"It's the Water" and "No Water"

I'm continuing my way across Tennessee and stopped for a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. It's the oldest registered distillery in the US. I can't say I've ever drank much JD but after learning about it I make have to try it. The distillery is located in a "dry" county so you are not able to but it anywhere near where it's made. (strike one) Recently they got permission to have "tastings" but only Monday thru Saturday. (strike two). They are allowed to sell commemorative "bottles" that just happen to have whiskey in them but nowhere in the state on Sundays. (strike three - no JD for me). Anyway all the Jack Daniels in the world is made here and the water comes from one spring that flows from the mountain on the property. "It's in the water". Jack Daniels was a real person who learned to make whiskey, bought the land around the spring and started the business. It is no longer family owned but it's the same recipe and facility. They make their own sugar-maple charcoal on site to filter the whiskey. The wood come from local tree farms and they poor some of their 140 proof alcohol on the wood to start the fires. The make their own white American oak barrels (in Kentucky) and only use them once. The whiskey sits in the barrels for 4-7 years. The first weekend of every month every employee gets a free bottle and they call it "Good Friday". Today was dry Sunday.

Cave and spring at Jack Daniels Distillery

To keep up with the wine industry and all the single malt scotch whiskey you can now buy your own barrel of JD. For approximately $10,000 ( depending on your state tax ) you can do a barrel tasting and select a barrel which they bottle and ship to you. You also get to keep the empty barrel and a special labels is attached to each bottle. Each barrel produces about 240 bottles. That's about $42 a bottle.

Old whiskey barrel Adirondack chairs.

EPA approved outdoor vent hoods for making charcoal.

An original 1930's Reo Speed Wagon (pronounced ree-oh) fire truck once used on site in case of fires.

Along my way I came across the Ocoee Whitewater Center. It was a site of the 1996 Olympics for whitewater sports. They remade part of a natural river with cemented boulders and features. It looks like it would be fun to run the course but there's not enough water. I asked one of the rangers about it and he said there hasn't been a race since the Olympics. The Tennessee Valley Authority that controls the water flow from the damn wants $10,000 a day to release enough water to make it usable. Nobody can afford to put on an event. Does rebuilding the Olympics every four years really make sense? It's now a National Park we pay to keep open that can't be used.

The no water whitewater.

So I'm taking up a collection for one or both. A thousand people with $10. A hundred people with $100. Maybe I can get Jack Daniels to sponsor a race. Winner gets a barrel of whiskey.