Best at the source
In my opinion, Guinness beer is best in Ireland; Dublin in particular. It would also make sense that Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey would be best in Lynchburg, Tennessee, where it has been charcoal mellowed, drop by drop for 150 years. But the closest you can get to a Jack & soda in Lynchburg is small samples in the tasting room on the tasting tour of the Jack Daniel’s facility. Because even though there are 48 warehouses with 200 million liters of Jack Daniel’s Sour Mash Whiskey stored in barrels on the hill outside of Lynchburg, Moore County, Tennessee is a dry county. That’s right. They can make it. But they can’t sell it.
OK. That’s not totally true. There is a loophole in Tennessee law allowing distilleries to sell one commemorative product on location regardless of local statutes. Jack Daniel’s now sells the original No. 7 blend (in a commemorative bottle), Gentleman Jack, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel, and a seasonal blend (on rotation) in their White Rabbit Bottle Shop. I’ve heard this described as “they will sell you the bottle…and the whiskey comes in it for free”, which may have been the case in the past, but this appears to be part of 2009 legislation allowing manufacturers to open distilleries in about 44 counties where both retail package sales of liquor and liquor-by-the-drink sales have been locally approved.
Under Tennessee Law:
- A distillery license allows a facility to manufacture or distill alcoholic spirituous beverages with an alcohol content of over five percent (5%) by weight and to sell those beverages for consumption off premise. They can also offer samples of their manufactured product without cost or may include those samples as part of a tour of the premises with or without cost.
- Anyone who wishes to distill alcoholic spirituous beverages for commercial purposes must be licensed as a manufacturer/distiller.
- A licensed distillery can serve free samples of the product to anyone over twenty-one (21) as a part of a public tour of the manufacturer’s or distillery’s premises. The location where samples are given must be disclosed to the TABC.
- A licensed distillery can sell its product at retail for consumption off premise to any person of legal drinking age limited to five gallons (5 gal.) or one sixth (1/6) of a barrel of its product to any one (1) individual per visit to the premises.
- Retail sales at the distillery must occur between eight o’clock a.m. (8:00 a.m.) and eleven o’clock p.m. (11:00 p.m.) on Monday through Saturday and between the hours of twelve o’clock (12:00) noon and seven o’clock p.m. (7:00 p.m.) on Sunday.
- Product sold at retail or given for samples must be obtained from a wholesaler.
I think that last one is a little interesting. Jack Daniel’s has to sell its whiskey to a wholesaler who in turn sells it back to Jack Daniel’s so that they can give it away as samples or sell it as a souvenir in their gift shop. OK, that’s just crazy. Jack Daniel’s also has a “By the Barrel program” where you hand-select your very own barrel of Single Barrel Select and it will be bottled just for you. You can even have the label personalized. But you don’t actually buy it from Jack Daniel’s. Nope.
If you live in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, UK or US, in 8-12 weeks plus shipping, an average of 252 bottles of 750ml whiskey plus an empty barrel sanded, varnished and affixed with a personalized, engraved plaque will be shipped to a participating retailer in your area, where you will pay for your barrel when you pick it up at the retailer. All for only $10,000 -$12,000 (more or less, depending on the exact number of bottles and taxes).
Only in Lynchburg
There has been a lot of folk lore around this oddity of whiskey being produced in a city/county where it can’t be legally sold. The most mentioned were Jack Daniel’s and Jim Beam. Jim Beam is produced in Clermont, Bullitt County, KY which until 2011/2012 was a dry county. But after a string of legislation and votes in 2011/2012, Bullitt County, along with every other county on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail is now wet. As a matter of fact, according to a 2000 University of Cincinnati study by UC geography graduate student Kevin Raleigh, wet and dry counties “is an aspect of Kentucky that seems unique, and it seems to be going away.” According to Raleigh, in 1977 85 of Kentucky’s 120 counties were dry. As of fall 2000 when he completed his study, that number was down to 75. And as of 2012, the last year for which I could find clear numbers, 39 are dry, 32 are wet and 49 are moist or dry with special circumstances. And as is the case across much of the formerly dry southern “Bible Belt”, this is frequently changing as more and more jurisdictions hold “local option” elections as the sale of alcohol in various forms spreads througout the region.
What do you think?
So let me know what you think. Is your area wet or dry? Or moist? Have you been to the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg? Or the Guinness brewery in Dublin? Luck you! We want to hear about it. Leave a comment below. Or email me at Mark@CrazyLiquorLaws.com. You will need to register to comment and at that time I will need your email address; but don’t worry; I won’t be spamming you and will never sell your information.
Cheers!
Mark