# Is it wrong to refer to Jack Daniel's as a bourbon?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** liquor-alcohol
**Created:** [March 19, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290 "2011-03-19T21:43:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/1 "2011-03-19T21:43:15Z")
I recall a silly argument I had with someone one time in a bar. He wanted a bourbon and coke and got a Jack and coke and I thought this was wrong. By reading the Jack Daniel’s wiki it seems although it _can_ be classed as a bourbon, it isn’t by its manufacturer. I had ignorantly thought that because it was manufactured in Tennessee and not Kentucky it couldn’t be a bourbon.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/2 "2011-03-19T22:15:07Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> By reading the Jack Daniel’s wiki it seems although it _can_ be classed as a bourbon, it isn’t by its manufacturer.
Got it in one.
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/3 "2011-03-19T22:16:46Z")
Bourbon can be made anywhere. If you want to call it _Kentucky_ Bourbon it has to be from there, but there are plenty of bourbons made elsewhere. The differentiator between bourbon and Tennesee whiskey is that JD has a charcoal filtration step before aging.
[See here:](http://www.straightbourbon.com/faq.html#6)
> [@](#):
>
> Jack Daniel’s, is not considered a bourbon because it is charcoal-mellowed – slowly, drop by drop, filtered through sugar-maple charcoal – prior to aging, which many experts say gives it a different character. The process, called the Lincoln County Process, infuses a sweet and sooty character into the distillate as it removes impurities.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/4 "2011-03-19T22:31:39Z")
Yes, yes it is. If you filter it, it isn’t bourbon.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/5 "2011-03-20T03:50:56Z")
From what I understand, a Bourbon whiskey is a whiskey from at least 51% corn, distilled to no more than 160 proof, aged in new, charred oak barrels, and bottled at no less than 80 proof (40% alcohol).
I’m pretty sure that Jack Daniels meets those criteria, so it could be called Bourbon, and is probably legally regulated as such. Wikipedia even says that the definition of Tennessee Whiskey is a Bourbon whiskey distilled in Kentucky. The filtration is legally optional, although since Dickel and Jack Daniels both do it, I’d say it’s part of the character of a Tennessee whiskey.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/6 "2011-03-20T13:10:36Z")
IIRC, the “new” part of the charred barrels is significant. [The company that owns JD also owns Woodford Reserve](http://www.brown-forman.com/brands/), and I believe the barrels from Woodford Reserve are reused for barreling Jack Daniels. (This is from my fuzzy memory of touring the WR distillery several years ago).
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/7 "2011-03-20T13:14:59Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> Wikipedia even says that the definition of Tennessee Whiskey is a Bourbon whiskey distilled in Kentucky.
Bwuh?
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-jack-daniels-as-a-bourbon/575290/8 "2011-03-20T20:49:41Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#):
>
> Bwuh?
Er… “distilled in Tennessee.” I was reading two different articles at the same time and got my states mixed up.
Oh, and the “new” part is absolutely essential to make Tennessee whiskey, since it’s a sort of bourbon. By law, they have to use new charred oak barrels for bourbon.
[http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/bam/chapter4.pdf](http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/bam/chapter4.pdf)
There are kinds that don’t require it, but they’re usually the cheaper sorts. Most of the used barrels are shipped to Scotland or the Caribbean for Scotch and Rum production.