Tennessee

Tennessee runs from the Appalachian mountains in the east to the Mississippi River in the west, with Nashville as its capital. Tennessee whiskey is a style of its own, filtered through maple charcoal before it goes into the barrel. The experience in this guide is the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, south-east of Nashville, where the standard tour costs 35 dollars, taxes and fees included.

In Nashville itself, six operators run guided food tours in Downtown, Germantown and East Nashville, from 79 to 125 dollars per adult (October 2026).

What Tennessee whiskey must be

The Tennessee Distillers Guild, which runs the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, sets out the legal definition: made in Tennessee from a grain recipe of at least 51% corn, distilled to no more than 160 proof (80% ABV), filtered through sugar maple charcoal before ageing (the Lincoln County Process), aged in new charred oak barrels and bottled at no less than 80 proof (40% ABV).

• Tennessee went dry in 1910, a decade before national Prohibition, and stayed dry until 1939, six years after repeal. The Jack Daniel Distillery reopened in 1940.
• A 2009 reform removed Prohibition-era barriers: the state has gone from three distilleries to more than thirty, and in 2017 they formed the trail.

The trail from Nashville to Lynchburg

The Tennessee Whiskey Trail passport covers more than 40 destinations statewide, with a stamp and a poker chip at each stop, and the guild advises touring one grand division of the state at a time to keep drive times short. In Lynchburg, Jack Daniel’s has been made since 1866, and Miss Mary Bobo’s has served Southern dinners since 1908.