Will the real Jack Daniels please stand up?
Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel had a complicated upbringing that poised him perfectly for his lifetime profession as the founder/owner of Jack Daniel’s. Jack was the youngest of 10 children from his Scotch/Welsh parents. His mother died shortly after his birth, and by the age of 6 he was sent to live with the Reverend Call. Call was a minister and operator of a whiskey still, and many thought that he taught Jack all he knew about making whiskey. However, the family and the company credit an enslaved man name “Nearest” Green for being the person who taught him When Call was told he had to make a choice between preaching and whiskey making, he sold or gave the still to Jack. This temperate community is still a dry county, in spite of the fact that the distillery is the largest employer. Go figure.
Did he really die due to an infection from his toe, after kicking his safe in frustration from not remembering the combination? Who is to say. But, it makes a great story.
To this day, there are 6 generations of Daniel’s and Green’s descendants working at the company, and photos on the walls show the importance and status of the Greens. Jack Daniel formed his company in 1866, and Nathan “Nearest” Green, a free man, became the first master distiller. Daniel, a lifetime bachelor and ladies’ man, left the distillery to his nephews, and the company was sold to Brown-Forman in 1956. The sale was contingent upon the company keeping every employee, following all of the practices and essentially keeping Jack Daniel’s exactly the same. Today, according to our tour guide, Jack Daniels accounts for 75% of Brown-Forman’s revenue.
