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Nashville Barrel Company · Whiskey guide
The Lincoln County Process, also called charcoal mellowing, runs new-make whiskey through sugar-maple charcoal before the barrel. Tennessee Code Annotated section 57-2-106 uses that step, filtered through maple charcoal prior to aging, in the rules for a Tennessee whiskey label. You must be 21 or older to taste at Nashville Barrel Company.
New-make is the clear spirit off the still, before any wood. In the Lincoln County Process that spirit is filtered, or steeped, through charcoal made from sugar maple. Then it goes into the barrel to age. The step is not a polish on whiskey that has already spent years in oak.
Tennessee’s Attorney General described it that way in Opinion No. 15-23 (March 18, 2015). The opinion says the maple-charcoal requirement in the state statute is commonly called the Lincoln County Process, and that charcoal mellowing means the whiskey is filtered through charcoal before it goes into the casks. The same opinion says the step was meant to distinguish Tennessee whiskey from bourbon.
Jack Daniel’s is the distillery most people mean when they use the name. Its own account, on the Lincoln County Process page and the charcoal-mellowing page, is specific to that distillery: newly distilled whiskey trickles by gravity through ten feet of sugar-maple charcoal, and the trip takes three to five days, before the barrel. Jack Daniel’s also says it burns sugar-maple ricks to make that charcoal. Those details are one producer’s method. Tennessee Code Annotated section 57-2-106 says “filtered through maple charcoal prior to aging.” It does not set a vat depth, a number of days, or the words “sugar maple.”
A second charcoal pass is a different thing. Jack Daniel’s FAQ says Gentleman Jack is charcoal mellowed a second time. That is a brand step. The legal requirement is the filtration prior to aging.
The name is older than the current county line. The Tennessee Secretary of State records that Moore County was formed in 1871 from Bedford, Franklin, and Lincoln counties, by Acts of Tennessee 1871, Chapter 96. Lynchburg, where the Jack Daniel Distillery stands, is the Moore County seat. Lincoln County is still a Tennessee county. The process kept the older name. The Tennessee Encyclopedia entry on Moore County tells the same 1871 origin and the later boundary fight with Lincoln County.
The rule is Public Chapter 341 of 2013 (House Bill 1084, substituted for Senate Bill 1195). The General Assembly passed it on April 19, 2013. It took effect July 1, 2013. The bill history and the signed act are both public. The 2025 compiled code’s history note cites that chapter alone.
Section 57-2-106(a) says an intoxicating liquor may not be advertised, described, labeled, named, sold, or referred to for marketing or sales purposes as “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Tennessee Whisky,” “Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey,” or “Tennessee Sour Mash Whisky” unless it is:
Manufactured in the state.
A grain mixture of at least fifty-one percent corn.
No more than 160 proof, which is 80% alcohol by volume.
Aged in new, charred oak barrels in Tennessee.
Filtered through maple charcoal prior to aging. This is the Lincoln County Process in the statute.
Placed in the barrel at no more than 125 proof, which is 62.5% alcohol by volume.
Bottled at not less than 80 proof, which is 40% alcohol by volume.
Subsection (b) says a manufacturer who violates the section is subject to suspension or revocation of its license for not less than one year.
Subsection (c) drops only item (a)(5), the maple-charcoal step. It applies to intoxicating liquor manufactured at a distillery in a county that authorized manufacturing by referendum after January 1, 1979, and before January 1, 1980, if that distillery was first licensed by the state alcoholic beverage commission after January 1, 2000, and before January 1, 2001. The other six requirements still apply.
Opinion 15-23 says the legislative history shows subsection (c) was enacted so Prichard’s Distillery could keep using “Tennessee whiskey” without the Lincoln County Process. The opinion says the dates pick out one distillery. They do not give a general pass to every distillery that was already selling Tennessee whiskey in 2013. The Attorney General concluded that subsection (c) is impermissible discrimination under the Fourteenth Amendment and impermissible class legislation under article XI, section 8, of the Tennessee Constitution. That conclusion is an opinion. It is not a court judgment, and it did not repeal the statute. The 2025 compiled code still prints subsection (c).
Subsection (d) was a sell-through, not a second exemption from charcoal. A Tennessee corporation, limited liability company, or proprietorship that held a federal distiller basic permit and had a licensed manufacturing operation in the state as of January 1, 2013, could label, market, and sell product it already owned or had contracted to purchase, for 36 months after the act’s effective date. Product manufactured after July 1, 2013, had to meet subsection (a) to use the name. Thirty-six months from July 1, 2013, ran out on July 1, 2016. The compiled code still prints the transition language. The clock written into the act has passed.
The House and Senate did not agree on that sell-through at first. The House amendment included the charcoal rule, the date-window exemption, and the 36-month language. The Senate voted to remove the 36-month language. Both chambers adopted the conference committee report on April 19, 2013. The signed chapter includes subsections (c) and (d). The bill page linked above is the record of that fight.
Federal bourbon rules do not require maple charcoal. The current standard is 27 CFR 5.143. The class “whisky” is spirits distilled from a fermented mash of grain at less than 190 proof, stored in oak barrels (corn whisky has its own storage rule), and bottled at not less than 80 proof. The type “bourbon whisky” is a fermented mash of not less than 51% corn, distilled at 160 proof or less, stored in charred new oak barrels at 125 proof or less. Neutral spirits are not permitted in bourbon, and coloring, flavoring, and blending materials are not permitted for bourbon whisky. Opinion 15-23 cited the same bourbon standard at the section number then in force, 27 CFR 5.22(b), and said the maple-charcoal step is the requirement unique to the Tennessee statute.
The plain-language list of bourbon rules stays on bourbon vs whiskey. This page is the charcoal step and the state label.
| Bourbon whisky (27 CFR 5.143) | Tennessee whiskey label (section 57-2-106) | |
|---|---|---|
| Grain | At least 51% corn | At least 51% corn |
| Distillation | 160 proof or less | 160 proof or less |
| Barrel | Charred new oak, entered at 125 proof or less | New charred oak, aged in Tennessee, entered at 125 proof or less |
| Place | United States | Manufactured in Tennessee |
| Charcoal | Not required | Maple charcoal before aging, unless subsection (c) applies |
| Bottle | Whisky class: not less than 80 proof | Not less than 80 proof |
Jack Daniel’s FAQ says Old No. 7 meets the bourbon rules and is labeled Tennessee whiskey because of charcoal mellowing before the barrel. That is that distillery’s account of its own whiskey. It is not a finding that every bottle marked Tennessee whiskey skipped a bourbon rule, and it is not a finding that bourbon has to say Tennessee whiskey. Subsection (c) is the reason a Tennessee whiskey label and the Lincoln County Process are not the same fact in every case.
Nashville Barrel Company does not distill from grain. It blends and bottles single barrels and a small number of blends, at cask strength, without chill filtration. The barrel-pick page says the whiskey is selected from distilleries in Kentucky and Tennessee: straight bourbons, rye whiskeys, and Tennessee whiskeys, at cask strength. The whiskey origins page is the sourcing map. Nothing on this site describes Nashville Barrel Company running new-make through maple charcoal.
A Tennessee whiskey barrel in a flight, or in a private-barrel tasting, is a barrel that already carries that name from the distillery that made it. Pouring it in Nashville is not the Lincoln County Process. Bottling at cask strength without chill filtration is a bottling choice this site already states. Chill filtration is not maple-charcoal mellowing.
If you are 21 or older and in Nashville, the way to taste what is open is the Whiskey Flight from the Barrel. It is $35, about 30 minutes, four drams from the barrel. Walk-ins are accepted. A booking holds a time. Downtown: book the $35 flight at 425 Church Street. At the distillery: book the $35 flight at 222 Fesslers Lane. The rest of the menu, including the $50 Premium Tasting, is on tours and tastings.
A whole barrel is a different purchase. The barrel-pick page does not list a package price. The cost question, with the published yield and no invented total, is how much a barrel of bourbon costs. Inquire at the barrel-pick page, support@nashvillebarrelco.com, or 615-669-0083.
The downtown tasting room is 425 Church Street, Nashville, TN 37219, walkable from Broadway and the Ryman. Hours: Monday–Thursday 11am–7pm, Friday–Saturday 11am–8pm, Sunday 11am–5pm. Directions downtown. The room page is the downtown tasting room.
Distillery HQ is 222 Fesslers Lane, Nashville, TN 37210, about 2 miles from downtown, with free parking. Hours: Monday–Friday 9am–6pm, Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday 10am–5pm. Directions to HQ. The room page is HQ at 222 Fesslers Lane. Both rooms, and the maps, are on Visit.
Nashville Barrel Company is on the Tennessee Whiskey Trail, the Tennessee Distillers Guild trail. Use 425 Church Street for the downtown stop and 222 Fesslers Lane for HQ. Jack Daniel’s in Lynchburg is a different stop on that trail. Drive times from Church Street are on the trail page, which keeps the map. Guests must be 21 or older.
Public Chapter 341 (2013), effective July 1, 2013, and the 2025 compiled text of section 57-2-106. Bill path: HB 1084, 108th General Assembly.
Opinion No. 15-23, March 18, 2015, on the Lincoln County Process and subsection (c).
27 CFR 5.143, the current whisky standards of identity.
Tennessee Secretary of State, Moore County fact sheet, and the Tennessee Encyclopedia.
Jack Daniel’s charcoal mellowing, the Lincoln County Process article, and the Jack Daniel’s FAQ.
The $35 flight is poured at both rooms. Walk in, or hold a time. 21 and over.
Book the $35 flight downtown Book the $35 flight at HQ All tours and tastingsThe Lincoln County Process is charcoal mellowing. New-make whiskey is filtered through sugar-maple charcoal before it is put in a barrel. Tennessee Code Annotated section 57-2-106 requires maple-charcoal filtration prior to aging for the Tennessee whiskey label, with a narrow exemption.
Charcoal mellowing is the same step. Unaged spirit passes through maple charcoal, then goes into the barrel. It is not a filter of whiskey that has already aged. Jack Daniel's describes its own version as a slow drip through ten feet of sugar-maple charcoal.
Public Chapter 341, effective July 1, 2013, says the whiskey must be manufactured in Tennessee, at least 51 percent corn, distilled to no more than 160 proof, aged in new charred oak barrels in Tennessee, filtered through maple charcoal before aging, barreled at no more than 125 proof, and bottled at not less than 80 proof. The four protected names are Tennessee Whiskey, Tennessee Whisky, Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey, and Tennessee Sour Mash Whisky.
No. Section 57-2-106(c) waives only the maple-charcoal step for a distillery that fits two date windows. The Attorney General's Opinion 15-23 says that exemption was written for Prichard's Distillery and concludes that the subsection is unconstitutional. The 2025 compiled code still prints it. An opinion is not a repeal.
Nashville Barrel Company does not distill from grain, and its pages do not describe a maple-charcoal step on NBC whiskey. It selects straight bourbon, rye, and Tennessee whiskey and bottles at cask strength. Tasting a Tennessee whiskey barrel here is not Nashville Barrel Company filtering new-make through maple charcoal.
Guests 21 or older can book the $35 Whiskey Flight from the Barrel at 425 Church Street or at 222 Fesslers Lane. Downtown hours are Monday to Thursday 11am to 7pm, Friday and Saturday 11am to 8pm, and Sunday 11am to 5pm. Headquarters hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 6pm, and Sunday 10am to 5pm.