JD and Dickel tours?

[MikeK]

I'm planning to swing through TN on the way to the Bourbon Festival this fall so I can visit Jack Daniels and George Dickel.

I'm looking for advice on getting the most out of the visit.

I am aware that they both offer tours, but are there any special or back lot tours available if you ask the right way? What are the don't miss spots at or near each distillery? Etc...

Thanks!

[TNbourbon]

I believe you're already planning Miss Mary Bobo's, Mike, which is a 'must visit' despite its hard-to-arrange status. The hostess, Lynn Tolley, is also a lead taster at JD, and sometime 'ambassador' for the brand (I believe she was at WhiskyFest in Chicago, for example). Family-style country meal, and very good vittles!:yum:

Also visit the Lynchburg square, only a block or two from the distillery and adjacent to Miss Mary Bobo's Inn. The 'downtown' area essentially serves as JD's gift shop. Stop at the old-fashioned hardware store and grab you a plow, if yer a-needin' one.

The most intriguing thing to me about the Dickel process is the chilled filtering room. Also, the site has its own post office, where they'll apply the 'local' postmark. Send yourself a post card.

I'm afraid Tullahoma (the town betwixt the two distilleries) has been pretty much picked over bourbon-wise:grin: , but neighboring Manchester -- 8-10 miles east, can still cast off a gem or two occasionally (though, who knows by September?:skep:).

You might also contact Phil Prichard www.prichardsdistillery.com in nearby Kelso (south of Lynchburg a bit) if rum distilling interests you. He distills his rum from Louisiana molasses in an old country schoolhouse. Of course, he also rebarrels (in small casks) purchased bourbon for his doubled-barreled issues.

[craigthom]

I think both tours are worth doing. I felt that the Jack Daniels one was much more polished, almost like a theme park. Dickel felt a lot smaller and more personal. Of course, now that I think about it, I was part of a large group at Jack Daniels, while I was alone at George Dickel, so of course it felt more personal.

I got the impression that Dickel still hasn't fully recovered from their shutdown.

[craigthom]

On the way home from Georgia Sunday I decided to take a break from the rain and traffic. It appeared from the literature that Dickel doesn't do tours on Sunday, so I drove down to Lynchburg.

The visitor center is new since my last visit, but there didn't seem to be all that much there.

At the beginning of the tour our guide asked where we were from. I think, based on my answer of "Louisville" and the few questions I asked (I was good, I swear, only asking reasonable questions while we were walking from one spot to another) the guide was convinced I was a spy from the corporate office. He mentioned Brown-Forman several times in glowing terms, even saying that without them Jack Daniels wouldn't be what it was today. I told him I had nothing to do with the company, but I don't think he was convinced.

We didn't see the stills, which was disappointing. I wanted to see if they were Vendome ones.

Here are some quick notes:

If the mash bill is what he described (80% corn, 12% barley, 8% rye), then, put in used or uncharred barrels, they could sell it as corn whiskey.

They apparently distill only once, to 140 proof. This is a difference with Dickel, who use a doubler after the column still.

Is it the 80% corn and the single distillation that makes JD taste so sweet to me?

The guide said the Lincoln County process ("charcoal mellowing") is strictly for filtering, and it doesn't add any color or flavor or anything to the whiskey. If this is the case, then it really does fit the government's definition of bourbon, and the whole "not bourbon" thing is marketing.

No samples, as before, and it was Sunday, so the store was closed. They did give me a glass of lemonade, or something like it.

[cowdery]

For the record, Jack Daniel's does double-distill. Because this crops up from time to time, the last time I was there I made it a point to ask Jimmy Bedford the question directly and even made him show me the doublers. (They have five beer stills and each one has its own doubler.)

[BourbonJoe]

The guide said the Lincoln County process ("charcoal mellowing") is strictly for filtering, and it doesn't add any color or flavor or anything to the whiskey.

I don't buy this. If the process don't add or subtract flavor, why then doesn't the stuff taste like bourbon? It should, if what he says is true.

Joe :usflag:

[squire]

I visited them both for the first time about 15 years ago and it was quite an experience. Yes, Daniels was a very polished presentation using tour guides who were retired distillery workers. Great jokes and stories even if a bit scripted. The guide didn't like answering my questions specifically, sticking to the company line. He also suspiciously asked who I worked for.

When we (myself, wife and 9mo old son) arrived at Dickel we were the only ones there and a nice lady said they didn't have formal tours but since we had gone to the trouble to visit she would see what she could do. She made a call and David Backus came out to meet us and essentially just walked us around the place.

What struck me as most interesting was the different way each distillery used the charcoal mellowing vats. Both methods work, obviously, but Dickel seemed more efficient.

Squire

[Rughi]

I don't buy this. If the process don't add or subtract flavor, why then doesn't the stuff taste like bourbon? It should, if what he says is true.

Joe :usflag:

Well,

It wouldn't change the flavor of ethanol and it wouldn't change the flavor of pure water (if either truly has "flavor").

However, everything that's special about whiskey (and all brown spirits) lies in the trace compounds that _aren't_ ethanol or water. All the Lincoln County Process strips out are those trace compounds...

Roger

[nor02lei]

Well Joe, Roger and others I did a side by side with filtered and unfiltered JD white dog this fall on Stockholm beer and whisky festival. The difference is enormous! The Lincoln county process does defiantly contribute with a lot of flavours. And it does of cause filter away some of the grain character including corn oil as well. As I see it that’s the 2 main things that set it apart from bourbon.

Leif