tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post4305397823916537701..comments2024-03-19T20:31:23.141-05:00Comments on The Chuck Cowdery Blog: What's in a Name? If It's "Tennessee Whiskey," a LotChuck Cowderyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-1080133215818422482013-05-01T13:25:11.287-05:002013-05-01T13:25:11.287-05:00Please note that the new Tennessee law requires th...Please note that the new Tennessee law requires the following: "Filtered through maple charcoal prior to aging." Only 'maple charcoal' and 'prior to aging' are specified. The rest of the details are up to the producer.Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-69184907572269075262013-05-01T13:20:30.816-05:002013-05-01T13:20:30.816-05:00I have seen the charcoal in the chill filtering se...I have seen the charcoal in the chill filtering set up at Heaven Hill. It's a tiny amount, but it's charcoal. That's the point, any contact between the whiskey and charcoal, at any point in the process, makes the statement "every drop charcoal filtered" true, even if it's a different process for a different purpose, involving a minute amount of charcoal. That's the point I'm trying to make. No bourbon, regardless of what the label says, goes through a process comparable to the processes used at Dickel and Daniel's, which are themselves quite different from each other, but both are pre-aging, involve a lot of charcoal, and the charcoal is all from sugar maple wood.Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-35687960341531284382013-05-01T12:52:14.825-05:002013-05-01T12:52:14.825-05:00But you're right that neither version of "...But you're right that neither version of "charcoal filtering" has anything to do with chill-filtering"EllenJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-68508867686223352722013-05-01T12:50:38.200-05:002013-05-01T12:50:38.200-05:00It's not the fact that charcoal is used, it...It's not the fact that charcoal is used, it's what KIND of charcoal and WHEN the filtering takes place. As Chuck points out, virtually every bourbon is charcoal filtered before bottling (I'll bet even the ones that are not chill-filtered are charcoal filtered). The process in questions involves feeding NEW MAKE whiskey through a gravity-fed column of SUGAR MAPLE charcoal BEFORE barreling. Completely different animal. EllenJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-79863884880704151582013-05-01T09:24:04.838-05:002013-05-01T09:24:04.838-05:00Chuck, chillr filtering and charcoal (carbon) filt...Chuck, chillr filtering and charcoal (carbon) filtering are not the same. they have similar effects on the whiskey, but one just uses really cold whiskey and cellulose pads and maybe some DE to remove the fatty acids, while charcoal filtering substitutes the cold for carbon. Kyle Hendersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12171552065638778876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-66494118982116909922013-04-29T16:28:23.086-05:002013-04-29T16:28:23.086-05:00Virtually all bourbon is charcoal filtered after a...Virtually all bourbon is charcoal filtered after aging to remove amino acids that can make the whiskey appear cloudy when the bottle gets cold. This is the 'chill filtering' you may have heard about. Because of the success of Jack Daniel's, some bourbons have put the words 'charcoal filtered' on their labels. This type of charcoal filtering uses a very small amount of activated charcoal and is done after aging. Heaven Hill has several expressions with those words on the label. Jim Beam says it on their green label but actually does it to every bourbon they make except Booker's. What Jack and George do is done before aging and involves a large quantity of charcoal made from sugar maple wood exclusively. They are two very different processes for two different purposes, but both are 'charcoal filtering.'Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-60780356031389264422013-04-29T15:46:31.394-05:002013-04-29T15:46:31.394-05:00Chuck-
Heaven Hill produces full-line of charcoal...Chuck-<br /><br />Heaven Hill produces full-line of charcoal filtered bourbons readily available in Kentucky.<br /><br />Kentucky Straight Bourbon.....<br /><br />"Every Drop Charcoal Filtered"<br /><br />Heaven Hill White Label (6 Year) 100 Proof BIB<br />Heaven Hill Gold Label (4 Year) 100 Proof<br />Heaven Hill Green Label (6 Year) 90 Proof<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-82694078941485830512013-04-29T14:35:56.165-05:002013-04-29T14:35:56.165-05:00Of course the humor I find is in the naming conven...Of course the humor I find is in the naming convention, not the process itself. But, that said, I've never seen anything to suggest that the name was in general use before post-Prohibition Jack Daniel's began promoting it to differentiate their product from all the bourbon brands with which they competed.<br /><br />The process itself is attributed to Alfred Eaton, who operated a distillery near where Daniel Call would eventually build the distillery that would become Jack Daniel's. Eaton, however, didn't "invent" the process, nor AFAIK did he name it after Lincoln county. He <i>purchased</i> the process, along with the recipes for making whiskey, from William Pearson in 1825. Pearson, who was indeed living near Lynchburg at the time, had migrated there from South Carolina where he had been distilling (and maple-leaching) whiskey since around 1780. I don't know what county he lived in in South Carolina, but I do know that he distilled his whiskey from a corn-mash, filtered it through charcoal made from hard sugar-maple wood, and then aged it in oak barrels. He apparently learned how to make whiskey from his mother, who made similar whiskey (probably from rye) in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s.<br /><br />Therefore, whatever one chooses to call the process (which is the part I find silly), NO WAY should the <i>process itself</i> be restricted to pertain only to the state of Tennessee. And, while I readily agree that the "Tennessee" appellation should mean that the whiskey is made and aged only in that state, the same as "Kentucky" does, I see no reason to include as a defining feature, a process that historically was widely in use throughout several states (whatever name may have been used, if any), and which probably was NOT employed by most other distillers throughout Tennessee.EllenJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-14166302489332265152013-04-27T22:17:23.820-05:002013-04-27T22:17:23.820-05:00EllenJ,
Thank you for pointing out the irony. Ho...EllenJ,<br /><br />Thank you for pointing out the irony. However, I suggest that one should not conclude that the Lincoln County process <i>precludes</i> the use of charcoal since the process isn't named after what is being done in Lincoln County <i>now</i>, but what <i>was</i> done there when the process was named, even if that's no longer the case.<br /><br />Your point is a good one, but I suggest that doesn't change the name of the process.Trevornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-2987778909597952442013-04-27T13:54:44.747-05:002013-04-27T13:54:44.747-05:00That's a story Kentucky distillers tell their ...That's a story Kentucky distillers tell their children, Fred, but it's never been true, in that there has never been a ruling to that effect. Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-2965928139819841242013-04-27T11:07:15.469-05:002013-04-27T11:07:15.469-05:00Chuck-
Thank You for this article.
I have a frie...Chuck-<br /><br />Thank You for this article.<br /><br />I have a friend who is a Bourbon Snob and refuses to drink Dickel or Jack Daniels.<br /><br />He insists it's NOT bourbon and he only drinks bourbon.<br /><br />Copy of your article now in cyber space headed his way via eMail.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-80305460903268680802013-04-26T22:44:50.134-05:002013-04-26T22:44:50.134-05:00Chuck, I thought the maple charcoal added a flavor...Chuck, I thought the maple charcoal added a flavor to the whiskey, changing the flavor,hence not being able to call it bourbon.Fred Mozenternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-13518192004361822672013-04-26T22:37:05.132-05:002013-04-26T22:37:05.132-05:00Glad I don't drink Jack Daniels. Gladder still...Glad I don't drink Jack Daniels. Gladder still not to live or work in Tennessee!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-24254771646388175892013-04-26T21:56:15.991-05:002013-04-26T21:56:15.991-05:00"...A new law expected to take effect in June...<i>"...A new law expected to take effect in June will define Tennessee whiskey as, essentially, bourbon that has been filtered through maple charcoal before aging... Phil Prichard, a Tennessee micro-distiller who has been making an unfiltered Tennessee whiskey, was given an exemption."</i><br /><br />It's good (although somewhat ironic) that he was so exempted. And therein lies another piece of labeling silliness you can add to your already-extensive (and entertaining) list.<br /><br />You see, Pritchard's little distillery is located in Kelso, a community practically on the border between Tennessee and Alabama, in the county of Lincoln. Lincoln County was once much larger than it is today; it encompassed an area that included Jack Daniel's Lynchburg up until that part of the county was made part of Moore County. The pre-barreling charcoal filtering that has so long been associated with Tennessee is known as the Lincoln County process (despite the fact that the only other major producer of Tennessee whiskey, George Dickel is, and always was, located in Coffee County). <br /><br />There IS a distillery in Lincoln County, though. And that distillery is the one where Phil Pritchard and his distiller produce Tennessee Lightning, a corn whiskey which is distilled and bottled without the charcoal filtration step.<br /><br />And thus, the ONLY Tennessee whiskey distilled in Lincoln County does not use the charcoal process.<br /><br />Ergo, ALL Tennessee whiskies <i>distilled in Lincoln County</i> do not use the charcoal process.<br /><br />From which one must logically conclude that the DEFINITION of such a "Lincoln County Process" must therefore <i>preclude</i> the use of charcoal filtration.<br /><br />Fact is, the only reason Schenley's Ralph Dubbs designed the Dickel distillery (in the 1950s) to use charcoal filtering was because Jack Daniel's (well, Reagor Motlow) had already milked the Lincoln Process thing to the point where it had become the defacto explanation for Tennessee whiskey. No matter that Lynchburg hadn't been part of Lincoln County since 1871.EllenJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-5201427678730873092013-04-26T20:59:12.917-05:002013-04-26T20:59:12.917-05:00Tennessee law applies to a Tennessee operator rega...Tennessee law applies to a Tennessee operator regardless of where the offending product is actually sold.Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-53850923780958505762013-04-26T18:48:05.679-05:002013-04-26T18:48:05.679-05:00So nothing will stop someone from labeling their n...So nothing will stop someone from labeling their non-compliant product as Tennessee Whiskey on bottles sold outside of the state of Tennessee right? Seems like a loop hole that someone is going to take advantage of, especially if they are not fans on the law in the first place. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01082221843234918248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-59122416311628930502013-04-26T13:30:29.443-05:002013-04-26T13:30:29.443-05:00California and other states have similar laws rega...California and other states have similar laws regarding wine. Chuck Cowderyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12191121480961526039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-840930092789285091.post-58072529138722977702013-04-26T13:19:04.132-05:002013-04-26T13:19:04.132-05:00How often are these definitions made at the State ...How often are these definitions made at the State level? This seems like empty legislation to me.Joenoreply@blogger.com