Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow Proprietor

Jack Daniel's is the world's best-selling American whiskey by volume, the brand that essentially defined what "Tennessee whiskey" means as a legal category — and the operation whose founding story includes one of the most consequential teacher-student relationships in American distilling history. Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel founded the legally registered distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee in 1866 (Daniel's label claims 1866; historian Peter Krass documented official federal registration in 1875). Daniel learned the craft from Nathan "Nearest" Green, an enslaved African-American distiller who was, in 2016, formally acknowledged as the first known African-American master distiller of record in the United States.

Green's specialty — and what Jack learned from him — was the Lincoln County Process: filtering the new-make whiskey through 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal stacks before barreling. The charcoal mellowing step is the legal distinction that separates "Tennessee whiskey" from "bourbon" today, and it's the technique that gives Jack Daniel's its characteristic round, slightly sweet, less aggressive flavor compared to most Kentucky bourbon. The standard Old No. 7 mash bill — 80% corn, 12% rye, 8% malted barley — runs through Jack Daniel's column stills, gets filtered through charcoal made on-site from sugar maple ricks, then ages in new charred American oak barrels (also made on-site at the Brown-Forman Cooperage).

The Lynchburg location is in Moore County, which has been a dry county since Prohibition — meaning the bourbon is legally produced but not legally sold at retail anywhere near the distillery itself. The Cave Spring Hollow water source on the property is the limestone-filtered spring water Daniel chose specifically for its mineral profile, and the spring still feeds production today. Brown-Forman acquired the brand in 1956 and has retained ownership since.

Chris Fletcher became the 8th Master Distiller in 2020, taking the role from Jeff Arnett. The product range now extends well beyond Old No. 7 — Single Barrel Select, Gentleman Jack, Sinatra Select, Bottled-in-Bond, the Coy Hill High Proof releases, and the ongoing Heritage Barrel program. The Lynchburg visitor experience is among the most-trafficked distillery tours in the world, with multiple tour tiers (the basic dry-county tour ends without a tasting; the paid Angel's Share and Taste of Lynchburg options include guided tastings inside the production-facility footprint), the original square-bottle bottling line on display, and the legendary Lynchburg general store down the road in the town square.