Lincoln County Process

The Lincoln County Process is a process used in making Tennessee whiskies such as Jack Daniel's and George Dickel. The whiskey is filtered though a column of charcoal chips before going into the casks for aging. Since this is an active filtering process, whiskey produced in this manner cannot be called bourbon. The process is named for Lincoln County, Tennessee, which was the location of Daniel's distillery at the time of its establishment; subsequent redrawing of county lines means that neither distillery currently using the process is located in its namesake county.

Related Topics:
Tennessee whiskies - Jack Daniel's - George Dickel - Charcoal - Bourbon - Lincoln County, Tennessee

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The charcoal used by Jack Daniel's is created on site, from stacks of two by two inch sugar maple timbers called ricks. They are primed with 140 proof Jack Daniel's, and then ignited under massive hoods that help prevent sparks. Once they have reached the char state, the ricks are extinguished, and then run through a grinder to reduce them to bean size pellets. They are then packed into a 10 foot vat, where they are used to filter impurities from the 140 proof whiskey.

Related Topics:
Jack Daniel's - Char

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