Yesterday, we went to see the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. It was started by one man (Jack, obviously) after the turn of the century and still produce every bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey at that one plant for distribution all over the world. It's a big operation, but it is still run by simple and their tried and true methods and all of the water used to make whiskey comes from this spring on the property, next to Jack's old original cabin.

They start by making their own charcoal out of white oak boards. It's stacked in "ricks" like these two and burned while being sprayed occasionally with water so it will make charcoal instead of ash.







It takes 4 of those ricks to make one of these bins of charcoal. Perfect charcoal for filtering whiskey is a big deal at Jack Daniels. To make sure the charcoal is pure, they start the ricks on fire with 180 proof Jack Daniels whiskey.




Then they put corn, barley and hops in huge vats with water and yeast and let it ferment.











After fermenting, the yeast has turned the sugars into alcohol and it is distilled into 180 proof alcohol.











The alcohol is then slowly dripped and filtered through huge vats of charcoal. At this stage, it's like "white lightning" moonshine. Our tour guide lifted the lid a little and let us breathe in the alcohol fumes from the vat. It smelled like clean whiskey and was overpoweringly strong alcohol. It's a "dry" county, so they can't let us taste the whiskey, but a few whiffs from the vats was enough to get you just a little tipsy.

Then they put it into white oak kegs, which they also make themselves, on the property. The kegs are specially roasted on the inside "to release the flavors and colors of the wood to seep into the whiskey. These kegs are stored for 4 to 7 years until it tasted just right. There were 68,000 barrels of whiskey in this one 6 story warehouse, and thay have 6 more like this.

Today, we drove to Watts Bar Lake near Knoxville, just to see what lakefront realestate prices were here. We did find a perfect lakefront lot with 1/2 acre and 150 ft of lakefront where a deepwater dock could be built in front of a house. It was $265K, which is much lower than lots back on Pickwick and Wilson Lakes. We decided to pass, even though it was just a perfect lot.

We also walked up the riverside here a few blocks to see the Hunter Art Museum. It was fine, but nothing to write home about.

Saturday, we're leaving Chattanooga and heading back towards the Ten-Tom canal, and eventually Florida.