Tennessee Whiskey is made in Tennessee. We know that to be true.
But there’s a slew of classifications that need to be met before a brand can print “Tennessee Whiskey” on its label. It’s more scientific than one would think, and it even affects the complexity of a cocktail.
So what is it?
We asked George Dickel Cascade Hollow Distillery General Manager Nicole Austin for a little lesson on Tennessee Whiskey and some insight into one of the category’s most respected names.
How do you explain to consumers what Tennessee-style whiskey is?
I think it's important to understand each country sets their own rules for whiskey and for what's going to be sold. So in America, it's the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and there's federal regulations that say what you can say on the label.
Bourbon is the one the people know the most but if you want to use that word on your label, you must conform to the standards. For bourbon whiskey, it has to be at least 51% corn, be produced in the United States, be distilled to less than 160% proof and it has to be aged in a new oak vat.
Tennessee whiskey is defined as 'bourbon whiskey,' for which an additional process has been applied and that is the Lincoln County Process. Tennessee whiskey meets all the standards for bourbon, for all intents and purposes is bourbon, but it's got an extra special thing that sits on top of that, which distinguishes it from bourbon. That's the Lincoln County Process.
How does the Lincoln County Process work?
The Lincoln County Process is the application of charcoal filtration or charcoal mellowing after distillation before it goes into a cask. You take your distillate, you run it across charcoal, and you put it in a cask, but it's completely up to the discretion of the producer as to how much that actually impacts the spirit.
You could basically pass it over a piece of charcoal really quickly, have that charcoal mellowing have minimal impact on the spirit, and still have met the letter of the law for Tennessee whiskey, without actually substantively changing it in any way. That's one end of the spectrum.
George Dickel sits on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, where we're really invested in the charcoal mellowing and we go so far as to chill the distillate before it enters the charcoal mellowing tank.
We have a high residence time in those tanks, sometimes two to three days, depending on the season.
How do you explain Tennessee Whiskey’s flavor profile compared to bourbon or rye whiskey?
Tennessee whiskey is a bourbon but an additional process has been applied. Rye is either quite spicy or quite fruity, and that's coming from the grain itself. Bourbon whiskey is often very vanilla sweet.
Tennessee whiskey would have the same vanilla-sweet notes, but a little smoother on the palate.
How does it alter a drink or cocktail when used in place of bourbon or rye whiskey?
The George Dickel flavor profile is very sweet, kind of clove, and then it's got a fruity characters that's often described as almost like a vitamin character. That character really comes through in a cocktail and it doesn't disappear. When you put it in a cocktail, the whiskey and the characteristics of the whiskey still come through. You want the whiskey to have a little bit of a backbone and not just disappear against what you're mixing it with, like the vermouth, and Dickel will do that.
Could you make the case for Tennessee Whiskeys to get their own section on a spirit menu and what distinction would you give it?
I would say they belong with the bourbons. I think that's one of the things that really confuses a lot of consumers and actually limits the opportunities for Tennessee whiskeys.
It is bourbon whiskey, it substitutes as bourbon whiskey in a cocktail, it substitutes as bourbon whiskey to a consumer. It is bourbon whiskey. It's just extra special bourbon whiskey.
I think that's one of the most common misunderstandings about Tennessee whiskey, is the idea that it has to be somehow sold separately or treated separately or treated differently than bourbon whiskey. Tennessee whiskey is bourbon whiskey.
Dickel occupies this kind of Goldilocks position in Tennessee whiskey, where it's not too big, not too small.
- Nicole Austin
What’s something about George Dickel’s whiskey making process that not a lot of people know?
We go out of our way to give the distillate a lot of time to interact with the charcoal and we chill it to increase the activity, to make it even easier for the charcoal to pull some things out of the spirit. Charcoal is basically activated carbon and it preferentially pulls things like sulfur out of the spirits. It changes the odor and it also changes the mouthfeel of the distillate. It smooths it out, rounds it out and makes it a very approachable spirit.
That's one of the things that distinguishes Tennessee whiskey, where even when it's quite a mature liquid, with quite a lot of barrel on it, it's still a very approachable spirit — very smooth and round.
What sets George Dickel apart from other Tennessee Whiskeys?
The maturity and the thoughtfulness of our blending. Dickel occupies this kind of Goldilocks position in Tennessee whiskey, where it's not too big, not too small. We're not a really large commercial producer who's mass-producing spirit. We're small, we have a lot of heritage, and we're really dedicated to quality in every aspect of our process. We have some really educated folks working here that know Tennessee whiskey inside and out and every drop of liquid that comes out of here is high quality.
We also have the good fortune that as the bourbon boom happened, we were really a bit of a sleeper brand. We were an insider’s insider brand.
I think something that's quite special about Dickel because the brand has been around for so long, there's a perception that it's much bigger than it is. We still buy all our corn from within 30 miles of the distillery. We employ local folks. Everything still has a person in every part of the process. Most people have this vision in their head of a much bigger operation than we really are. We're still quite small, quite personal, and quite quality-dedicated.