Jack Daniel's Distillery: Lynchburg, Owner and Range
Jack Daniel's is a Tennessee whiskey made at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. It has been owned by Brown-Forman since 1956, and its Black Label is described as the best-selling whiskey in the world.
At a glance
Location: Lynchburg, Moore County, Tennessee, United States
Owner: Brown-Forman, since 1956
Founder: Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel
Mash: 80% corn, 12% rye and 8% malted barley, distilled in copper stills
Signature step: filtering through 10 foot (3 m) stacks of sugar maple charcoal, known as the Lincoln County Process
Heritage: listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972
Sales: Black Label sold 12.9 million nine litre cases in 2017, and the wider family of brands passed 16.1 million equivalent adjusted cases
History in chapters
The founder
The official website suggests Jack Daniel was born in 1850, the date on his tombstone, but says the exact date is unknown. The Tennessee state library lists 5 September 1846 and says 1850 is impossible given his mother's death in 1847. Biographer Peter Krass, in the 2004 book Blood and Whiskey, concluded January 1849 from a sister's diary and census records. The sources conflict, so we do not pick one. Jack was the youngest of 10 children. After his father died in the Civil War he was taken in by a farmer, Dan Call.
1866 or 1875: which founding date?
The label says "Est. and Reg. in 1866". Daniel's biographer cites official registration documents and says the business was not established until 1875, when Daniel used an inheritance to found a legally registered distilling business with Call. Call later quit for religious reasons and Daniel took over. After taking over in 1884 he bought the hollow and land where the distillery now stands. By the 1880s it was one of 15 distilleries in Moore County. Square bottles arrived in 1897.
Old No. 7
Two explanations exist. The biographer says it was the government registration number, later changed when the district was redrawn, though Daniel kept using it as the brand name. The 1967 book Jack Daniel's Legacy says the name was chosen in 1887 after a visit to a merchant friend in Tullahoma with a chain of seven stores.
1904 to 1947: awards, Prohibition and war
The whiskey won the gold medal for finest whiskey at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. In 1907, in failing health, Daniel gave the distillery to his nephew Lemuel "Lem" Motlow and another nephew. Tennessee passed a statewide prohibition law in 1910 and the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld it in a test case Motlow brought. Daniel died in 1911 of blood poisoning. Production moved to St Louis, Missouri and Birmingham, Alabama, but none of it was sold because of quality problems. Federal repeal in 1933 did not reopen Lynchburg, as Tennessee's law stayed in force. Motlow, by then a state senator, led the repeal effort and production restarted in 1938. From 1942 to 1946 the distillery stopped because the US government banned whiskey manufacture in World War II. Motlow resumed production in 1947 and died the same year.
1956 onwards
The company was sold to Brown-Forman in 1956. The distillery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The people behind it
Dan Call: lay preacher and distiller who took Daniel in
Nathan "Nearest" Green, an enslaved man and Call's master distiller, who taught Daniel the Lincoln County Process. Wikipedia lists him as master distiller 1875 to 1881
Lem Motlow: nephew who inherited the distillery in 1907
Master distillers listed: Jess Motlow (1911 to 1941), Lem Tolley (1941 to 1964), Jess Gamble (1964 to 1966), Frank Bobo (1966 to 1992), Jimmy Bedford for 20 years until mid 2008, Jeff Arnett from 2008 until he stepped down in September 2020, and Chris Fletcher, the 8th master distiller, from 2020. Fletcher is the grandson of Frank Bobo
How it is made
The mash is 80% corn, 12% rye and 8% malted barley. It is distilled in copper stills, then filtered through sugar maple charcoal, which the company calls mellowing. The company argues this extra step makes the product different from bourbon. The whiskey then ages in newly handcrafted oak barrels. The label says "sour mash", meaning wet solids from a previous batch go into the new mash. Before 2014 the barrels came from a Brown-Forman cooperage in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2014 the company opened a cooperage in Trinity, Alabama.
Range
Old No. 7 (Black Label): 40% ABV, previously 45% until 1987
Gentleman Jack: charcoal filtered twice, 40% ABV
Single Barrel: 47% ABV
Single Barrel Rye: launched 2016, 47% ABV
Single Barrel Barrel Proof: 62.5% to 70% ABV
Bonded and Bonded Rye: 50% ABV
Triple Mash Bonded: a blend of malt, rye and Tennessee whiskey, 50% ABV
Tennessee Rye: 45% ABV
Sinatra Select: 45% ABV, and Sinatra Century, a limited edition for Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday, 50% ABV
Silver Select: 50% ABV
Green Label: 40% ABV
Liqueurs at 35% ABV: Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Fire, Tennessee Apple and Tennessee Blackberry. Winter Jack is 15% ABV
Limited and notable releases
A one time 96 proof run in a decorative bottle for the 1996 Tennessee Bicentennial, the highest proof bottled at that time
Single Barrel debuted in February 1997
A 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition and 70th anniversary of the distillery's reopening gift pack, released in 2008
Sinatra Century and a McLaren Racing limited edition of Old No. 7 from the 2022 partnership
News, controversies and law
1987 and 2002: the proof was lowered. Black Label dropped to 86 proof in 1987, and in 2002 all generally available products went to 80 proof. A Modern Drunkard petition gathered more than 13,000 signatures, and the company held its decision
2008: Jimmy Bedford retired after a $3.5 million sexual harassment lawsuit against the company ended in an out of court settlement
2011: a proposed local surtax of $10 a barrel was defeated 10 to 5 by the Metro Lynchburg-Moore County Council
13 May 2013: Governor Bill Haslam signed House Bill 1084, requiring the Lincoln County Process for any product labelled Tennessee Whiskey, with an exception for Benjamin Prichard's
2014: a bill to allow barrel reuse was opposed by then master distiller Jeff Arnett
2012: Welshman Mark Evans claimed to have found the original recipe in an 1853 book. This is a claim, not verified
2025: during the trade war, exports to Canada were 62% lower in the second quarter than a year earlier
September 2022: a multi year partnership with McLaren from the 2023 season
Visiting
Moore County is a dry county. It is legal to distill there but illegal to buy the product, with one exception: a distillery may sell one commemorative product at a time. Check the official Jack Daniel's website for tour times and booking before you travel.
Jack Daniel's FAQ
Who owns Jack Daniel's?
Brown-Forman, since 1956.
Is Jack Daniel's a bourbon?
The company says its charcoal step makes it different. Wikipedia notes that under NAFTA and Canadian law Tennessee whiskey is required to be a straight bourbon whiskey. Tennessee law since 2013 requires Tennessee origin, the Lincoln County Process and the basic bourbon requirements.
What does Old No. 7 mean?
Sources give two explanations: a government registration number, or a chain of seven stores owned by a merchant friend.
When was Jack Daniel's founded?
The label says 1866. His biographer says the business was registered in 1875.
Who taught Jack Daniel to distill?
Dan Call and Call's master distiller Nathan "Nearest" Green.
Who is the master distiller?
Chris Fletcher became the 8th master distiller in 2020. Check the official site for the current holder.
Why can you not buy it in Lynchburg?
Moore County is dry, with a single exception for one commemorative product.
What is the Tennessee Squire Association?
Formed in 1956 to honour friends of the distillery. Members are recommended by an existing member and receive a deed certificate to an unrecorded plot of land at the distillery.
The official Jack Daniel's timeline
The official Our History page tells the story differently in places from the Wikipedia account earlier in this post, so both views are given.
1864: Jack leaves home and is taken in by Reverend Dan Call, learning whiskey making from the preacher and an enslaved man named Nathan Nearest Green, whom Jack later hired as the distillery's head distiller.
1866: the official site says the Jack Daniel Distillery is officially established, calling it the first registered distillery in the US, beside the Cave Spring Hollow. Wikipedia's biographer view of 1875 is covered above.
1904: Old No. 7 takes a gold medal at the St. Louis World's Fair, the first of seven gold medals.
1906 and 1907: Jack breaks his toe kicking his safe, the injury worsens and eventually takes his life. With no wife or children he leaves the distillery to his nephew Lem Motlow in 1907.
1911: Jess Motlow becomes Master Distiller. After Prohibition began in 1919 the whiskey was stored in warehouses in Birmingham, Cincinnati and St. Louis. Production did not resume straight after repeal in 1933 because ingredients were short.
1941 to 1944: a life size statue of Jack is erected in front of the cave spring in 1941. The distillery stops production in 1944 as resources go to the war effort, which the site calls the second of only two shutdowns in its history.
1947: Jackie Gleason introduces Frank Sinatra to Jack Daniel's in a New York bar.
1964 to 1988: Master Distillers Jess Gamble (1964 to 1966) and Frank Bobo (1966 to 1988). The black and white advertising campaign becomes famous in 1964.
1988: Jimmy Bedford, Master Distiller 1988 to 2007, introduces double mellowed Gentleman Jack to the American market. The first Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue is held in Lynchburg in 1989.
1997: the first bottles of Single Barrel Select are drawn.
2008 to 2020: Jeff Arnett is Master Distiller. Tennessee Honey, the first flavoured expression, arrives in 2011. A new cooperage opens in Lawrence County, Alabama in 2014. Single Barrel Rye and Tennessee Fire follow in 2015, Tennessee Rye in 2017 and Jack Apple in 2019.
2016: the distillery celebrates its 150th anniversary, counting from the 1866 registration.
2020: Chris Fletcher becomes Master Distiller.
2021 to 2025: a 10 Year Old (2021), the Bonded Series (2022), a McLaren Formula One partnership and a Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola canned drink (2023), a 12 Year Old (2023) and a 14 Year Old (2025).
Where the sources differ
Founding: the official site and the label say 1866. Wikipedia reports the biographer's view that the business was not established until 1875.
Prohibition: Wikipedia says production moved to St Louis and Birmingham and was restarted in 1938 after repeal efforts. The official site says the whiskey was stored in warehouses and that production waited on ingredients. Do not merge the two accounts.
War years: Wikipedia says production stopped 1942 to 1946. The official site gives 1944 as when production ceased.
Master distiller: the official site names Chris Fletcher as Master Distiller since 2020, which supersedes any earlier name in this post.
Range on the official site
The official site groups its products as Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey, flavoured whiskeys, the Bonded series, the Single Barrel collection, premium and super premium whiskeys, canned cocktails, McLaren partnership whiskeys, limited editions and the Historical Collection. Named expressions seen include Gentleman Jack, Tennessee Honey, Tennessee Apple, Tennessee Fire, Tennessee Blackberry, Bonded, Single Barrel Select and the Halo MK 1 collaboration with McLaren. The site states Tennessee Whiskey at 40 to 45% ABV (80 to 94 proof).
Sources
Jack Daniel's sources, read 20 October 2026: the official Our Story, Our History and home pages, plus the Wikipedia article above. Gaps for Filip: sales figures and the Brown-Forman ownership still rest on Wikipedia, tour details and prices were not on the pages read, and the Old No. 7 origin story is unsettled between sources. Set the URL slug by hand. Whisky Clan does not publish tasting notes in its distillery profiles.
October 2026 updated bottles and limited releases
Jack Daniel's historic Age Statement Series returned with 14 Year Old Tennessee Whiskey in February 2025, its first expression at that age in around a century. The same 2025 release included 12 Year Old Batch 3 and 10 Year Old Batch 4, with suggested US retail prices of $149.99, $94.99 and $84.99 respectively (US 700 mL bottles, launch prices, not current asking prices). The company said the 10 Year Old would also launch in selected international countries in summer 2025. This series should be distinguished from everyday Old No. 7, Gentleman Jack, Single Barrel and Bonded expressions.
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