LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — In 1866, the first registered distillery in the United States began in the quaint town of Lynchburg, Tennessee! Today, Jack Daniel’s is the top selling whiskey in the world. Known for its consistency, every drop made is made in Lynchburg.

So how is it that even though the whiskey is made in a volatile climate, the product isn’t impacted by the weather?

It all starts with the water.

To make whiskey, it must be free of iron. Otherwise it would turn black and bitter. One point that led Jack Daniels himself to choose the location of Lynchburg was the natural spring water — and more importantly — the presence of limestone in the area. Limestone acts as a filter, removing iron from the water. When it rains, water is absorbed into the ground through the limestone, eventually making its way down to a spring.

Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller, Chris Fletcher, has a deep-rooted connection with the cave spring, owing to his grandfather, Frank Bobo, who served as master distiller from 1966 to 1988.

As per Fletcher’s knowledge, the cave system extends two miles deep into the ground.

Within this cave spring, the temperature holds steady.

“As far as I know, the ground temperature here as you get so far down is 56 degrees,” Chris Fletcher stated.

Regardless of the outside temperature, be it zero degrees or 100 degrees, this natural spring manages to maintain a steady 56 degrees! One might wonder how this is possible?

The secret resides in the design of the cavern – it prevents the displacement of cold air by warm air.

Periodic checks are performed to guarantee the health of the water.

“We have mapped it out and conducted studies, and approximately every couple of years we arrange for individuals to go back inside to assess its health and confirm that it’s structurally sound,” explains Fletcher.

Water’s quality, followed by the type of grain used, plays a crucial role in distinguishing this whiskey. If a region’s grain crop succumbs to drought, Jack Daniel’s would extend its search for grain as far as Canada or Northern Europe.

Our corn, too, adheres to very precise specifications. We only use cleaned, grade one corn. We avoid grade two corn to prevent the need to separate any debris like twigs, husks, or stones. We follow stringent moisture standards and require a specific starch content for it to be converted into whiskey,” shared Fletcher.

For a whiskey to be a true Tennessee variant, it requires an extra step of charcoal mellowing. It does not involve just any charcoal, but one produced on-site at Jack Daniel’s from Hard Sugar Maple Wood.

“To qualify as a Tennessee Whiskey, it must pass through Hard Sugar Maple Charcoal,” explained Byron Copeland, Jack Daniel’s Manager for Maturation and Innovations.

Also known as the “Lincoln County Process,” the distilled whiskey undergoes filtration through self-made charcoal tanks that stand ten feet tall. This method eliminates impurities and endows the whiskey with a smoother consistency.

The must then age the distilled whiskey. However, the barrel applied to this process isn’t arbitrary.

“The barrels used are constructed from oak. For a beverage to earn the title of bourbon or Tennessee whiskey, it must be stored in new, charred oak barrels. However, we opt to use white oak,” commented Copeland.

According to Copeland, the source of the white oak utilized is primarily Appalachia. They mainly procure their oak from states such as Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky. When required, they also source the white oak from Missouri, where the species aligns with their select specifications.

There’s somewhat of a safety net due to the vast region that cultivates white oak essential for this whiskey, as one area may be buffered against extreme weather incidences.

Once the wood is harvested, it’s crucial for Jack to preserve its moisture to prevent the drying and splintering process as it is transported to the distillery.

“To ensure they don’t decompose, you need to retain some water so the wood remains damp,” Copeland stated.

The lengthy aging process then commences, and alterations in temperature become a significant factor—ranging from scorching Tennessee summers to freezing winter months.

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Copeland points out that in the wintertime, the whiskey contracts inside the barrels coming out of the wood into the barrel. In the summertime, the whiskey expands absorbing into the barrel stave. Over time, this is the process that gives the whiskey 100% of its color and between 60% to 70% of its flavor.

From the water, to the grain, to the oak used to make whiskey barrels — they all serve a special purpose to make Tennessee’s second largest export.

And despite extreme cold in the winter — or extreme heat in the summer — remember that a small town in Middle Tennessee harnessed both for decades to make the most recognized whiskey brands in the world!

Growing your family, no matter the journey to get there, is an emotional one. My heart aches for these families who trusted a Nashville fertility clinic with their dreams and finances. Hannah McDonald’s relentlessness to find answers is journalism at its best and hopefully a new avenue of hope for the patients caught up in this mess.

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-Carrie Sharp