A SPIRITED TOUR
TENNESSEE WHISKEY TRAIL AIMS TO BOOST TOURISM
Hundreds of thousands of people visit Jack Daniel’s Lynchburg distillery each year, but for many of them, the tour is a sideline attraction during their trip to Tennessee.
Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller Jeff Arnett hopes the first-of-its-kind Tennessee Whiskey Trail, which officially went live Monday after more than a year of development, will be a game changer for state tourism and draw travelers for the sole purpose of experiencing more than two dozen unique distilleries on the trail.
“Hopefully, this official whiskey trail and a mobile app and website and passport system will kind of plant the seeds, if you will, that will hopefully bear better fruit for all of us, including Jack Daniel’s,” Arnett said. “I would love to see our tourism into Lynchburg double.”
Tim Piersant, founder and CEO of Chattanooga Whiskey,
was at the trail’s inauguration in Nashville on Monday afternoon. He said it was the first of three inaugural events that will be held in West, Middle and East Tennessee over the year.
“We’re excited about the partnership and get more people through the door,” he said. “It’ll offer distilleries across the state [an opportunity] to grow their brand and bring people in from across the country and world.”
Piersant said Chattanooga Whiskey is unique in that it is “the only distillery this far Southeast in the state” and the only one to experiment with more than 50 different recipes.
In many ways, the Tennessee Whiskey Trail is modeled after what Kentucky has already successfully done for bourbon — but on an even larger scale.
The Kentucky Distillers’ Association launched the Kentucky Bourbon Trail in 1999, and the 10-stop tour brings visitors to highprofile distilleries including Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Woodford Reserve. The trail has seen nearly 2.5 million visitors from all 50 states and 25 countries in the last five years, according to its website.
In Tennessee, it’s no secret the whiskey industry is having a moment. There are now 30-plus distilleries in the state after laws were relaxed in 2009, opening the door for craft spirit makers to launch across Tennessee. In 2015, whiskeys exported from Tennessee were valued at $691 million, ranking as one of the state’s top exports.
The Tennessee Distillers Guild, formed in 2014, wanted to capitalize on that booming industry with an organized marketing tool to showcase the state’s spirits makers.
Guild President Kris Tatum said his hope is visits to the Tennessee Whiskey Trail eventually exceed the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and elevate the entire region’s tourism industry.
“It’s not only important for our industry, the distilling industry, there are so many offshoots of our industry that we touch: tourism, economic development, rural development, agriculture, hospitality and restaurants,” Tatum said. “We just feel we can bring all that together and, with our focus being Tennessee products, we think we can raise that Tennessee pride.”
The 25-stop distillery tour will show Tennesseans and visitors alike all the state has to offer, from blues music in Memphis and honky tonks in Nashville to the foothills in Chattanooga and the Great Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg. People can complete the tour on their own time and in any order they prefer.
Distilleries on the tour range from big players such as Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel to newer spirits makers including Nashville Craft and Chattanooga Whiskey Co. The trail includes 11 distilleries in East Tennessee, 13 in Middle Tennessee and one in West Tennessee.
Visitors can get a free passport booklet on tnwhis keytrail.com and collect stamps at each distillery. Those who collect all 25 stamps will receive a gift to mark their achievement.
The Tennessee Whiskey Trail includes a 10-day suggested itinerary on its website for serious whiskey enthusiasts or visitors from afar who want to visit all 25 distilleries during one trip. The itinerary includes sightseeing and restaurant recommendations along the way, starting in Nashville and ending in Memphis.
“Let’s say you go to Nashville and come in on a Thursday night, I can go over and see Nelson’s, Corsair and Nashville Craft all in one evening. Then I can have a great dinner at Merchants or a fantastic steak at Jimmy Kelly’s,” Tatum said. “I feel like to experience the trail the best for me is to integrate the restaurants and hospitality and stay at a cool boutique hotel.”
April Weller-Cantrell, marketing director at the new Leiper’s Fork Distillery, hopes the whiskey trail brings increased traffic and brand awareness to the maker of high-end premium whiskeys in Williamson County. She said it can also showcase the variety of spirits produced in the state, from classic Tennessee whiskey and moonshine to vodka and gin.
The 45-minute tours at Leiper’s Fork Distillery cost $10 and visitors learn the history of Tennessee whiskey making, see production from beginning to end and spend time in the tasting room/retail center in a cabin from the 1800s.
“I grew up in Kentucky, so I’m well aware of what the trails can do and how beneficial they are to tourism and promoting your product,” WellerCantrell said.
Contact Lizzy Alfs at lalfs@tennessean.com or 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.