How Jack Daniels Makes So Much Whiskey In Such An Old Distillery

Jack Daniel'sOne of the 78 barrel houses at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee.

Despite being one of the most valuable alcohol brands in the world, Jack Daniel's is manufactured in a 147-year-old distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn. that is actually on the U.S. Department of the Interior's Register of Historic Places.

It's so old that I was worried while standing in a hot and deafening room of whiskey stills on a recent tour that one of them might erupt.

Nonetheless, the 1,700-acre operation has around 435 workers and ships out 119 million bottles in a year.

To meet rising global demand, in August parent company Brown-Forman Corp. announced a major expansion for the distillery costing more than $100 million. The enlargement will provide 20 percent more production and storage capacity while preserving the familiar landscape.

Maintaining traditional methods, after all, is key both to the brand and the product.

The distillery was founded almost 150 years ago when Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel ran away from home and started making whiskey with a Lutheran Minister when he was only seven years old.

"Church people started talking about how the minister was working for God on Sunday and then making liquor on Monday. In order to keep the church family happy the Minister sold the business to Jack for $25," distillery tour guide Jesse James told me.

We took a tour to see how the whiskey is made.