In the morning the rain had stopped so we packed up and went
for a hike along the Trail of Tears. It is quite an experience to walk in the
footsteps of so many people, so long ago. The path is more of a sunken trench
from the horses, wagons and people who have travelled it over the years. The
forests were pale green and there were lots of small flowering plants that we couldn’t
identify. We found nuts of various kinds and the leaves of bulbs. It was very
peaceful winding our way under the trees, the ground covered with fallen leaves
left from last autumn. Sobering to think of the thousands of native Americans who
died making the trek from their homelands to west of the Mississippi.
We moved on at lunchtime for a drive to the Jack Daniels
distillery in Lynchburg. Steve is a bit of a fan. We chose the Angels Share
Tour, which takes in the distillery and then premium tastings.
The distillery
tour was really interesting. We started on a bus that ran us to the far end of
the complex. There we saw the kilns that they use to turn maple wood into
charcoal for the filtering process. We then moved to the original Jack Daniels
office, where the man himself did the books and oversaw the operation. He
actually died from kicking the office safe in a fit of anger. It broke his toe,
it got badly infected and gangrenous. Six years of infections later he finally died.
We then moved on to see the spring that they get the water
from. It is claimed that the unique water makes Jack Daniels special. The cave
the spring bubbles from has been explored back about three quarters of a mile
into the cliff.
Then on to see the business end of the process. We started
at the stills where the sour mash is distilled into clear liquid, or white whiskey.
Then onto the vats of mash, bubbling away like yellowy porridge. Smelled a bit
nasty at that point. We then went to the charcoal filtering – giant vats of charcoal
where the white whiskey is dripped down and filter through the charcoal over 6
days. We got a sniff of that process, it was starting to smell like whiskey at
that point. Then over to the bottling plant, which wasn’t running as it is a
weekend. We then saw a video of how they make the barrels from oak, and toast
the insides before filling them with whiskey to be aged over 4-6 years. They
are only used once, then sold on for recycling – when we visited the Tabasco
Sauce factory, they age the sauce in JD barrels. The barrel houses were vast –
3 stories tall and holding 20 million gallons of whiskey each. They have many
scattered about the property and well separated in case of fire. At the barrel
house we saw a stave showing how much the whiskey leaches into the wood. The
extremes of temperature from winter to summer is ideal as it causes the wood to
expand and contract, sucking the whiskey in and out of the timber, picking up
the colour and tastes. The process loses about 10% of the whiskey, known as the
angel’s share.
Then on to the teasing room. We tried 5 different whiskeys.
Some were from single barrels, held back from the main mix to get bottled, one was
a high angel share, which had lost well over 10% and was thick and dark, and
129 proof. One was a rye whiskey, quite different. We have learned a lot about whiskey
in the last few days, including “chewing the whiskey” which is the first sip, rolled
around your mouth. It creates lots of saliva which coats your mouth and minimised
the burn that you normally get.
Being Steve’s 50th birthday tomorrow, we bought a
bottle of Sinatra Select – the premium brand – and had it engraved to commemorate.
Driving on toward Chattanooga, it wasn’t long until we were
headed up the mountains. The clouds and mist were blanketing the peaks and
rolling up the sides of the cliffs like smoke. We wound our way through the forests,
with a reminder that we are now in bigfoot country.
Our campsite is as Raccoon Mountain. We are planning on
visiting caves, mountain tops and maybe the Chattanooga Choo Choo!
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