Tennessee Whiskey

(n.) This straight bourbon whiskey made in Tennessee must be distilled from a mash of at least 51-percent corn, plus a mix of barley, rye and wheat and aged for two years in oak barrels.

Some Tennessee whiskeys undergo a charcoal filtration before being aged in barrel, called the Lincoln County Process, which helps to either mellow and smooth the spirit or strip the flavor away, depending on whom you ask. While the many of the big producers employ this step to distinguish their product from plain bourbon, it is not a requirement.

Thanks to a longstanding statewide prohibition on new distilleries, Tennessee Whiskey had been limited to a handful of producers—including Jack Daniels and George Dickel—but change is on the horizon. In 2009, Tennessee’s legislature changed a state law that brought the number of counties in which liquor could be made up from three to 41, prompting an expansion in the number of boutique distilleries.

Tagged: Tennessee, whiskey