George Dickel Tour

[AGarrison]

We toured the George Dickel distillery on 4/18. This is one distillery you have to want to find. Its hidden well off the beaten track and not much in the way of signs.

They have a free tour lasting about an hour (no tasting) and a $10 tour lasting 1.5hrs which includes a tasting at the end. The distillery is really quite small with only 29 employees working in the actual distillery. We did pick up a few interesting facts:

• 11 warehouses, all single story.
  
• Barrels are stacked in 6 rows and are not moved at all while aging. We werent allowed to tour the actual warehouses, so we had to settle for watching a video.
  
• The barrels have a #4 char on the body (staves) and #2 on the heads and are sourced from KY (although the guide didnt know where the oak itself was from).
  
• No bottling is done on site anymore unless you buy a whole barrel.
  
• The mashbill is 84/8/8
  
• The distillery has the only functioning post office in the US
  

Everything was in full swing when we got there, so we got to see it all from making the mash to filling the barrels. No computers in the distillery at all except one used in analyzing samples.

The old revenuer's cabins have been turned into a tasting room. It must have been a sweet job to live in the cabin with free whisky and nothing to do but make sure the taxes are paid.

The distillery is much smaller than Jack Daniels, and you cant help comparing the two as you go. It was fun to see all the wild turkeys hanging out around the distillery too. The video in the media center takes a few fun jabs at Wild Turkey like taking a dead turkey out of a Dickel box in the bottling plant.

The modern distillery is about .5 mile from the original. The original site is just a pile of stones now. The location is in a beautiful hollow. They own about 600 acres, so no one is going to build anything nearby to spoil the illusion of going back to an older time. We enjoyed the tour a lot.

You can buy all their products on location except the rye. Since they dont make the rye in TN, the tour guide said they cant sell it at the distillery. For my money the #12 beats both the #8 and the barrel select.

Rear view

Front view from the visitor center

Edited April 21, 2013 by AGarrison

[squire]

Good description of the place and yes, you have to be looking to find it.

[Alden]

Their #12 is one of my favorite whiskeys of all time.

[fishnbowljoe]

Thanks for posting Alex. Nice job.

[squire]

Good pictures, as the front view shows the place is not an architectural gem, rather business like, but also shows how small the distillery is compared to others. It sits neatly nestled on the valley floor and looks in proportion to the the surrounding Cascade Hollow. The riprap visible in the foreground is one of the banks of the famous Cascade Creek which is still a water source utilized by the distillery.

[MJL]

I went on the tour in August of 2013 and was not even offered the tasting tour. I would have gladly paid the extra for it. I do have a few photos that I will try to get up here as soon as I get them off my chip.

[MJL]

Oh and I would totally agree with the comment that this distillery is off the beaten path. If asked they will give you written directions out of there but suffice it to say that we were beyond cell phone reception and totally turned around by the time we got the place. We were actually wishing we had GPS in the rental car as we were quite literally in BFE (T).

[Westernboys]

Have not had the opportunity to visit Dickel but hope to next year. Thanks for the great report.

[Don't Shoot!]

I've visited twice, once back in December 2010 and once again just yesterday. Our tour guide Patrick told us that the place has been a media frenzy this week with the state set to consider amending or repealing the legislation it just enacted last year defining Tennessee whiskey. I didn't get there in time to take the extended tour, but it was really cool to see the place on an off day after having seen it in full-swing before. One thing that has changed since the last time I was there is that the barrel storage room we get to see on the tour is actually now used as a small warehouse instead of as just a prop. They are also in the process of building another warehouse with more in the works to increase their capacity.

It's a really nice small place in the middle of nowhere, but not impossible to find. It's not directly on any main highway, but once you come upon it, you know you're there!

[tanstaafl2]

I've visited twice' date=' once back in December 2010 and once again just yesterday. Our tour guide Patrick told us that the place has been a media frenzy this week with the state set to consider amending or repealing the legislation it just enacted last year defining Tennessee whiskey. I didn't get there in time to take the extended tour, but it was really cool to see the place on an off day after having seen it in full-swing before. One thing that has changed since the last time I was there is that the barrel storage room we get to see on the tour is actually now used as a small warehouse instead of as just a prop. They are also in the process of building another warehouse with more in the works to increase their capacity.

It's a really nice small place in the middle of nowhere, but not impossible to find. It's not directly on any main highway, but once you come upon it, you know you're there![/quote']

When I was there in early February they indicated that small warehouse was where they were keeping the barrels (or at least some of them) being used as part of the single barrel project. It was pretty full but supposedly all the 9yo barrels they had pulled were already spoken for. I think they were doing the bottling for the single barrels there on site.

[cowdery]

The next time someone tours Dickel, try to find out what they're making there other than George Dickel. They revealed in a lawsuit on Friday that they have been making something else, presumably a whiskey, that they're sending to Stitzel-Weller in Louisville for aging.

[p_elliott]

The next time someone tours Dickel, try to find out what they're making there other than George Dickel. They revealed in a lawsuit on Friday that they have been making something else, presumably a whiskey, that they're sending to Stitzel-Weller in Louisville for aging.

Do Tell ................

[tanstaafl2]

Do Tell ................

I think that is the problem. They didn't say what it was, only that they were doing it. Chuck is looking for a little help to determine what exactly.

[Lost Pollito]

Thanks for including the link to the law suit Chuck. Very interesting read. Presumably, the sourcing fix for Bulleit has hit an unexpected snag? Though, that is only a guess.

[VAGentleman]

I stopped by Dickel yesterday and none of the tour guides had any clue about any other whiskey or the lawsuit. All they knew was they were bottling the Old Blowhard and Barterhouse there. A few other things. They are now experimenting with Rye in Tullahoma. They had a full fermentation tank of 95% rye and were filling another when I was there. They also said some of the 14 year old was actually 15 or 16 year old. I actually saw 30-40 barrels that were filled in 1998 so it seems legit. The guide said both the 9 and 14 would continue as it has been extremely popular. Lastly they are now distilling 5 days a week and are adding a second shift. Dickel's popularity seems to be growing.

[BigRich]

I stopped by Dickel yesterday and none of the tour guides had any clue about any other whiskey or the lawsuit. All they knew was they were bottling the Old Blowhard and Barterhouse there. A few other things. They are now experimenting with Rye in Tullahoma. They had a full fermentation tank of 95% rye and were filling another when I was there. They also said some of the 14 year old was actually 15 or 16 year old. I actually saw 30-40 barrels that were filled in 1998 so it seems legit. The guide said both the 9 and 14 would continue as it has been extremely popular. Lastly they are now distilling 5 days a week and are adding a second shift. Dickel's popularity seems to be growing.

Joe, Jimmy and I heard basically the same thing when we toured late last month.

[smokinjoe]

Joe, Jimmy and I heard basically the same thing when we toured late last month.

We also learned that the profit margins on the 9yr they sell in the Gift Shop are very good...Of course, fiscal geniuses that we are, we decided that Diageo needed more cash, so helped them out a bit by taking a couple off their hands...

I also believe they said that sales for the entire Dickel line-up is well under 300,000 cases per year. If my memory is correct, I think the number was 225,000. Very, very, small.

[Phil T]

We also learned that the profit margins on the 9yr they sell in the Gift Shop are very good...Of course, fiscal geniuses that we are, we decided that Diageo needed more cash, so helped them out a bit by taking a couple off their hands...

.

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

[cowdery]

Diageo has reported Dickel's sales as 130,000 cases per year.

[OscarV]

Of all the distilleries, wineries and breweries I have been to Dickel is my favorite.

My wife and I had a tour of just us and the young Lady showing us around was both enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Just getting to the place was fun.

[smokinjoe]

Diageo has reported Dickel's sales as 130,000 cases per year.

I thought the number I heard was unbelievably low. 130K would be just ~50% of that! Doing a little math exercise of total bottles, bottles per barrel, etc...it seems even more unbelievable...Gosh, they are a bump on a gnats ass in the whole scheme of things.

[squire]

Lastly they are now distilling 5 days a week and are adding a second shift. Dickel's popularity seems to be growing.

Good for them . . . .

[cowdery]

Jack outsells George 100 to 1.

[smokinjoe]

Jack outsells George 100 to 1.

Right. I was reading an article last night where Jeff Arnett said Daniel's could easily go from an ~10,000,000 case brand, to a 17,000,000 case brand, but warehouse/rickhouse space is holding them back from realizing that. You buy that, Chuck? Or, is that big talk?

[cowdery]

It's 'big talk' to the extent that it won't be 'easy.' It's also a little odd to say because I'm sure they're building warehouses and doing whatever they have to do to keep up with demand. That's also not his job. He just makes the stuff. Does Jack have that kind of potential? Absolutely. I've talked to Paul Varga, Brown-Forman's president and CEO, about it and he says there's really no telling how big Jack Daniel's can get, and not just in terms of whiskey sales but everything else too.

If American whiskey conquers the world, as it seems poised to do, what other brand do you think will lead the charge?

Edited May 18, 2014 by cowdery