Blood and Whiskey

The first-ever biography of the man who created America's most famous whiskey

Born in Lynchburg, Tennessee, in 1850, Jack Daniel became a legendary moonshiner at age 15 before launching a legitimate distillery ten years later. By the time he died in 1911, he was an American legend-and his Old No. 7 Tennessee sipping whiskey was an international sensation, the winner of gold medals at the St. Louis World's Fair and the Liege International Exposition in Belgium. Blood and Whiskey captures Daniel's indomitable rise in the rough-edged world of the nineteenth-century whiskey trade-and shows how his commitment to quality (his whiskey was always charcoal-filtered) and his flair for marketing and packaging (he launched his distinctive square bottle in 189-5) helped create one of America's most venerable and recognizable brands.

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 The Cursed Child 7

2 Everything Gone but the Dirt 25

3 Legend of the Boy Distiller 42

4 The Nomad 64

5 Reunion and Challenge 75

6 A Rebellion against the Government 92

7 Identity Crisis 107

8 Seizing the Legendary Hollow 120

9 Taking On Nashville 136

10 Big Man, Lonely Man 155

11 Brand Magic 166

12 Enemies 178

13 Reborn 191

14 The Final Battle 204

Epilogue Lem’s Trials 215

Afterword The Making of a Legend 227

Notes 235

Bibliography 257

Index 261

The author traces the Daniel family lineage from Scotland and Ireland to rural Tennessee, and Jasper “Jack” Newton Daniel’s rise from hardscrabble youth to a dandy gent with a love of horses, fine clothes and women, a colleague of J.P. Morgan’s and one of the most famous spirits producers in the world. Orphaned at 15, Jack discovered a whiskey still on the property of his longtime neighbor and new guardian, Dan Call, and his interest in distilling booze was born. Krass (Carnegie) details the early business partnership between Call and Daniel and their eventual split, as Call forces himself to choose between preaching and making whiskey. “One Call [descendant] wished he’d given up preaching instead because the Jack Daniel Distillery was eventually worth tens of millions of dollars,” Krass writes. While Krass’s research is ample, the book often gets bogged down in historical minutiae, and at times the reader wishes for a more charismatic star of the show than the somewhat dour Daniel. But witnessing the maturation of his namesake company—not to mention the maturation of the U.S. as it confronts slavery, the Civil War and the temperance movement—is engrossing. Fans of the whiskey will be happy to hear the alleged real story behind the Old No. 7 that adorns each bottle, and anyone can appreciate the classic American characters sprinkled throughout the text, including the richly monikered Eph Grizzard, Beauregard Beam and Lemuel Motlow. Agent, Ed Knappman. (May) (Publishers Weekly, April 12th, 2004) PETER KRASS is the author of Carnegie (Wiley), cited by Barron's as the "definitive" biography and selected by Library Journal as one of the best biography/business books of 2002. His other books include The Book of Business Wisdom, The Book of Leadership Wisdom, and The Book of Investing Wisdom, all available from Wiley. The legends are colorful and many. Jack Daniel, it is said, ran away to escape a broken home; was a teenage moonshiner during the Civil War; and hauled black-market whiskey, hidden under loads of meat, to the wild river port of Huntsville, Alabama, sneaking into town after midnight to avoid the sheriff and his deputies. Until now, however, no one has explained how this orphaned "boy distiller" went on to establish a legitimate business and create one of the most powerful and widely recognized brands in the world.

In Blood & Whiskey, renowned biographer and business author Peter Krass digs deep into the rich history of Lynchburg, Tennessee, to discover the origins and exploits of its most famous–some say notorious–son. What he finds is an ambitious and charismatic entrepreneur who combined a love of his craft and a natural talent for marketing with far-reaching vision and a fierce determination to succeed against all odds.

From Jack’s youthful days learning the distiller’s art from a former slave to his inspired design for the distinctive, square Jack Daniel’s bottle, this lively biography separates fact from myth as it reveals a man whose real life was as intriguing as the tall tales told about him. It demonstrates convincingly that Jack picked the worst possible time to start his business, with the entire nation in the grip of economic depression, the federal government depending on distillers for half of its revenues, and a growing temperance movement clamoring for universal prohibition.

Writing with a deep understanding of what it takes to build and expand a successful business, Krass explores Jack’s devotion to quality, ready eye for opportunity, and willingness to take risks. These traits enabled Jack Daniel to become the most successful distiller in Tennessee, even as many of his competitors succumbed to the hardships of a hostile business environment.

The author also uncovers the long-lost marketing secret behind the naming of Jack Daniel’s flagship brand, Old No. 7, and the strategy that enabled the Jack Daniel Distillery to compete successfully against such venerable Kentucky brands as Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark.

Packed with memorable accounts of run-ins with fervent teetotalers and corrupt tax collectors, as well as heartbreaking tales of struggle and privation in post—Civil War Tennessee, Blood & Whiskey tells a classic American success story with a distinctly Southern accent.

The Real Jack Daniel, Straight Up

You know the brand, now meet the man. He was dapper and diminutive, with the soft, amiable drawl of the quintessential Southern gentleman. Upon first meeting the mature and successful Jack Daniel, few would have guessed that this elegant, mild-mannered aristocrat had clawed his way up from stark poverty, toiled for countless hours, risked his life many times, and overcome obstacles that crushed seemingly tougher men to achieve his success.

Blood &Whiskey tells the rousing and inspiring tale of this legendary distiller’s rise to fame and fortune. Reaching deep into the rich history of Lynchburg, Tennessee, author Peter Krass paints a compelling portrait of the post—Civil War South and reveals how an impoverished orphan, taken in by neighbors, discovered his calling at an early age and went on to create one of the most powerful and recognized brands in the world.

Critical Praise for Peter Krass's Carnegie

"Seizing the mantle that J. F. Wall has held since 1970 as Andrew Carnegie's definitive biographer, Peter Krass has written a superb new account of the legendary industrialist and philanthropist’s remarkable life . . . timely, balanced, revealing."
–Barron's

"An objective and readable portrait of a fascinating, conflicted man."
–Dallas Morning News