Spending Time With Jack!

Had fun today! Drove to Lynchburg, TN, went on a guided tour of the Jack Daniel's Distillery then walked around historic Lynchburg. Very cool!

Our tour guide was Chad, informative, charming and funny!

The story of the Jack Daniels Distillery is fascinating...
Jack's mother passed away when he was two and a couple years later, his father remarried. Little Jack didn't take it lightly, now with 12 brothers and sisters, he was a neglected child. So he ran away, all the way to a neighbour's farm. Eventually he was taken in by one of the communities leaders, the local preacher Dan Coll. He owned a still and was in need of an apprentice. Not only did Jack find a home, but also a trade. Jack grew up working for Coll and learned all there was to know about the art of distilling whiskey.
In 1863 Coll sold the still to Jack who was a mere 13 years old. In 1866 Jack registered his distillery making it the oldest in the U.S. Sometime later, looking for a reliable source of good water, Jack decided on the Cave Springs area. The Cave spring's water was cool, clear, and free of iron. Jack wanted fresh water with a minimum of undesirable impurities that could ruin whiskey. He found it and relocated his distillery. To this day, Cave Spring still supplies water to the distillery.
Jack passed away at the age of 61 from complications of gangrene. Jack had no wife or children, leaving the distillery to be handed down to his nephew, Lem. Lem continued to operate the distillery in much the same way as Jack did.