When was Jack Daniel's registered as a distillery? According to legend, it was 1866.

But I have questions.

When were Jack and Nearest working on the Dan Call Farm and when did Jack come over to the Cave Spring Hollow (the distillery's present location) to start distilling? None of the stories about this distillery match. Some sources say Jack Daniel took over as distiller from Nearest when he moved to the Cave Spring Hollow. But the Jack Daniel distillery supposedly started on Dan Call's farm. So was that 1866 or before, or after? And when was it the Daniel & Call Distillery.

Now I have answers. And the story is not what you've been told. What is listed as the "oldest registered distillery in the United States" according to the National Register of Historic Places wasn't the location of Jack's distillery in 1866.

So where did this story come from? Why has this myth held on so long? How did the National Register get this bit of information wrong?

Join me as I dig into what might have been a true story that was shifted over time into what is now the oldest registered distillery claim. It's a fascinating evolution and one that will lead us to answer another long asked question - where did this name Old Number 7 come from.

Enjoy a romp through the history of Jack Daniel's, using historical evidence to recreate the creation of an origin myth.

And check out Behind the Lore: Jack and Nearest on patreon.com/whiskeylore for a deeper look at the story of these two historic whiskey makers.

Cheers and slainte mhath,
Drew

Let's mix two of my favorite subjects today - music and whiskey - as I stop by Tommy Townsend's North Georgia distillery Grandaddy Mimms. As a musician, Tommy has many ties to Waylon Jennings, we'll chat about that (and there is a bonus episode with even more conversation around music, free for Patreon subscribers at patreon.com/whiskeylore ), and we'll talk about the development of the distillery, the use of two thumpers, the problem with high proof flavored moonshine, how moonshine and city hall got together, and Tommy with tap into plenty of stories.

Enjoy this episode, that started out to be a Whiskey Flights episode, but we just had so much to talk about. Cheers! Drew

Back in 2020, I became fascinated with the story of the relationship between Jack Daniel and Nathan "Uncle Nearest" Green. I read Jack Daniel's Legacy by Ben A. Green (1967) and interviewed Jack Daniel's Historian Nelson Eddy and Uncle Nearest's Founder Fawn Weaver and then weaved the common tale surrounding these two Tennessee whiskey legends in Season 3 of Whiskey Lore.

Then, in 2023, I began digging through archives in Georgia and Tennessee for my book The Lost History of Tennessee Whiskey and to my surprise, a very different picture of Jack and Nearest began to evolve.

In an effort to clean up some of my episodes that fell victim to marketing lore and oral tradition, it is time to reexamine the story of Jack and Nearest, to build a framework based on real documented history.

And Whiskey Lore Speakeasy and Club 1897 members, make sure to check out Behind the Lore later this week to go even deeper in the myths and reality surrounding Jack and Nearest - exclusively on Patreon.com/whiskeylore.