Tennessee Whiskey
The subject of eternal debate among whiskey enthusiasts, Tennessee whiskey is technically a type of bourbon. It must be produced to the same specifications as bourbon: at least 51% corn, aged in new, charred oak containers, and bottled at a minimum of 80 proof. Unsurprisingly, it must also be produced in the state of Tennessee. The most unique requirement, however, is that it must use the Lincoln County Process in its production. While most whiskey is filtered through activated charcoal before bottling, the Lincoln County Process is a more elaborate filtration procedure that uses sugar maple charcoal before it goes into the barrel. The result is a “mellowing” of the whiskey, as well as unique maple and smoke notes in many expressions. The most famous Tennessee whiskey, and also the best-selling American whiskey in the world, is Jack Daniel’s. There are only a few other Tennessee whiskey producers today, partly owing to Jack Daniel’s dominance of the category and also because Tennessee, until the 2010s, heavily restricted the production of alcohol in the state.
Top Tennessee Whiskey Posts:
A Visit to Jack Daniel’s Distillery
A Visit to Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery
George Dickel Tennessee Whiskies – Cascade Hollow, No. 8, and No. 12
In 2019, George Dickel impressed us so much with its 13-year-old Bottled in Bond that we put it in our Top 10 Whiskeys list for the year. In 2020, the distillery produced a very solid, ...
Sweetens Cove hit the ground running with their inaugural release last year, a 13-year-old stunner blended by the talented Marianne Eaves. Now Marianne and her celebrity backers have returned with round two, which aims to ...
This 7th entry in JD’s Tennessee Tasters’ Selection is one of its simplest concepts: Tennessee Whiskey (a type of bourbon) blended with Tennessee rye. 50 barrels total were used for this release — 30 rye, ...
High N’ Wicked is a new whiskey brand based out of Jackson, Wyoming, but beyond that, there’s not a lot I can tell you about their operation. It’s almost certainly a non-distilling producer, as their ...
Daddy Rack — yes, I know — is a new craft whiskey out of Columbia, Tennessee, and before you ask, yes, this is a “Tennessee Whiskey,” a bourbon which undergoes the Lincoln County Process of ...
Prior to the “Bourbon Boom” of the 2010s, America’s Native Spirit far-too-often took a backseat in the world of cocktail development. And while there isn’t always a singular reason behind spirits trends, there’s long been ...
Mike recently covered Pennington Distilling’s Pickers Vodka, and now we’re going back to the well for another spirit from the Nashville-based operation: Two (almost) grain-to-glass whiskeys. Pennington’s Davidson Reserve line now includes five whiskeys in ...
Cascade Hollow Distilling Co. is probably better known to most readers as the home of the George Dickel Tennessee Whisky line, but recently the company launched a new line of whiskies called Cascade Moon — ...
George Dickel is clearly sitting on sizable stocks of well-aged whiskey. The release of their Bottled in Bond in 2019 (first a 13 year and recently a more modest 11 year) and the ever-growing list ...
Can lightning strike twice? 2019’s 13 year old Bottled in Bond Tennessee Whiskey from George Dickel won all kinds of raves, including from yours truly — proving that a $35 bourbon could go toe to ...
