Jack Daniel's

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Jack Daniel's Old No.7 in the special size with 1.14 liters sold in Canada

Jack Daniel’s is the brand name of a Tennessee whiskey from the small town of Lynchburg in Tennessee , USA . The brand is owned by the Brown Forman group. With a production of around 90 million liters per year, Jack Daniel's is the best-selling American whiskey brand worldwide and is fighting with the Scottish whiskey brand Johnnie Walker for the title of best-selling whiskey from all countries.

history

Beginnings

Memorial plaque for the Jack Daniel Distillery

Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel was born around 1846 into an extended family. At the age of 14, he bought his first still from Dan Call, a local priest and whiskey distiller. According to recent accounts of the company's history, Calls slave Nearis Green advised Daniel on whiskey production. Daniel sold his first self-made whiskey in the neighborhood. In 1866 he bought land near Lynchburg, Tennessee, and built his first distillery there, the Jack Daniel Distillery . In 1866 the company "Jack Daniel's" was the first distillery to be entered into the commercial register of a US state.

Daniel began to market himself; he dressed and acted like a southern gentleman in the early 19th century. The unusually small and slim Daniel wore a wide white straw hat, as had been the norm for southern plantation owners, a frock coat , brightly colored vests, and a carefully manicured goatee. The outfit had fallen out of time in the late 19th century and was therefore all the more successful in advertising. The Jack Daniel portrayed in this way is still an important marketing tool for the group today.

In 1880 Daniel's nephew Lem Motlow joined the distillery, who was soon running the company. In 1907 Daniel passed the company on to his nephew and cousin Dick Daniel because of his poor health, as he had no children himself. Daniel died in 1911 of complications from blood poisoning . Lem Motlow bought Dick's stake and bequeathed the company to his sons Reagor, Robert, Daniel and Clifford.

Making charcoal for Jack Daniel's in the 1930s

Jack Daniel's filtered his whiskey through charcoal early on. The process has been known since ancient times to remove impurities from liquids; the first to presumably apply this to whiskey making was Jack Daniel's employee Alfred Eaton. The process was widespread in the early days of whiskey production, but is now only used on a large scale by Jack Daniel's and George Dickel . Like other bourbon whiskey, Jack Daniel's was originally sold in barrels or clay jugs with cork stoppers. In 1870 the distillery switched to bottles, the typical design with square bottles was created in 1895.

In 1904 the company took part in the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis and won a gold medal there; a success that the company repeated in Brussels in 1905, which helped boost the brand's popularity. In 1910, Tennessee introduced prohibition . The distillery moved to St. Louis , Alabama , before it ceased operations in 1920 due to prohibition that was introduced throughout the United States. Since the state of Tennessee stuck to prohibition much longer than most other states, Jack Daniel's did not resume production until after the end of World War II . Lem Motlow died in 1947 and the company passed to his children. They started the first US-wide advertising campaign for Jack Daniel's in order to transform the originally local and regional brand into a nationwide company. Until then, the business had developed primarily through word of mouth and the occasional regional advertising campaign. With the expanding marketing work by the Motlow children, newspaper articles received national attention, such as a long story in Fortune Magazine in 1951 that presented Jack Daniel's as a drink for celebrities such as William Faulkner , Winston Churchill or John Huston . Even Frank Sinatra was known as a supporter of the drink, who called him "nectar of the gods" called.

Sold to Brown-Forman in 1956 and became a global brand

Unlike most whiskey brands and distilleries, which have changed hands often since the 19th century, Jack Daniel's was only sold once. Jack Daniel's great-nephews, the Motlow brothers, sold the company to Brown-Forman in 1956 . The Motlows run the company, and Reagor Motlow got a seat on Brown-Forman's board of directors.

From the beginning of the 1950s to the 1970s, the demand for Jack Daniel's was always greater than the supply. In contrast to other manufacturers, Jack Daniel's did not have to negotiate with customers how much they wanted to buy, but could essentially assign them quantities. This was accompanied by an intense advertising campaign that advertised the limitation and had slogans such as We would rather be patient than forgive [for bad whiskey].

At the same time, the distillery increased production. In 1970 Brown-Forman tore down the old distillery building and built a newer and significantly larger facility on the same site. For the first time since 1973 there were no more demand bottlenecks and sales tripled by 1986. Until then Jack Daniel's was represented worldwide. After Jack Daniel's had only produced one product for decades, Jack Daniel's No.7, the distillery introduced a second whiskey in the 1980s: Gentleman Jack, which is filtered twice and therefore tastes even smoother. In 1997 the single barrel was introduced; It was a reaction to the trend towards high-priced, limited-edition whiskeys. In the 2000s, the introduction of ready-mixed long drinks in cans such as whiskey-cola was important for the brand. In 2011, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey was the first whiskey liqueur to be added to the range. In 2011 the brand sold 10.6 million boxes.

Manufacturing

Distillery building
One of 67 warehouses
In a warehouse

Jack Daniel built his distillery on this site because the water from the limestone spring , like the water in much of Kentucky and Tennessee, is good for making whiskey; among other things, it is iron-free . Basically, Jack Daniel's is made like other bourbon whiskeys. The mash from which Jack Daniel's is made has a corn content of 80%, which is a very high proportion for a bourbon, the remaining proportions are 12% rye and 8% barley. Like most other bourbon distilleries, Brown-Forman also uses “sour mash” for the production of Jack Daniel's, which means that mash from the last is added to every new fermentation process in which the mash is fermented into so-called distiller's beer . The lactic acid bacteria contained in it ensure a low pH value in the mash, which prevents the growth of bacteria and offers the yeast good living conditions.

A specialty of Tennessee Whiskeys is the use of the Lincoln County Process - a filtering through charcoal . According to Jack Daniel's, this ensures the typical taste and mildness. With this filtering process, the whiskey soaks drop by drop for about twelve days through a three-meter-thick layer of charcoal, which is made from sugar maple on the distillery's premises .

The effects produced by the Lincoln County Process are similar to those produced by storage in wooden barrels. In the barrel, however, it takes longer to achieve this: This filtering removes the unwanted fat content from the whiskey, which is the result of every production of brandy , coarse aroma components are filtered out, and the whiskey absorbs aromas from the charcoal. The drink is then poured into burned white oak barrels. These barrels are stored several stories high in special buildings, the barrel houses . The whiskey is bottled after four years at the earliest. Charcoal filtering is also used by two other Tennessee whiskey makers, George Dickel and Collier and McKeel ; Since 2013, it has been required by law, especially at the instigation of Jack Daniel's parent company Brown-Forman, to produce a Tennessee whiskey . Several other bourbon manufacturers also filter through charcoal. Usually this happens after ripening and not before, as with Jack Daniel's; While Jack Daniel's runs through a three-meter-wide layer of charcoal, most other manufacturers use a thinner layer through which the whiskey runs several times.

Investments

The current visitor center, completed in 2000

The distillery is located at its place of origin in Lynchburg, Tennessee. There has also been a visitor center with an attached seminar and conference center since the 1970s. More than 250,000 people come there every year.

The city of Lynchburg is still a dry town today , which means that the sale and serving of alcoholic beverages is prohibited here. Only in the visitor center may whiskey in bottles be sold, but not consumed, on the basis of a special permit issued by the Senate. Most of the 67 warehouses, in which around 190 million liters of whiskey mature, are several kilometers away from the flow of visitors.

bourbon

Tennessee whiskey is a variant of bourbon whiskey and could be sold as such. However, the company markets the product as Tennessee Whiskey and avoids the term "bourbon". The terms "bourbon" and "Tennessee whiskey" are not mutually exclusive; Jack Daniel's meets all food law criteria for the definition of bourbon (for example: made in the USA from a corn mash) and can therefore be called bourbon.

sorts

  • The best known is the Black Label (Jack Daniel's Old No.7). The alcohol content of the bottles sold in Germany has been reduced from 43% since the late 1990s to 40% today. In Canada, a special size of 1.14 l was also sold.
  • For the Single Barrel , introduced in 1997 , the Master Distiller selects special whiskey barrels . The contents are filled into bottles unmixed. Each bottle is hand-signed and provided with the number of the barrel from which it was filled. The alcohol content is 45%. Bottlings for the US market have an alcohol content of 47%.
  • The Gentleman Jack , introduced in the 1980s, is a whiskey that is filtered twice through the charcoal - once before it matures in the barrel and again afterwards. It has an alcohol content of 40%.
  • Green Label is a four year old whiskey with 40% alcohol content, whose barrels have been stored in the cooler areas of the barrel house. These are located on the lower levels and more in the middle of the house. This storage means that the wood of the barrels breathes differently. For decades, Green Label was the only Jack Daniel's product alongside the Black Label.
  • The Jack Daniel's Master Distiller No.1 is a limited special bottling that was launched in honor of the seven master distillers in the company's history. It is the first edition in a limited series that comprises a total of seven bottles. The 1.0 liter bottle is sold in black cardboard packaging. The alcohol content is 43%.
  • Tennessee Honey is a liqueur made by mixing whiskey and honey liqueur. It has been marketed in the USA since 2011 and in Germany since May 2013. It has an alcohol content of 35%.
  • Tennessee Fire is a liqueur made by mixing whiskey and a cinnamon liqueur. It has been sold in Germany since 2016. It has an alcohol content of 35%.
  • Jack Daniel's produces various pre-mixed long drinks in cans, such as whiskey with cola or ginger ale.

marketing

The design of the bottle has changed little since the early 20th century. Typical for Jack Daniel's are the square bottle and the black and white lettering, which have since been copied by numerous competitors.

Jack Daniel's basic marketing strategy has existed since 1956 and has helped transform the brand from one whiskey brand among many to the best-selling American whiskey. The basic motive of the strategy lies in an emphasis on the origin from a small town in the American southern states. In the 1950s, when Jack Daniel's began advertising heavily, whiskey ads were mostly large-format, full-color ads that showed a bottle of whiskey with other luxury items, mostly men in tuxedos. Jack Daniel's under Marketing Director Art Hancock , on the other hand, relied on smaller advertisements in black and white that portrayed the distillery and the life of the people in Lynchburg, Tennessee in normal work situations and was thus able to position itself as authentic and true to its values. At the same time, the company consistently sold Jack Daniel's at a premium price that was higher than that of the competition.

The challenge for marketing is to look small, neighborly, and accessible while promoting the world's largest bourbon brand. Consumers should think of a brand in which honest people work calmly, proudly and carefully when making the whiskey. Advertising does not try to sell directly, but builds on images from tradition and from the history of Jack Daniel's and tries to build an image. The basic motifs of the advertising strategy have remained unchanged for over 50 years. Lynchburg, Jack Daniel's hometown, which is portrayed in advertisements as an archetypal American small town, and a strong emphasis on the founding personality, Jack Daniel, play a special role.

reception

Jack Daniel's is the best-selling American whiskey in the world and has enjoyed wide public reception over the decades. For example, Frank Sinatra was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniel's, the cover of the collective autobiography of the rock band Mötley Crüe adorns a bottle that can be recognized as a modification of the Jack Daniel's bottle, and the pop singer Kesha sings in a song that she is with Jack Daniel's brush your teeth.

The American Country - singer Miranda Lambert sang Jack Daniel's in the same song on the first album Miranda Lambert from 2001 onwards.

The American rock band Brownsville Station created a musical memorial for the whiskey brand in their 1977 song My Friend Jack . The song is about a man who overcomes his lovesickness with a bottle of Jack Daniel's, which results in a lifelong "friendship".

The German punk - / Hard Rock - band Local Bastards dedicated to the Whiskey, the 2013 released song Oh Jacky . It says, for example, "I still have a meeting with my friend Old No.7 today".

literature

  • Gilbert Delos: Les Whiskeys du Monde. Translation from French: Karin-Jutta Hofmann: Whiskey from all over the world. Karl Müller, Erlangen 1998, ISBN 3-86070-442-7 , p. 137 f.

Web links

Commons : Jack Daniel’s  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Whiskey Nations, Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 2008 ISBN 1-4053-3624-2 , p. 194
  2. ↑ Clay Risen: Jack Daniel's Embraces a Hidden Ingredient: Help From a Slave . In: The New York Times . June 25, 2016, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed December 20, 2018]).
  3. ^ A b C. K. Cowdery: Bourbon, Straight - The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. Made and Bottled in Kentucky, Chicago, Illinois 2004, ISBN 0-9758703-0-0 , p. 119
  4. ^ A b c C. K. Cowdery: Bourbon, Straight - The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. Made and Bottled in Kentucky, Chicago, Illinois 2004, ISBN 0-9758703-0-0 , p. 120
  5. ^ A b c d C. K. Cowdery: Bourbon, Straight - The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. Made and Bottled in Kentucky, Chicago, Illinois 2004, ISBN 0-9758703-0-0 , p. 118
  6. ^ Lew Bryson: Tasting Whiskey: An Insider's Guide to the Unique Pleasures of the World's Finest Spirits Storey Publishing, 2014 ISBN 1-61212-302-3 p. 154
  7. ^ A b c d Marcello M. Mariani, Rodolfo Baggio, Dimitrios Buhalis, Christian Longhi: Tourism Management, Marketing, and Development: Volume I: The Importance of Networks and ICTs. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014 ISBN 1-137-35435-6 , p. 242
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Fortune Editors: Jack Daniel's marketing magic , Fortune Magazine December 8, 2011
  9. ↑ a b c Jack Daniel’s in: Heather Greene: Whiskey Distilled: A Populist Guide to the Water of Life. Penguin, 2014, ISBN 0-698-16985-9 .
  10. ↑ CK Cowdery: Bourbon, Straight - The Uncut and Unfiltered Story of American Whiskey. Made and Bottled in Kentucky, Chicago, Illinois 2004, ISBN 0-9758703-0-0 , p. 117
  11. ↑ Michael R. Veach: Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage. University Press of Kentucky, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8131-4165-7 .
  12. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from October 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ http://chuckcowdery.blogspot.de/2009/02/tennessee-whiskey-versus-bourbon.html
  14. ↑ News: In May, Brown-Forman Germany starts selling Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey throughout Germany . Spirits Journal, February 14, 2013
  15. ↑ https://www.spirituosen-journal.de/spirituosen-test-jack-daniels-tennessee-fire-39449/ Spirituosen Journal, May 29, 2017
  16. ↑ a b Giep Franzen, Sandra Moriarty: The Science and Art of Branding. ME Sharpe, 2008, ISBN 0-7656-2864-3 .
  17. ↑ Marinda Lambert - Jack Daniel’s In: youtube.com. January 20, 2008, accessed January 9, 2017
  18. ^ Brownsville Station - My Friend Jack In: youtube.com. February 21, 2011, accessed June 30, 2017
  19. ↑ Local Bastards - Oh Jacky In: youtube.com. October 13, 2013, accessed November 28, 2018

Coordinates: 35 ° 17 '5 "  N , 86 ° 22' 4"  W.