tn-whiskey-blog

Nelson's Green Brier Distillery’s Tennessee Whiskey patiently aging until mature. Let’s see how many clichés can we toss out here: Good things come to those who wait. Patience is a virtue. Only time will tell. All of these ring true when it comes to Tennessee Whiskey. In fact, you could even make the case that time is the most important ingredient in whiskey. Well, some might say the alcohol is the most important ingredient, but hey, it’s time that makes the alcohol so tasty. There’s a lot of chemistry that goes into the front end of the whiskey-making process, but...

Sugar Maple Charcoal used in the famed Lincoln County Process You might be wondering what makes Tennessee Whiskey different from other whiskeys, bourbons, and brown liquors. Well, it all comes down to one thing: Lincoln County. Yes, Lincoln County, Tennessee, population 33,000 and some change. Before we get too deep into the weeds here with a history/science lesson, a few basics about how most whiskeys are made (hold on tight, we’re going to move quickly): you mill some grains (corn, wheat, etc.) to the consistency of cornmeal. You then cook the cornmeal mash in order to ferment it. Once the...

In a way, it seems far-fetched to even conceive of a time when liquor was illegal, especially considering that you could call the cocktail as American an invention as baseball, jazz, and the world wide web. But it actually happened, and it was exactly 100 years ago. Our short and storied history as a country has plenty of triumphs and tragedies, but it’s never had a period as dry as 1920-1933. As you might be able to surmise, The Prohibition’s effects rippled across the United States, but it certainly had a disastrous effect on the liquor industry, with few distillers...