Jeff Arnett, the master distiller at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., drills a hole in a barrel of whiskey in one of the aging houses at the distillery.NASHVILLE – State lawmakers are considering an outright repeal of a 2013 law that established, for the first time, a legal definition of Tennessee whisky.
Supporters of the move in the House State Government Committee said Tuesday that the law enacted last year unfairly benefits Jack Daniel’s, the world’s most famous Tennessee whiskey.
Some new distillers argue they want to explore different types of spirits that wouldn’t be allowed to be called Tennessee whiskey under the current law.
“We don’t want to make our whiskey like Jack Daniel’s makes their whiskey,” said Michael Ballard, owner of Full Throttle distillery in Trimble, a town of about 600 in the northwestern corner of the state. “Why put us all in one box together?” asked Ballard, who also stars in a cable reality show about his Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis, S.D.
But Jeff Arnett, master distiller at the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., argued Tuesday that the law requiring charcoal filtering and storing whiskey in new oak barrels is meant to establish minimum quality standards for the category.