Is Jack bourbon?

People ask me all the time if Jack Daniel's is a bourbon. I say NO.

Last night I was reading a bit about it on the interwebs (I love that word), and learned a few things. There are arguments out there that it qualifies as a bourbon because it fits the federal legal requirements to be labelled as such. (See my tab above "What Is Bourbon?" for more on that.) Others argue that no, it cannot be called bourbon because it goes through another step before aging that other bourbons don't: charcoal filtering. Apparently there is nothing in the federal bourbon definition that rules out such filtering, but there you go - it's the argument that's made.

Well, what does Jack Daniels say about it themselves? The bottle clearly says it's a Tennessee Whiskey. Until April of last year, there were no legal requirements to be labelled Tennessee Whiskey. (Read more: New Tennessee Law.) Now, the product must be made in Tennessee and undergo the charcoal filtering. Other than that, the requirements list looks like bourbon, as if Tennessee Whiskey were a subset of bourbon. Does Jack Daniel's agree? Here's a link: Jack Daniel's FAQ. They say they are not bourbon. I'm going with that.

So, random people who try to tell me that it is when "showing off" your whiskey knowledge to me in a bar when you notice I'm drinking barrel proof, neat: ding dong, you're wrong. I'm pretty sure you cannot make the argument for its being included as a bourbon, anyway. Checkmate!! (Did I mention I like to win arguments?)

Cheers until next time!

** I have to thank my uncle for pointing out an error I made in the original posting, where I said that the charcoal filtering came after aging. It is before.