The drink of the month: Jack Daniel's
In order to celebrate his success, Jack Daniel’s decided to amaze us again and to create a limited edition bottle that is numbered singly. The new look of the bottle succeeds in communicating even better the ‘rock soul’ of a brand that for over 160 years has ensured a unique taste and tradition. Total black notes with a red shade that communicate the passion that Mr. Jack has always put in what he has done: “everyday we produce whiskey and we do it in the best possible way’ Jack Daniel’s 1866. This is Mister Jack Daniel’s philosophy, that still today is mirrored in his production. Every drop of Jack Daniel’s, in fact, is produced with the same method adopted since its origins.
The origins
Jasper Newton Daniel was born in 1850 in a 13 sons family. He was grown by a family friend and when he was seven he started working at the Dan Call’s family. Dan Call was a Lutheran minister, who owned a whiskey distillery on the Louse river. Over the years Jasper Newton Daniel, that everybody used to call Jack, learned from Mr. Call all what he had to know about whiskey production. When he is just thirteen, he accepts to take over the distillery and in 1866 – even before the Government establishes the taxes on the spirits – registers it, thus making it the most ancient distillery in the whole United States.
In 1904 Jack enrols his velvet-like Old. N7 Tennessee Whiskey in the St. Lois world exhibition, in Missouri. Of the twenty competing whiskeys coming from all over the world, his is the only one to be awarded with the Golden medal as the best whiskey in the world. One morning, in 1905, Jack arrives soon in the office and tries to open his safe. As he could not remember its combination, he looses his patience and in hitting it again and again, he breaks his big toe. In this way, Jack contracts an infection that degenerates, causing his death in 1911. As he never married and had no children, Jack Daniel bequeaths his distillery to his nephew Lem Motlow, who succeeds in keeping the distillery unharmed during the prohibitionism age and in 1947 bequeathed it to his four sons, who were ready to expand its production, still keeping product quality unaltered. In 1950 the introduction of a heavy tax on whiskey exposes the Motlow family to a potential financial hazard, boosting them to sell the distillery that is purchased in 1956 by the Brown-Forman Distillers Corporation (Louisville, Kentucky), always with all due respect for the original recipe and meticulousness in the production of the most appreciated whiskey in the world.
History in a single bottle
Like for everything that characterises the best-seller whiskey in the world, even behind the Jack Daniel’s bottle evolution there is a story. In 1866 for the first time, Mr. Jack bottles his whiskey into earthenware jugs closed by cork stoppers and in order to distinguish his whiskey from the others, he writes his own name on every carafe. Just later on, glass bottles become fashionable and Jack decides to develop one in printed glass, rounded off with the name of the distillery in relief. In 1895 Mr Jack, boosted by his constantly innovative spirit, views the drawing of a brand new, exclusive bottle never tried before: a squared bottle with an elongate neck. Today, after over 100 years, that bottle remains the symbol of Jack Daniel’s quality: full of character just like the whiskey that welcomes it, thus showing that having the edges is not so bad. Still for the purpose of distinguishing itself even through the bottle, Jack Daniel has never stopped introducing commemorative versions in limited editions. In 2010 Jack celebrates his 160 years with an exclusive limited edition bottle.
Production
Jack Daniel’s the best seller whiskey all of the world, is distilled and bottled in the distillery with the same name, the most ancient-one ever registered in the Usa, situated in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Its main feature is the ‘Charcoal Mellowing’, the special filtering system, that is responsible for its soft and rounded off flavour. Ingredients at the basis of the most famous Tennessee Whiskey in the world and its production process make it unique in its genre.
Raw materials
Jack Daniel’s is produced from a mash, i.e. a blend of three cereals: 80% of maize, coming from the heart of the Usa: Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, 8% of rye, cultivated in the Red River Valley area, in Minnesota and in Dakota and a 12% of malted barley, coming from Wisconsin. Yeasts come from precious and selected stocks owned by the Labrot & Graham and Jack Daniel’s distilleries. Not ferruginous water, coming from the springs situated near the distilleries, is one of the most important ingredients capable of influencing in a determinant way the taste of whiskey.
The single steps
Determining Jack Daniel’s total taste is the mash, including maize, rye and malted barley. Non malted cereals (maize and rye) are steam cooked for about 3 hours in the cookers, i.e. huge copper bowls. This way the starch molecules contained in the cereals break thus getting in contact with a special enzyme of the malted barley, that turns the starch into sugar. Cereals are then added pure water, full of spring minerals, thus forming a fermenting blend called ‘mash’. Unlike the other distilleries Jack Daniel’s for fermentation uses the ancient original process called Sour Mash: a part of the product that is previously made is used to start another product or to favour its homogeneousness. The Master Distiller uses at least one quarter of the mashes, full of yeast, produced the day before (stillage) to start the fermentation process of a new ‘batch’: this to get a continuous flavour. The mash ferments slowly for 5 days. At the end a Distiller’s Beer will be obtained, containing about a 10% of alcohol by value.
The distillation process extracts the alcohol from the Distiller’s Beer and it is carried out through a continuous process in ‘Patent Still’ : a column copper distiller, 100 feet high. Alcohol vapours are collected and condensed, thus getting a 70 degrees distillate (140 proof). Before it is put into ageing casks, Jack Daniel’s is subject to a filtration process through charcoal, known as ‘charcoal mellowing’ for the purpose of getting a product with softness and roundness characteristics. This process consists in making whiskey go down drop by drop, forcing it to pass through a layer of three meters of sugar maple charcoal. The whole process lasts ten days, during which the whiskey absorbs the essence of charcoal, refines the brandy giving it a typical flavour. Maple charcoal is a key element since it is full of calcium. Thanks to this property it softens the spirit’s acidity that is typical of the just manufactured alcoholics. Every drop of Jack Daniel’s coming out from the charcoal mellowing vat is more delicate, less rough and cleaner than when it entered it. During ageing, in the 10 storey warehouses, whiskey casks ‘breathe’. This phenomenon makes sure that in the first year an alcohol volume share ranging from 8 to 10% evaporates.
The evaporation process goes on in the following years as well, with a share of a 4-5% per barrel. Before it is bottled, a good quality whiskey can loose up to 30% of its original volume. The ageing process is influenced by various factors that contribute to the aroma, the scent and the colours that are typical of these products. The seasonal temperature ranges, highlighted by a particular climate, as well as by the microclimate that is created inside the ageing warehouses, determine the different maturation moments. Bottling occurs in new and white oak casks that are toasted inside, giving the distillate unique flavour, scent and taste qualities. While whiskey gets old inside the barrel, wood contracts and dilates depending on the external climate variations. In these phases, the whiskey and the wood mutually exchange properties and flavours. This blend gives the whiskey its smoked flavour and its amber shade. The bottling process is started by the Master Distiller who, thanks to his expertise, has the capability of understanding when the optimum maturation time is achieved. Jeff Arnett is the 7th Master Distiller who decides when Jack Daniel’s is ready.
Packaging
To celebrate its success, Jack Daniel’s decided to surprise us again and to create a limited edition, singly numbered bottle, exclusively for the Ho.re.ca. channel. The new look of the bottle – developed in-house by the BF-Design in America (Brow Forman Design), can communicate even more this brand’s rock soul. This brand for over 160 years has ensured a unique flavour and tradition. Total black red-shaded notes that communicate the passion that Mr. Jack has always put in what he did. “Everyday we produce whiskey and we do it in the best way” Jack Daniel’s 1866. This is Mr Jack Daniel’s philosophy, that is still mirrored in today’s production. Every Jack Daniel’s drop in fact, is produced with the same method adopted since the origins.
