Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey: Is it a bourbon?

Most American whiskey aficionados will be well aware that Jack Daniel’s is a Tennessee whiskey, but does this preclude it from being bourbon?

While speaking with master distiller Chris Fletcher about the new Jack Daniel’s Bonded Tennessee Whiskey, I took the opportunity to settle this age-old debate.

As you can see from the interview transcript below, Chris didn’t mince his words!

JAMES ATKINSON: Maybe you could just touch on the definition of a Tennessee whiskey for folks who aren’t too familiar with what that actually means.

CHRIS FLETCHER: Sure. Well, I think, first and foremost, Tennessee whiskey is bourbon, right?

JAMES ATKINSON: That’s a controversial topic that one, isn’t it?

CHRIS FLETCHER: I guess for some people it is, but I could really care less. I mean, it is bourbon. I mean, if we wanted to be bourbon, all we do is change our label. It’s pretty easy. I don’t know why people get so distraught over it. It doesn’t bother me one bit to see Jack Daniel’s on a list with bourbon whiskies. It’s totally fine.

So, all Tennessee whiskey is bourbon. Not all bourbon is Tennessee whiskey, right? That’s an easy way to think about it. Bourbon is a product of the entire USA, you can make bourbon in all 50 states. That’s totally fine. Tennessee whiskey can only be made in one state, Tennessee, obviously.

And so there’s the geographical difference and then there’s one process difference and that is the charcoal mellowing process or Lincoln County process, some people like to refer to it as.

The Lincoln County process for whiskey

CHRIS FLETCHER: The Lincoln County process is the filtering of the new make whiskey. So right off the still it’s clear as water, then it goes through through hard maple charcoal.

Now this process is not an additive process, okay, this is a removal process. And so, our grain recipe is 80 per cent corn, 12 per cent malted barley, and then eight per cent rye. So that new make whiskey right off the still has a lot of corn flavour to it. Right? 80 per cent corn. And that’s a very common bourbon whiskey flavour profile.

CHRIS FLETCHER: But it’s not what you get in a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. You’d maybe get just a hint of some sweet corn there on the back end, but it’s very much in the background. That’s what the charcoal really does. It absorbs a lot of the grainy quality of new make whiskey.

And so that really allows in how the yeast kind of creates those kind of sweet fruity notes really caramels, vanillas and brown sugar and all that nice sweet richness that you get from that new white oak barrel. So that process wise, the only difference is that charcoal mellowing process.

But the charcoal mellowing does not prevent us from being referred to or labelled as bourbon whiskey.

So there you have it. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is a category of bourbon from the state of Tennessee.