The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
TRAVELERS’ CHECKS
The choices were staggering.
There were so many spirits to try at Corsair Distillery that I had it trouble narrowing it down to a reasonable few.
There’s Triple Smoke whiskey, which starts with three types of malted barley and smokes each with a different fuel, resulting in a complex and, yes, smoky flavor.
On the sweeter side, there is the Vanilla Bean vodka, which is pretty self-explanatory.
And then there’s Oatrage, a whiskey made with malted oats and coffee malts.
“We are trying to do cool, trendy stuff,” said a woman who gave a tour of the business. “We’re the only people in the world who’ve made a quinoa whiskey.”
So fun and trendy is Corsair that I had to be pulled away from its small bar, which, at the time of this visit in late August, had a cocktail menu wholly inspired by the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones.” (I would return after checking out the premise for a Mother of Dragons, a drink that combined the Triple Smoke with honey and Havana & Hide bitters. It was tough to choose that one over others such as as Bronn of the Black Water and Jorah’s Exile, but I had no regrets after bending the knee to the delicious Mother of Dragons.”)
Begun at the beginning of the decade by childhood friends Darek Bell and Andrew Webber, Corsair has quickly made its mark. Its creations have won 41 medals at international spirits competitions.
Corsair is one of about 30 distilleries — from tiny boutique operations to the biggest of boys, Jack Daniel’s — linked by a new venture, The Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Designed to pump up tourism in a state that is already a top draw for fans of music and music culture, the trail will allow travelers to sample spirits while experiencing much of the interesting landscapes and Southern hospitality and charm the region offers. This statue of founder Jack Daniel — “Jack on the Rocks” — is one of many sights you’ll see on a tour of the big Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee.
A three-minute walk from Corsair is Nashville Craft, where, it is said, science meets distillation. That is because the man who runs it, Bruce Boeko, is a former DNA laboratory director who, since 2016, has pairing his smarts with his love for spirits.
Boeko strives to make spirits from products of Tennessee as much as possible, which explains Craft’s Naked Biscuit. It can’t be called a rum, he said, because it’s made with locally produced sorghum in the place of sugar — Tennessee’s climate isn’t ideal for growing sugar cane.
“This gives us a taste of Tennessee,” he says, adding it also helps support farmers in the state.
He explained that a newer state law allows these distilleries to serve cocktails and offered our group a Lemon Biscuit, an accessible number that uses the aforementioned spirit.
Craft’s facility also is home to a second distiller, Fugitives, which makes whiskeys with memorable names such as Manifesto and Tennessee Waltz.
While in Nashville, consider a visit to Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery. There, you will hear of the operation’s long-and-elaborate history, which dates to the birth of
Charles Nelson in 1835, runs through prohibition and picks up its modern component in 2006, when Bill Nelson visited the area with sons Andy and Charlie. It is the brothers who operate Nelson’s today. An enjoyable tasting experience there involved about five total bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys.
Distillers along the trail make it clear just what Tennessee whiskey is — it isn’t as simple as whiskey produced in the state. In a nutshell, to be classified as such, a spirit must be made from a mash that is at least 51 percent corn, put through a heavy charcoal filter and aged in new charred oak barrels. Before the filtering process, they will tell you, what becomes a Tennessee whiskey is a bourbon.
And, honestly, you don’t need to tour every distillery you visit. It may not be quite “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all,” but the differences seemed less-significant which each subsequent look at the generally expensive pieces of equipment used by each operation.
There are exceptions, most notably at Jack Daniel’s, in Lynchburg, about a 90-minute trek from the Music City. Really, a tour of this big operation, which has been producing the world’s bestknown varieties of charcoalmellowed Tennessee whiskey since the mid-1800s, the most-common of which is the Old No. 7, that familiar rectangular bottle with the black label you think of when you think of Jack.
Vultures were literally circling above the sprawling facility on the morning of our visit, but our friendly and knowledgeable guide didn’t take it as a sign that all these smaller distilleries now producing whiskeys would be chewing on the Jack Daniel’s carcass anytime soon. And while roughly 600 people work at the facility, he insisted everything about the company’s whiskey-producing process meets the definition of “craft” distillation.
On a tour, you’ll hear about 151 years of whiskey making, about how two men — Darren and Tracy — make Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.: visitmusiccity.com; 615-259-4730. Tennessee Whiskey Trail: Corsair Distillery: Nashville Craft Distillery: Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery: 1414 Clinton St., Nashville; greenbrierdistillery.com; 615-913-8800. Jack Daniel’s Distillery: George A. Dickel & Co.: 1950 Cascade Hollow Road, Tullahoma; georgedickel. com; 931-857-4110. Leiper’s Fork Distillery: H Clark Distillery: 1557 Thompson Station Road W., Thompson’s Station: hclarkdistillery.com; 615478-2191 Short Mountain Distillery: all the charcoal for the filtering. (Well, they have an apprentice, too, we were told.) You’ll learn about the master tasters, those who spend a decade working for the privilege of sampling batches of whiskey to make sure it meets the company’s standards. You’ll be brought to the distillery’s water source — you’ll learn these distilleries need a good one — a 2-mile-deep cave with limestone spring water. You’ll learn about the barrels they make in house.
And, of course, you’ll learn about Jasper Newton Daniel, Gentleman Jack himself.