Rawnica Dillingham, director of specialty markets and gross sales for Uncle Nearest in Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota, mentioned the Lincoln County Course of with ELEVATE attendees.
Photographs by Justin D. Harrison
She defined that Uncle Nearest honors the legacy of Nearest Inexperienced, who was born into slavery round 1820 and have become the primary grasp distiller for Jack Daniel. In 2016 creator and researcher Fawn Weaver learn an article in The New York in Instances that steered an enslaved man taught Jack Daniels the whiskey-making craft. She determined to dig deeper into Daniel’s story; in doing so, Weaver uncovered Inexperienced’s story and based Uncle Nearest in 2017.
Since then, the model has garnered greater than 500 awards and accolades, and its 432-acre distillery in Shelbyville, TN produces among the most-awarded American whiskey and bourbon.
Each whiskey sorts should meet the identical fundamental necessities: it should be aged in a brand new, charred American oak barrel; it should enter the barrel at a most of 62.5% ABV, be distilled to a most of 80% AVD, and bottled at a minimal of 40% ABV; and the mash should comprise at the least 51% corn. Tennessee whiskey, nonetheless, undergoes an additional step.
After it’s distilled—however earlier than it’s barreled—it’s despatched by vats which are full of charcoal from sugar maple bushes. This methodology was previously generally known as charcoal leaching. It earned its present moniker when Inexperienced taught Daniel tips on how to make whiskey in Lincoln County. As we speak, it’s what defines Tennessee whiskey and makes it not like some other spirit on the planet.
“It doesn’t add something to it,” Dillingham mentioned. “It reduces. The method is definitely eradicating, filtering, and cleaning.” She added that the Lincoln County Course of merely removes impurities and smoothes out flavors—making it “as clean as Tennessee whiskey.”
