Our First Factory Tour--4/12

We are never in much of a hurry to leave, so it is about 10 AM by the time we pack up. We watch those around us pack up and move out. First stop is Nashville. We park near the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, which is a large park sitting below the capitol building. It features a huge block-long horizontal map of Tennessee with rivers marked by smooth stone. There is a long wall with each decade of Tennessee history marked by pylons and the wall next to it recounting significant events in Tennessee history. When it comes to the years of the Civil War, the wall is broken. There is a carillon with towers surrounding a circle with benches. And there is a farmers’ market across the street.

There are lots of plants for sale, but we go in search of the produce. This is no Evanston Farmers market because these ‘farmers’ have goods from Florida and California and other distant states. But we buy some beautiful okra and crisp green beans and a bottle of dark honey. That’s what it’s called—dark honey. We haven’t tasted it yet.

I check roadfood.com for a lunch recommendation and we venture to Swett’s for Southern country cooking—greens, corn pudding, corn bread (both baked and fried), fried chicken, fried apples—all served cafeteria style. Shawn introduced us to finding road food on the iPhone when we traveled together last November. Great Web site for interesting restaurants.

By 1:45 we are on our way to Lynchburg, TN and our first factory tour, the Jack Daniels tour. We park on the road because the parking lot is packed; as we walk in we hear jazz coming from a tented area. There is clearly a party going on. We are one of the last tours of the day, and I am sorry that I haven’t brought my camera along because it is very picturesque. We are bused to the charcoal production area and then work our way back to the Visitor Center. The thing that sets Jack apart from all others is the charcoal filtering. As the last step before it goes into the barrel, it is filtered through 8 feet of charcoal, which they claim smoothes it. There are 75 barrel houses sitting in Lynchburg with a million barrels in each. They have done some interesting marketing. For example, if you buy an entire barrel, you are enrolled in the Single Barrel Society (your name is put on a wall at the ‘factory’) and each bottle from the barrel is marked with the barrel number. Gentleman Jack is charcoal filtered twice; once before it goes into the barrel and again after it comes out and before it is bottled. The green label is milder because of where it is stored in the barrel house. Some bottles are sold only in airport duty free shops. In its history Jack Daniels has had only 7 brew masters, the newest one being put in place just this month. As we get ready to leave, there is a huge group in the courtyard getting ready for a picture, the group from the tents. Many languages being spoken. We figure it is a group of distributors. Our guide has told us that they had 1,400 people on the tours that day.

Tims Fork State Park is only about 10 miles away, but it is over narrow, windy road. We choose site 22, go to the Visitor Center to check in, and find out that there is a pickin’ session at the Recreation Building from 5:30 to 9. So we go back, get settled, find a flashlight, and walk the mile and a half through the woods to the pickin’. And there is much music going on. We find a folding chair and a place to sit and people to talk to. This is a session that takes place every other week. Amateur musicians bring their instruments, join the circle, and go around the circle, each person choosing what to play next. There are 3 mikes and people moving in and out of the mikes as their instruments have something to add. One woman is playing spoons, and when it’s her turn, she sings. Another woman sings as well as does another man. But everyone else plays an instrument as well as sometimes singing. There is 1 autoharp, a bass, lots of banjos and guitars, a few mandolins. We leave around 8 PM and head back for a very light supper. We are still full from lunch.