Just in case you wondered why my friends call me "Jack"

Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Brand Old-Time Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey is a whiskey and not a bourbon. Unlike bourbon, Jack Daniel's is charcoal-mellowed smooth, drop by drop through 10 feet of charcoal made from sugar maple.

The Story of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whisky began in 1866 when a 17-year old youth named Jack Daniel established America's oldest registered distillery.

A dependable source of good water, he knew, was essential. So he set up his distillery by the Cave Spring just outside the little town of Lynchburg, which is in the middle part of Tennessee. The Cave Spring's water was cool, clear, and free of iron and other undesirable impurities which can ruin whiskey. It still supplies the water used to make Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey.

Jack used only the finest grains to distil his whiskey. Then he slowly mellowed his whiskey through large vats filled with hard maple charcoal in order to make the whiskey smoother. (And that's the main difference between bourbon and Tennessee whiskey.) Finally, the whiskey aged a good long time; it rested in new oak barrels stored in unheated warehouses, where the seasons could do their work and perfect the whiskey's rich colour and unique rare taste.