Publisher’s Letter

My journey with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey began when I was a toddler and picked up my Dad’s tumbler of Jack on the rocks too quickly for him to stop me. Though I would not partake again for a few years, my life has seemingly always been intertwined with Jack Daniel’s. After my father graduated from Harvard Business School, he joined Brown-Forman Distillery Corp in 1950, where he spent his 38-year career. In 1960, he became Midwest Regional Manager of Jack Daniel’s, which Brown-Forman purchased in 1956. He retired in 1988 as President and Chairman of Jack Daniel’s. So, our family has been part of the Jack Daniel’s family for quite some time.

In 1978, after my freshman year at Duke, I had a summer job at the distillery in Lynchburg as a computer operator. I lived at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House. I hold the distinction of being the last person who got to board there. Miss Mary Bobo was 96 at the time and was the sister-in-law of Lem Motlow, the nephew of Jack Daniel’s, who inherited the distillery.

As part of my room and board, I got to eat lunch there every day. Lunch consisted of country cooking served around tables family-style: fried chicken, catfish, green beans with ham hock, fried okra, cornbread, etc. Lunch was always a treat and the highlight of my day. That summer, I would also sit in on guitar with the bluegrass band of distillery workers that would perform at the barbeques the company would host for their wholesalers and consumer groups.

The following summer, I drove a truck for Lipman Brothers, the first liquor wholesaler in the country to carry Jack Daniel’s. It should come as no surprise that my first job out of college was working for the Northeast Regional Manager for Jack Daniel’s. One of the things I got to do was to run Jack Daniel’s promotions at bars (not a bad gig for a young single guy in his 20’s). The summer between my first and second year at the Owen Graduate School of Management, I had an internship in the finance department of Jack Daniel’s where I did a capital budgeting analysis of a dry house that dries the leftover mash for cattle feed. In 1993, the day after proposing to my wife, we drove to Lynchburg with my parents to tour the distillery and have lunch at Mary Bobo’s.

Recently, Melissa and I took a private tour of the distillery organized by Sam Shallenberger, President of Barrett Firearms, and Chris Barrett, Director and Designer of Barrett Firearms. Barrett had recently selected three barrels of Jack to commemorate being awarded the contract for the Advanced Sniper Rifle in support of the U.S. Special Operations Command for its Multi-Role Adaptive Design Rifle. The rifle has three interchangeable barrels; hence, three barrels of whiskey.

For the journey from The Armory Outpost in Murfreesboro (see article on page 80) to Lynchburg, we took turns riding in Chris Barrett’s white 2021 Huracan EVO Lamborghini. Cody Bender of Porsche of Nashville was kind enough to lend us a Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid for the others not in the Lamborghini. Needless to say, we arrived in style, and the Lambo, in particular, got us a lot of attention from distillery visitors.

We waited in the private parlor to begin the tour with a long-time Jack Daniels employee, Randy “Goose” Baxter. Goose remembered me from my 1978 stint at the distillery, and we reminisced about old Jack Daniel’s friends from long ago. The tour is not to be missed, from the burning of stacks of hard sugar maple to make the charcoal for the filters to where the whiskey is filtered drop by drop, aged, and bottled on-site. It’s mind-boggling that every bottle of Jack Daniel’s in the world comes from Lynchburg. I love the smell of the distillery, a yeasty corn smell that has the essence of alcohol. The highlight of the tour was the whiskey tasting. Back when I was with Jack Daniel’s, the law did not allow for tastings as Lynchburg was in Moore County—a dry county. I’m glad they changed that stupid law! We sampled Gentleman Jack, Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof, and Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Rye—all wonderful and different in subtle ways. The White Rabbit Bottle Shop in the Visitors’ Center sells nearly every Jack Daniel’s product and some whiskeys exclusive to the distillery. I scored Tennessee Tasters’ Selection 14E19 “Twin” Blend Whiskey.

I am very grateful for and proud of my history with Jack Daniel’s. I’ve met great people there, made many friends, and have many fond memories. We even named our first son Jack; I don’t think that is a coincidence. Jack Daniel’s has a culture of best practices and, in my opinion, makes the best whiskey on the planet. So, if you like whiskey and Tennessee history, do yourself a favor make your way to Lynchburg.

Dave Mahanes, Publisher dave@slmag.net