On the Culture Front: Tasting Barrel Strength Whiskey at Jack Daniel's and Absorbing the Culture in Nearby Nashville

The first whiskey I ever had was Jack Daniel's, first as a shot in college and soon after in the eponymous Jack and Coke. The black bottle with white accent letters was long burned in my memory along with the myth of this mysterious man. The distillery in the oddly dry country of Lynchburg, Tennessee lays bare some of the legend. A life size statue stands on the grounds at just 5 feet 4 inches high, near a babbling stream of fresh water used in the distilling process.

If you go to a couple distilleries there's usually no reason to visit more, same with breweries. I usually skip the tour and go straight to the tasting room but the Jack Daniel Distillery is a bit like whiskey Disneyland. Memorabilia and antiques abound including the safe that Daniel kicked according to legend, leading to a foot infection and later fatal blood poisoning. This is now disputed by Daniel's biographer Peter Krass but a fun story nevertheless.

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