Nostalgic Metal Signs - The Jack Daniels Collection

Jack Daniels a whiskey Legend. On the right are just a few of the signs that make up this fine collection. Click on any one of the signs or here to view/order any of them.

Jack Daniels - A little History

In the early 1800s, when Tennessee was still a wilderness, Joseph Daniel and his family settled in Franklin Country. The Motlow family, headed by Agnes Motlow, a revolutionary War widow, settled in adjacent Lincoln Country, Joseph's son, Calaway, and his wife, Lucinda Cook, had ten children, one of them Jasper Newton Daniel, who became known as "Jack". Jack's sister, Finetta, eventually married Felix Motlow, and thus the names Motlow and Daniel became entwined in history.

Jack Daniel was very young when his mother died. His father remarried, and with so many brothers and sisters, there was little attention left for Jack, and he left home to live with a neighbour, Felix Waggoner. At the age of seven, he went to work for Dan Call, a preacher who also made whiskey and sold it at his store. Jack Daniel worked very hard for Dan Call, and proved himself an apt student. He took a particular interest in the whiskey-making operation and learned it so well that Dan Call made him a full partner. Eventually, Dan Call began to feel that he needed to give his ministry his full attention, and he sold the entire business to Jack Daniel, who was 13 at the time.

Jack Daniel was set on making the best whiskey possible. He made his whiskey mostly from corn, with rye and barley malt. The old "yeasting back" process was used, which required the retention of a portion of the mash from the previous run, in order to start a new batch. This is often referred to as the "sour mash" batch. He also insisted on using an old leaching process that had traditionally been used in Lincoln County to smooth the newly-made whiskey after it came from the still. It took an additional ten-to-twelve days for whiskey to "leach" through the vats packed with charcoal, but Jack Daniel thought it was well worth the time and effort. No one knows for sure where the idea of "charcoal mellowing" began, but it was known as the "The Old Lincoln County Process," and Lincoln County whiskey was considered to be the finest made.

As the fame of his whiskey spread, Jack Daniel searched for an abundant source of limestone water. He found it flowing from a cave spring in a hollow near Lynchburg. Iron free and always flowing at 56 degree Fahrenheit, this water source has proven to be ideal in making the unique whiskey from Jack Daniel's Hollow. This water, plus the special charcoal mellowing process, set Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey apart from all others.

In the early 1860s, the Federal Government began its plan to regulate and tax all whiskey-making operations, and 1866, the Jack Daniel Distillery became the first registered distillery in America.