every day for 38 years. After his death in December 2015, Food and Beverage magazine dubbed the drink "The Lemmy" in January 2016. Jack Daniel's is also the whiskey in Lynchburg lemonade, and a common choice for the Tennessee whiskey in the "three wise men".

  Country singer-songwriter Eric Church wrote a song called "Jack Daniels" for his album Chief. He later partnered with the brand to create Eric Church Single Barrel Select. In 2025, K. Michelle, the first black woman to partner with the brand, released a song titled "Jack Daniel's".

  The label's look has inspired cover art. Charlie Daniels' 1974 album Way Down Yonder shows bottles of Jack Daniel's. Mel McDaniel's I'm Countryfied, from 1980, used a design based on the label. Pantera's 1997 live album Official Live: 101 Proof and Mötley Crüe's 2001 autobiography The Dirt did the same.

  Patrick Wensink's 2012 book Broken Piano for President also borrowed the label, and the company sent a cease and desist letter. It then said the design could stay until the book's next reprinting, and that it would compensate the author if he complied during the current run.

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