Tennessee whiskey

[9] President Andrew Jackson served Tennessee whiskey in the White House, a custom continued by James Polk.

[10] Filtering of whiskey through maple charcoal was practiced as early as 1825 by Alfred Eaton in Tullahoma, though the process was likely used earlier outside of Tennessee.

The filtering process is named for Lincoln County, Tennessee, the home of the Jack Daniel's distillery when it originally began operations.

[18] On a federal level, the definition of Tennessee whiskey is legally established under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)[1] and at least one other international trade agreement[2] that require it to be "a straight Bourbon whiskey authorized to be produced only in the State of Tennessee".

It is not enough under state law that the whiskey be produced in Tennessee; it must also meet specific quality and production standards.

[19] On May 13, 2013, Tennessee governor Bill Haslam signed House Bill 1084, requiring the Lincoln County process (which involves maple charcoal filtering) to be used for products produced in the state labeled as "Tennessee Whiskey", along with the existing requirements for bourbon (e.g., mash consisting of at least 51% corn, aging in new charred oak barrels, and limits on alcohol by volume concentration for distillation, aging, and bottling).

[19][20] Although Jack Daniel's supported the 2013 legislation – stating it was necessary to bring the quality of Tennessee whiskey to the level of bourbons and Scotches – some of the state's smaller distilleries opposed it, arguing the process required by the law was too close to the process used by Jack Daniel's.

[22] In 2014, legislation was introduced in the Tennessee state legislature to amend the 2013 law to allow the reuse of barrels in the aging process.

Arnett blasted the proposed amendment, going as far as to accuse Diageo of attempting to weaken the quality of Tennessee whiskey to protect its Scotch and bourbon brands.

Diageo argued that the 2013 law was an attempt by Jack Daniel's to push smaller competitors out of the market.

This change is expected to lead to the establishment of more small distilleries, thus increasing the number of producers of Tennessee whiskey.

[19] Tennessee whiskey is the namesake for the country music song "Tennessee Whiskey", written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove and originally released by David Allan Coe as the title track of his 1981 studio LP.