Jack Daniel’s opposes changing Tenn. whiskey law
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – If it isn’t fermented in Tennessee from mash of at least 51 percent corn, aged in new charred oak barrels, filtered through maple charcoal and bottled at a minimum of 80 proof, it isn’t Tennessee whiskey. So says a year-old law that resembles almost to the letter the process used to make Jack Daniel’s, the world’s best-known Tennessee whiskey.
Now state lawmakers are considering dialing back some of those requirements they say make it too difficult for craft distilleries to market their spirits as Tennessee whiskey, a distinctive and popular draw in the booming American liquor business.
But the people behind Jack Daniel’s see the hand of a bigger competitor at work – Diageo PLC, the British conglomerate that owns George Dickel, another Tennessee whiskey made about 15 miles away.
