I spent a wonderful afternoon learning all about Tennessee whiskey. When I went on several distillery tours in Louisville, Kentucky three years ago, several people told me how much they enjoyed the Jack Daniel’s distillery tour. It has been on my list of things to do and finally, today, I made it to Lynchburg, Tennessee.

This whiskey is primarily corn-based, and it is filtered with charcoal. The process of making the whiskey was interesting to learn about. It was also interesting to learn about the history of the company. At the end of the tour, we had a tasting of five different whiskeys. I almost bought a bottle of single batch, but they also sold some unique products only available in Tennessee. I decided to try one that was partially stored in a wine barrel to give the whiskey a different added flavor. I really enjoyed learning about the whole operation.

During the tour, they made it a point to note the fire trucks and showed us two of their old fire trucks. Since alcohol is very flammable and whiskey is stored in wooden barrels in wooden storage structures, the fire risk is very real and it is very important to minimize this risk.

I knew there were many distilleries throughout Kentucky. What I learned today is that there are also quite a few distilleries throughout Tennessee. Maybe I will be able to visit another one along the way?