World-renown whisky brand Jack Daniel's said it is against a proposal to change Tennessee's strict whiskey-making laws.
State lawmakers are contemplating changing a year-old law that specifies a step-by-step process that whiskey distilleries have to follow in order to claim their product as genuine, Tennessee whiskey, the Associated Press reported. Critics say the law is difficult for liquor companies to follow, thus limiting the competition when it comes to snagging the coveted title of Tennessee whiskey.
"There are a lot of ways to make high-quality whiskey, even if it's not necessarily the way Jack Daniel's does it," state Republican Representative Bill Sanderson told the AP. "What gives them the right to call theirs Tennessee whiskey, and not others?"
Jack Daniel's, owned by the Brown-Forman Corporation, said the change is a ploy from the British company Diageo PLC, which owns the Tennessee whiskey brand George Dickel.
"It's really more to weaken a title on a label that we've worked very hard for," Jack Daniel's master distiller Jeff Arnett told the AP. "As a state, I don't think Tennessee should be bashful about being protective of Tennessee whiskey over say bourbon or scotch or any of the other products that we compete with."
The current law states Tennessee whiskey must be fermented from mash that is at least 51 percent corn, aged in new barrels of charred oak, filtered through maple charcoal, be at least 80 proof and all made within the state, the AP reported.
If the law is changed distilleries would be able to age the whiskey in pre-used barrels, saving money instead of buying new barrels for $600 each, the AP reported.
Diageo was in fact behind the new changes, but Sanderson said it would be beneficial for new, smaller distilleries in Tennessee.
"This isn't about Diageo, as all of our Tennessee whiskey is made with new oak," Guy L. Smith IV, Diageo's executive vice president, told the AP. "This is about Brown-Forman trying to stifle competition and the entrepreneurial spirit of micro distillers."
Arnett told the AP that whiskey distilleries might start using artificial coloring to give whiskey it's color if they reuse barrels. Whiskey is clear before it goes through the ageing process.
"We've been making whiskey a long time, and we know that would not uphold the quality that people expect from Tennessee whiskey," Arnett said. "So we wouldn't dare consider doing it, even though it would save us millions of dollars every year."
