1 00:00:02,167 --> 00:00:04,667 - [Narrator] Before it was an $18 billion industry, 2 00:00:04,667 --> 00:00:08,250 before it was sold in over 67,000 bars in America 3 00:00:08,250 --> 00:00:10,125 and shipped all over the world, 4 00:00:10,125 --> 00:00:12,042 [dramatic music] 5 00:00:12,042 --> 00:00:14,125 whiskey was forged in the backwoods of illegal stills. 6 00:00:14,125 --> 00:00:16,333 - The 1860s is a time 7 00:00:16,333 --> 00:00:19,208 that's kind of unique because there really 8 00:00:19,208 --> 00:00:22,833 is no national liquor brand available. 9 00:00:22,833 --> 00:00:24,375 - [Narrator] Until one man dreams 10 00:00:24,375 --> 00:00:27,042 of marketing a brand of whiskey nationwide. 11 00:00:27,042 --> 00:00:28,292 [punch thuds] [Jack grunts] 12 00:00:28,292 --> 00:00:29,542 - What's your name, boy? 13 00:00:29,542 --> 00:00:30,708 - Jack Daniel. 14 00:00:30,708 --> 00:00:31,875 [dramatic music continues] 15 00:00:31,875 --> 00:00:33,542 - [Narrator] Transforming moonshine 16 00:00:33,542 --> 00:00:35,875 into a quintessential American spirit. 17 00:00:35,875 --> 00:00:38,667 - Every single American spirit maker 18 00:00:38,667 --> 00:00:42,083 that now is nationally available 19 00:00:42,083 --> 00:00:45,083 owes a debt of gratitude to Jack Daniel. 20 00:00:45,083 --> 00:00:47,292 - This is the best whiskey I've ever tasted. 21 00:00:48,542 --> 00:00:50,542 - [Narrator] But he'll have to outmaneuver the law, 22 00:00:52,042 --> 00:00:54,042 and ruthless competitors. 23 00:00:54,042 --> 00:00:56,042 - [Jack] Anheuser-Busch is railroadin' us. 24 00:00:56,042 --> 00:00:57,667 [glass breaking] 25 00:00:57,667 --> 00:01:00,250 - [Narrator] To build the first great American whiskey. 26 00:01:00,250 --> 00:01:02,542 - Jack Daniel was not only ahead of his time, 27 00:01:04,042 --> 00:01:06,625 he was one of the founders of American branding 28 00:01:06,625 --> 00:01:07,708 as we understand it. 29 00:01:08,833 --> 00:01:10,208 - [Narrator] And create not only 30 00:01:10,208 --> 00:01:13,042 one of the most recognizable brands in the world 31 00:01:13,042 --> 00:01:14,750 [dramatic music continues] 32 00:01:14,750 --> 00:01:17,125 but the whiskey industry itself. 33 00:01:17,125 --> 00:01:18,708 [dramatic beat booms] 34 00:01:18,708 --> 00:01:21,458 [dramatic energetic music] 35 00:01:35,208 --> 00:01:38,250 [soft tense music] 36 00:01:39,167 --> 00:01:41,333 [bird squawking] [tense music] 37 00:01:41,333 --> 00:01:45,125 In the 1860s, on the frontier and in cities alike, 38 00:01:45,125 --> 00:01:47,750 there are saloons on nearly every corner 39 00:01:47,750 --> 00:01:50,708 operating under little or no government regulation. 40 00:01:50,708 --> 00:01:52,042 - Alcohol was everywhere. 41 00:01:52,042 --> 00:01:54,083 If you lived in a city and you were, say, 42 00:01:54,083 --> 00:01:56,042 going to a market, odds were real high 43 00:01:56,042 --> 00:01:58,542 you would run into someone who was drunk. 44 00:01:58,542 --> 00:02:00,375 - We simply had a lot less government 45 00:02:00,375 --> 00:02:02,708 because we had no income tax. 46 00:02:02,708 --> 00:02:05,500 There was no federal income tax until 1913, 47 00:02:05,500 --> 00:02:08,042 so we had a lot less regulation. 48 00:02:08,042 --> 00:02:10,292 The government just could not get big enough 49 00:02:10,292 --> 00:02:14,625 to impose itself in our lives the way it eventually would. 50 00:02:14,625 --> 00:02:17,208 - [Narrator] There's no minimum legal drinking age 51 00:02:17,208 --> 00:02:19,083 and people guzzle nearly four times 52 00:02:19,083 --> 00:02:20,625 more liquor than we drink today. 53 00:02:20,625 --> 00:02:22,458 - Some studies say the average American 54 00:02:22,458 --> 00:02:25,708 drank eight gallons of hard to alcohol per person per year, 55 00:02:25,708 --> 00:02:29,208 and people see cities as Sodoms and Gomorrahs. 56 00:02:29,208 --> 00:02:31,667 They're filled with alcohol and prostitution 57 00:02:31,667 --> 00:02:33,208 and all manner of vice. 58 00:02:33,208 --> 00:02:36,375 - [Narrator] No national alcohol brands exist, 59 00:02:36,375 --> 00:02:39,250 but booze is one of the most heavily-taxed products 60 00:02:39,250 --> 00:02:42,333 in the country, the result of a policy enacted 61 00:02:42,333 --> 00:02:44,417 to pay for the Civil War. 62 00:02:44,417 --> 00:02:47,083 - In 1862, Abraham Lincoln passed 63 00:02:47,083 --> 00:02:50,375 an emergency wartime revenue act. 64 00:02:50,375 --> 00:02:53,542 All of a sudden the price went from 25 cents a gallon 65 00:02:53,542 --> 00:02:57,875 before the Civil War to $2.25 a gallon after the Civil War. 66 00:02:57,875 --> 00:03:00,250 A lotta people just said no, 67 00:03:00,250 --> 00:03:03,708 and it was just kind of a recipe for people to cheat. 68 00:03:03,708 --> 00:03:06,417 - [Narrator] Many distillers turn to the black market 69 00:03:06,417 --> 00:03:09,208 making moonshine in secret, 70 00:03:09,208 --> 00:03:11,000 then bootleggers sell it illegally 71 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,042 to saloons and in the streets. 72 00:03:14,042 --> 00:03:16,000 - Let's face it, there's some advantages 73 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,792 to running an illegal business. 74 00:03:17,792 --> 00:03:21,250 You're not paying taxes, there are no regulations, 75 00:03:21,250 --> 00:03:23,500 and you probably have a higher profit margin 76 00:03:23,500 --> 00:03:25,667 if you're not payin' the man. 77 00:03:25,667 --> 00:03:28,250 [tense music] 78 00:03:30,375 --> 00:03:32,375 [Jack panting] [footsteps thudding] 79 00:03:32,375 --> 00:03:33,833 - [Narrator] In rural Alabama, 80 00:03:36,375 --> 00:03:40,833 one bootlegger will turn himself into an American legend. 81 00:03:40,833 --> 00:03:42,042 [dramatic music] 82 00:03:42,042 --> 00:03:46,583 - Whoa! [grunting] 83 00:03:46,583 --> 00:03:48,875 - [Narrator] If he can stay out of jail 84 00:03:48,875 --> 00:03:49,833 long enough to do it. 85 00:03:51,208 --> 00:03:53,792 - [panting] I can explain. 86 00:03:53,792 --> 00:03:55,542 Just gimme a minute. 87 00:03:56,542 --> 00:04:00,667 [tense music] [crickets chirping] 88 00:04:00,667 --> 00:04:02,667 Aw, hell. 89 00:04:02,667 --> 00:04:03,875 - What's this? 90 00:04:04,667 --> 00:04:08,125 [dramatic music] 91 00:04:08,125 --> 00:04:11,292 - Well, that's water from Eden Creek. 92 00:04:14,542 --> 00:04:16,750 Supposed to be the clearest in the county. 93 00:04:18,292 --> 00:04:21,292 [officer coughs] 94 00:04:22,583 --> 00:04:24,708 - That water packs a hell of a punch. 95 00:04:26,042 --> 00:04:27,833 What's your name, boy? 96 00:04:27,833 --> 00:04:31,083 - [Narrator] His signature whiskey will one day sell 97 00:04:31,083 --> 00:04:33,375 over 10 million liters a year. 98 00:04:33,375 --> 00:04:37,958 His name is Jasper Newton Daniel, also known as... 99 00:04:39,042 --> 00:04:40,625 - My name's Jack Daniel. 100 00:04:42,042 --> 00:04:43,417 - [Narrator] And he'll spawn a brand 101 00:04:43,417 --> 00:04:46,875 that will generate over $3 billion in annual sales. 102 00:04:46,875 --> 00:04:47,875 [dramatic beat booms] 103 00:04:47,875 --> 00:04:48,917 - Tell you what. 104 00:04:49,875 --> 00:04:54,042 This one here, it's all yours. My gift. 105 00:04:54,042 --> 00:04:57,250 [tense music] 106 00:04:57,250 --> 00:04:59,042 - You gon' have to do better than that. 107 00:05:00,250 --> 00:05:01,375 [body thuds] 108 00:05:01,375 --> 00:05:04,333 [punch thuds] [Jack grunting] 109 00:05:04,333 --> 00:05:06,458 [Jack panting] 110 00:05:06,458 --> 00:05:08,583 - [Narrator] Despite his run-ins with the law, 111 00:05:08,583 --> 00:05:10,625 Jack Daniel believes booze 112 00:05:10,625 --> 00:05:12,792 can be his ticket to a better life. 113 00:05:13,833 --> 00:05:15,833 [dramatic music] 114 00:05:15,833 --> 00:05:18,458 [birds chirping] 115 00:05:18,458 --> 00:05:21,375 But right now he works on a modest farm 116 00:05:21,375 --> 00:05:25,625 owned by a Lutheran minister named Dan Call. 117 00:05:25,625 --> 00:05:29,333 - Jack was orphaned so he went to go look for work 118 00:05:29,333 --> 00:05:31,958 as a farmhand 'cause he needed to live somewhere, 119 00:05:31,958 --> 00:05:34,542 and he was taken in by Dan Call. 120 00:05:35,625 --> 00:05:40,500 Jack was a small kid, so you know as a farmhand, 121 00:05:41,292 --> 00:05:42,958 he probably wasn't that useful. 122 00:05:42,958 --> 00:05:45,583 [tense music] 123 00:05:47,167 --> 00:05:48,625 - [Narrator] The farm grows corn 124 00:05:48,625 --> 00:05:51,083 and produces medicinal alcohol 125 00:05:51,083 --> 00:05:53,292 used to cure everything from shock 126 00:05:53,292 --> 00:05:55,667 to fainting to snake bites. 127 00:05:56,708 --> 00:05:58,542 - Distilleries were allowed to be used 128 00:05:58,542 --> 00:06:00,542 for medicinal purposes. 129 00:06:00,542 --> 00:06:03,458 People would prescribe an ounce of this whiskey 130 00:06:03,458 --> 00:06:08,333 every few hours, which, you know, the process involved 131 00:06:08,333 --> 00:06:10,875 in fermentation is the same with penicillin 132 00:06:10,875 --> 00:06:12,375 as it is with whiskey. 133 00:06:12,375 --> 00:06:14,042 [dramatic music] 134 00:06:14,042 --> 00:06:16,042 - As a farmer it was your right to distill your crops 135 00:06:16,042 --> 00:06:18,667 and to sell it as whiskey, as much as, you know, 136 00:06:18,667 --> 00:06:20,542 making your fruit into jelly. 137 00:06:20,542 --> 00:06:23,375 Whiskey was just a part of, of running a farm. 138 00:06:23,375 --> 00:06:25,750 I think Jack Daniel discovered distilling 139 00:06:25,750 --> 00:06:30,833 as a way to prove his worthiness. 140 00:06:30,833 --> 00:06:32,667 [tense music] 141 00:06:32,667 --> 00:06:34,542 - [Narrator] Daniel helps run the still, 142 00:06:34,542 --> 00:06:37,042 studying under its master distiller, 143 00:06:37,042 --> 00:06:41,750 a formerly enslaved man named Nathan Nearest Green. 144 00:06:41,750 --> 00:06:43,667 - Nearest Green was considered 145 00:06:43,667 --> 00:06:46,708 one of the best master distillers in the area. 146 00:06:46,708 --> 00:06:49,958 Dan Call specifically assigned Nearest Green 147 00:06:49,958 --> 00:06:53,708 to help teach whiskey-making to Jack Daniel. 148 00:06:53,708 --> 00:06:56,375 And from there they worked hand in hand. 149 00:06:56,375 --> 00:06:59,042 They really did bond and have a great friendship. 150 00:06:59,042 --> 00:07:01,583 [tense music] 151 00:07:02,542 --> 00:07:03,917 - [Narrator] But while Daniel and Green 152 00:07:03,917 --> 00:07:07,500 produce medicinal alcohol for Reverend Call... 153 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:11,458 - I trust you'll document and catalog every gallon. 154 00:07:11,458 --> 00:07:14,000 [tense music continues] 155 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,875 - [Narrator] They also run a secret bootlegging operation, 156 00:07:16,875 --> 00:07:18,167 [thunder rumbles] 157 00:07:18,167 --> 00:07:21,375 selling their moonshine to saloons in nearby Alabama. 158 00:07:21,375 --> 00:07:24,208 [liquor sloshing] 159 00:07:24,208 --> 00:07:25,333 - Absolutely. 160 00:07:25,333 --> 00:07:28,542 [tense music] 161 00:07:28,542 --> 00:07:31,625 - [Narrator] In the 1860s, moonshining can be deadly, 162 00:07:31,625 --> 00:07:34,375 both for outlaws like Jack Daniel 163 00:07:34,375 --> 00:07:36,708 and for the people who buy cut-rate booze 164 00:07:36,708 --> 00:07:38,500 with no idea what's in it. 165 00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:39,792 [tense music continues] 166 00:07:39,792 --> 00:07:42,042 - Moonshine is a very dangerous product 167 00:07:42,042 --> 00:07:44,875 when it gets right down to it because there are no controls. 168 00:07:44,875 --> 00:07:46,542 You can just add anything you want to 169 00:07:46,542 --> 00:07:48,208 to give it the kick! 170 00:07:48,208 --> 00:07:49,333 [fire crackling] 171 00:07:49,333 --> 00:07:51,042 - This is before the FDA. 172 00:07:51,042 --> 00:07:52,083 There were no rules. 173 00:07:52,083 --> 00:07:55,958 You had folks who would put tobacco chew 174 00:07:55,958 --> 00:07:57,375 or like tobacco spit. 175 00:07:57,375 --> 00:08:00,792 They'd put turpentine in it for coloring. 176 00:08:00,792 --> 00:08:03,375 They'd put all sorts of junk in their whiskey 177 00:08:03,375 --> 00:08:06,417 to make it taste and look a certain way. 178 00:08:06,417 --> 00:08:08,750 - People were getting sick, people were dying 179 00:08:08,750 --> 00:08:10,375 because of the way these moonshiners 180 00:08:10,375 --> 00:08:12,667 were manufacturing their goods. 181 00:08:12,667 --> 00:08:15,208 - This is where the term rotgut comes from 182 00:08:15,208 --> 00:08:19,500 because people would be buying this whiskey from whomever, 183 00:08:19,500 --> 00:08:21,917 and it would literally rot their stomachs 184 00:08:21,917 --> 00:08:24,958 from the inside out. [drinker retching] 185 00:08:24,958 --> 00:08:27,208 [bird squawking] 186 00:08:27,208 --> 00:08:28,708 [tense music] 187 00:08:28,708 --> 00:08:31,708 - [Narrator] But Daniel is thinking bigger. 188 00:08:31,708 --> 00:08:36,167 - Jack wanted to make the best tasting whiskey possible, 189 00:08:36,167 --> 00:08:39,000 which simply wasn't something people were doing. 190 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,958 They just wanted access to something to drink to get drunk. 191 00:08:42,958 --> 00:08:47,375 Jack Daniel really wanted to make sipping on whiskey 192 00:08:47,375 --> 00:08:49,000 a pleasurable experience. 193 00:08:50,250 --> 00:08:52,292 - [Narrator] And he wants to make enough money 194 00:08:52,292 --> 00:08:54,542 to open a distillery of his own. 195 00:08:54,542 --> 00:08:55,833 [tense music] 196 00:08:55,833 --> 00:08:59,208 - The bootlegging is essential to Jack Daniel 197 00:08:59,208 --> 00:09:03,292 because he needs to save every single penny he makes 198 00:09:03,292 --> 00:09:05,042 in order to go out on his own. 199 00:09:05,042 --> 00:09:08,333 Plus, it allows him to cement his reputation 200 00:09:08,333 --> 00:09:09,833 as a great distiller. 201 00:09:09,833 --> 00:09:12,542 - He was trying to expand to get into more markets. 202 00:09:12,542 --> 00:09:14,083 Remember, this is all Jack knows, 203 00:09:14,083 --> 00:09:17,125 so if he can't make whiskey, what is he gonna do? 204 00:09:18,333 --> 00:09:20,250 [tense music] 205 00:09:20,250 --> 00:09:21,542 - [Narrator] But around the country 206 00:09:21,542 --> 00:09:23,042 there's a movement emerging 207 00:09:23,042 --> 00:09:27,708 calling for the ban of liquor altogether, temperance. 208 00:09:27,708 --> 00:09:31,667 - The excess of alcohol use begins to worry people, 209 00:09:31,667 --> 00:09:34,375 particularly as America begins to industrialize. 210 00:09:34,375 --> 00:09:36,417 If people can't get up and go to work 211 00:09:36,417 --> 00:09:37,708 and take care of their families, 212 00:09:37,708 --> 00:09:40,083 then, of course, alcohol is seen as a problem 213 00:09:40,083 --> 00:09:42,958 because it's undermining the very fabric of the economy, 214 00:09:42,958 --> 00:09:45,458 but also the fabric of the home. 215 00:09:45,458 --> 00:09:46,792 [tense music continues] 216 00:09:46,792 --> 00:09:48,667 - There was a very strong temperance movement 217 00:09:48,667 --> 00:09:49,875 in the United States 218 00:09:49,875 --> 00:09:52,542 connecting drinking alcohol 219 00:09:52,542 --> 00:09:56,042 to the downfall of the family because men 220 00:09:56,042 --> 00:09:59,500 would get their paycheck and they would go out to bars 221 00:09:59,500 --> 00:10:03,208 and they would spend at the saloon all of their paycheck. 222 00:10:03,208 --> 00:10:07,042 They would then, you know, run off with a loose woman. 223 00:10:07,042 --> 00:10:09,625 [tense music] 224 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,625 - [Narrator] And soon temperance takes root closer to home. 225 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:17,250 - There you are. 226 00:10:17,250 --> 00:10:20,042 I need to talk to you about things down at the still house. 227 00:10:20,042 --> 00:10:22,542 - I already know what you're gonna say. 228 00:10:22,542 --> 00:10:24,208 - Just hold on. 229 00:10:24,208 --> 00:10:26,083 I'm shuttin' down the still for a while. 230 00:10:26,083 --> 00:10:27,208 - What? 231 00:10:27,208 --> 00:10:29,708 [tense music] 232 00:10:30,875 --> 00:10:33,375 - Temperance accelerated in places like Tennessee 233 00:10:33,375 --> 00:10:34,875 which were much more Christian, 234 00:10:34,875 --> 00:10:37,042 and people were already sort of predisposed 235 00:10:37,042 --> 00:10:39,375 through their particular form of Christianity 236 00:10:39,375 --> 00:10:41,250 to be anti-alcohol. 237 00:10:41,250 --> 00:10:42,667 - I know you're disappointed. 238 00:10:42,667 --> 00:10:43,792 - No, no. - But I've made up my mind. 239 00:10:43,792 --> 00:10:44,792 - No, you can't do that. 240 00:10:44,792 --> 00:10:46,292 Look, if you would just listen- 241 00:10:46,292 --> 00:10:47,375 - I'm shuttin' it down. 242 00:10:48,958 --> 00:10:52,292 - Dan Call, who's a reverend for the church that was nearby, 243 00:10:52,292 --> 00:10:55,292 and so it was a little bit of a conflict for him 244 00:10:55,292 --> 00:10:59,375 because his wife was also very much a temperance woman. 245 00:10:59,375 --> 00:11:00,542 - That's final. 246 00:11:00,542 --> 00:11:03,208 [tense music] 247 00:11:04,250 --> 00:11:05,375 - Yes, sir. 248 00:11:06,250 --> 00:11:09,708 [tense music continues] 249 00:11:13,333 --> 00:11:16,708 - Losing a business partner is always deeply disturbing, 250 00:11:16,708 --> 00:11:18,542 and Jack had always looked to Dan 251 00:11:18,542 --> 00:11:21,042 as a father figure and as a mentor. 252 00:11:21,042 --> 00:11:22,292 To now lose him, 253 00:11:22,292 --> 00:11:24,542 and to lose him over something like temperance, 254 00:11:24,542 --> 00:11:26,667 it would've been a particular insult. 255 00:11:26,667 --> 00:11:27,958 [tense music continues] 256 00:11:27,958 --> 00:11:29,958 - [Narrator] Jack Daniel is suddenly out of a job 257 00:11:29,958 --> 00:11:32,708 and has lost access to Call's still. 258 00:11:32,708 --> 00:11:34,208 [tense music continues] 259 00:11:34,208 --> 00:11:36,875 - But not only can Jack no longer make moonshine, 260 00:11:36,875 --> 00:11:40,208 he has no income, and any attempt that he has made 261 00:11:40,208 --> 00:11:44,333 to build and solidify a local reputation 262 00:11:44,333 --> 00:11:46,417 really is for naught. 263 00:11:46,417 --> 00:11:50,042 So, Jack kinda doesn't have jack. 264 00:11:50,042 --> 00:11:52,000 [tense music continues] [electricity zaps] 265 00:11:57,792 --> 00:12:00,708 [soft tense music] 266 00:12:01,625 --> 00:12:03,333 - [Narrator] With their still falling victim 267 00:12:03,333 --> 00:12:06,750 to the growing temperance movement in the 1880s, 268 00:12:06,750 --> 00:12:10,375 Jack Daniel and Nearest Green's bootlegging operation 269 00:12:10,375 --> 00:12:11,417 has ground to a halt. 270 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,083 - [Jack] I have to start over from scratch someplace else. 271 00:12:15,083 --> 00:12:18,417 - [Nearest] You make it sound so simple, but it ain't. 272 00:12:18,417 --> 00:12:22,375 - Jack really did want to become his own person 273 00:12:22,375 --> 00:12:23,833 and his own distiller. 274 00:12:23,833 --> 00:12:26,583 Distilling was where he could see himself 275 00:12:26,583 --> 00:12:28,125 making a mark in the world. 276 00:12:28,125 --> 00:12:29,667 You know, whiskey was his way 277 00:12:29,667 --> 00:12:32,958 to kind of get beyond small town life, 278 00:12:32,958 --> 00:12:36,500 and to really do something, I think, special. 279 00:12:36,500 --> 00:12:37,875 [tense music] 280 00:12:37,875 --> 00:12:39,208 - I'm doing this. 281 00:12:40,375 --> 00:12:41,708 I want you to come with me. 282 00:12:43,833 --> 00:12:46,167 - He wanted to make something that he himself 283 00:12:46,167 --> 00:12:48,250 could believe in and could legitimately say 284 00:12:48,250 --> 00:12:50,125 was the best whiskey that anybody ever made, 285 00:12:50,125 --> 00:12:53,292 and he needed somebody would know how to make great whiskey. 286 00:12:53,292 --> 00:12:57,750 - Jack Daniel very much saw Nathan Green, 287 00:12:57,750 --> 00:12:59,833 Uncle Nearest, as a mentor, 288 00:12:59,833 --> 00:13:04,375 and that in Jack Daniel's autobiography 289 00:13:04,375 --> 00:13:08,667 he was mentioned 50-odd times throughout the book. 290 00:13:08,667 --> 00:13:11,667 So, it clearly was someone that Jack Daniel 291 00:13:11,667 --> 00:13:14,208 had a great deal of respect for. 292 00:13:14,208 --> 00:13:15,375 [tense music] 293 00:13:15,375 --> 00:13:16,292 - It's up to you. 294 00:13:18,208 --> 00:13:19,750 You wanna come work with me? 295 00:13:20,917 --> 00:13:23,875 - Jack Daniel specifically requested 296 00:13:23,875 --> 00:13:27,542 to work under Nearest Green and learn from the best. 297 00:13:27,542 --> 00:13:28,958 And it's really interesting 298 00:13:28,958 --> 00:13:32,292 that although they personally were good friends, 299 00:13:32,292 --> 00:13:36,083 we're still in the South and we're still dealing 300 00:13:36,083 --> 00:13:40,042 with race relations and segregation. 301 00:13:40,042 --> 00:13:43,750 [tense music continues] 302 00:13:43,750 --> 00:13:46,792 [Nearest chuckles] 303 00:13:47,917 --> 00:13:49,333 - You're damn right I do. 304 00:13:51,167 --> 00:13:54,958 [Nearest laughs] [dramatic music] 305 00:13:54,958 --> 00:13:56,792 You're killin' me, you know that, right? 306 00:13:56,792 --> 00:14:00,375 [dramatic music pulses] 307 00:14:00,375 --> 00:14:04,542 - [Narrator] In 1884, despite the rising tide of temperance, 308 00:14:04,542 --> 00:14:06,458 Jack Daniel doubles down, 309 00:14:07,792 --> 00:14:09,958 investing every penny he's ever made 310 00:14:09,958 --> 00:14:13,667 to open a legal, licensed distillery, 311 00:14:13,667 --> 00:14:16,542 with Nearest Green as master distiller 312 00:14:16,542 --> 00:14:20,458 and Nearest's son George to help run the operation. 313 00:14:20,458 --> 00:14:22,917 - It's absolutely important to recognize 314 00:14:22,917 --> 00:14:26,333 Nathan Green's story in the Jack Daniel story. 315 00:14:26,333 --> 00:14:30,042 It acknowledges the African American role 316 00:14:30,042 --> 00:14:34,875 and our participation in building up the whiskey industry 317 00:14:34,875 --> 00:14:36,708 here in America. 318 00:14:36,708 --> 00:14:41,250 We know that we were a part of the story from the beginning. 319 00:14:42,708 --> 00:14:45,625 - [Narrator] Now unlike their illegal bootlegging operation, 320 00:14:45,625 --> 00:14:48,458 their new whiskey will be taxed. 321 00:14:48,458 --> 00:14:51,750 So they know they need a new and improved recipe, 322 00:14:51,750 --> 00:14:54,208 one so good it can be charged at a much higher price. 323 00:14:54,208 --> 00:14:58,042 - Jack Daniel saw the potential in American whiskey. 324 00:14:58,042 --> 00:15:01,208 He felt Americans deserved 325 00:15:01,208 --> 00:15:03,708 and he could make something better. 326 00:15:03,708 --> 00:15:07,708 He knew that a quality whiskey product had the potential 327 00:15:07,708 --> 00:15:12,083 to become a nationally beloved brand. 328 00:15:12,083 --> 00:15:17,083 I mean, he is the first of his kind, the idea of realizing 329 00:15:18,208 --> 00:15:21,333 that if I want to drink it, other people will. 330 00:15:22,125 --> 00:15:23,375 - [Narrator] To make the recipe, 331 00:15:23,375 --> 00:15:25,917 they use a unique step in whiskey production 332 00:15:25,917 --> 00:15:28,208 called the Lincoln County Process. 333 00:15:28,208 --> 00:15:31,708 - Jack Daniel was not a master distiller. 334 00:15:31,708 --> 00:15:33,833 Enter Nathan Nearest Green, 335 00:15:33,833 --> 00:15:37,792 who actually was not only a master distiller, 336 00:15:37,792 --> 00:15:40,042 but he was acquainted with the Lincoln County Process. 337 00:15:40,042 --> 00:15:43,208 [soft tense music] 338 00:15:43,208 --> 00:15:44,500 - Mm. 339 00:15:44,500 --> 00:15:46,833 - In West Africa, in order to get clean water, 340 00:15:46,833 --> 00:15:48,458 they filter it through charcoal. 341 00:15:48,458 --> 00:15:52,875 Nathan Green mastered and included that principle 342 00:15:52,875 --> 00:15:56,083 of running moonshine through charcoal maple 343 00:15:56,083 --> 00:15:57,583 to strip some of that bite, 344 00:15:57,583 --> 00:16:01,542 to strip some of that harsh flavors and mellow it out. 345 00:16:01,542 --> 00:16:04,250 - And so, through the Lincoln County Process, 346 00:16:04,250 --> 00:16:07,083 you take out the burn, the harshness, 347 00:16:07,083 --> 00:16:08,958 all of the particulate 348 00:16:08,958 --> 00:16:11,708 so prevalent in backwoods moonshine, 349 00:16:11,708 --> 00:16:15,167 and you create something that is pleasurable to smell 350 00:16:15,167 --> 00:16:16,917 and pleasurable to drink. 351 00:16:17,792 --> 00:16:19,042 - That's not bad, 352 00:16:20,125 --> 00:16:21,292 but it ain't perfect. 353 00:16:22,750 --> 00:16:24,875 More time in the barrel it is. 354 00:16:24,875 --> 00:16:27,625 [dramatic music] [glasses clinking] 355 00:16:30,875 --> 00:16:32,417 - [Narrator] To further enhance the taste, 356 00:16:32,417 --> 00:16:35,583 the pair opt to continue aging their whiskey 357 00:16:35,583 --> 00:16:37,500 in charred oak barrels. 358 00:16:38,958 --> 00:16:40,583 - [sighs] Okay, boys. 359 00:16:43,208 --> 00:16:44,208 To your good health. 360 00:16:45,500 --> 00:16:48,083 [tense music] 361 00:16:49,542 --> 00:16:52,625 - Although whiskey was a thing back in those times, 362 00:16:52,625 --> 00:16:54,042 [Jack exhales] 363 00:16:54,042 --> 00:16:56,708 it had not been perfected over the generations yet. 364 00:16:56,708 --> 00:16:59,000 So, I think it would've been a little bit harsher, 365 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,375 a little bit higher proof. 366 00:17:03,667 --> 00:17:07,208 [Jack breathing heavily] 367 00:17:07,208 --> 00:17:12,250 - Dry spice, vanilla, hint of smoke, sweet finish. 368 00:17:14,125 --> 00:17:15,583 [exhales] But it's strong as hell. [chuckles] 369 00:17:15,583 --> 00:17:16,708 - [Nearest] Mm-hmm. 370 00:17:16,708 --> 00:17:18,083 - [Narrator] As a final touch, 371 00:17:18,083 --> 00:17:20,958 their high-proof whiskey is cut with water 372 00:17:20,958 --> 00:17:24,833 sourced from a natural spring in a nearby cave. 373 00:17:24,833 --> 00:17:26,750 - The water plays a really big role 374 00:17:26,750 --> 00:17:29,375 in the production of whiskey, 375 00:17:29,375 --> 00:17:32,083 and that's what makes Tennessee whiskey 376 00:17:32,083 --> 00:17:37,000 so amazing is its use of fresh limestone water. 377 00:17:37,958 --> 00:17:39,375 - That ultimately could yield something very palatable 378 00:17:39,375 --> 00:17:42,958 and sort of very special. 379 00:17:42,958 --> 00:17:44,792 [dramatic music] 380 00:17:44,792 --> 00:17:45,792 - All right. 381 00:17:47,833 --> 00:17:49,542 [tense music] 382 00:17:49,542 --> 00:17:52,917 - Mm. This is the best whiskey I've ever tasted. 383 00:17:52,917 --> 00:17:54,167 And it ain't close. 384 00:17:56,625 --> 00:17:58,042 - I agree. 385 00:17:58,042 --> 00:18:00,458 [tense music continues] 386 00:18:00,458 --> 00:18:01,792 Nearest? 387 00:18:01,792 --> 00:18:05,167 [tense music continues] 388 00:18:07,250 --> 00:18:09,458 - I think this is it. 389 00:18:09,458 --> 00:18:14,625 [tense music continues] [group chuckling] 390 00:18:14,625 --> 00:18:15,833 [glasses clinking] 391 00:18:15,833 --> 00:18:17,708 - All right. 392 00:18:17,708 --> 00:18:21,958 - It was a rare kind of whiskey to find in the 1870s. 393 00:18:21,958 --> 00:18:23,167 - [Narrator] Jack Daniel's whiskey 394 00:18:23,167 --> 00:18:25,875 is finally ready to hit the market. 395 00:18:25,875 --> 00:18:29,542 All he needs is for customers to give it a chance. 396 00:18:29,542 --> 00:18:32,417 [dramatic music] 397 00:18:32,417 --> 00:18:34,792 - During that time frame there wasn't 398 00:18:34,792 --> 00:18:39,583 a real market or regulated business around whiskey. 399 00:18:39,583 --> 00:18:41,708 Everybody made it, everybody sold it, 400 00:18:41,708 --> 00:18:43,333 and you can get it anywhere. 401 00:18:43,333 --> 00:18:46,250 - He was out to make something that really stood out. 402 00:18:46,250 --> 00:18:47,583 It wasn't just making good whiskey, 403 00:18:47,583 --> 00:18:50,167 but Jack could go and say, "This is fine whiskey 404 00:18:50,167 --> 00:18:52,417 made by my good friend Nearest Green 405 00:18:52,417 --> 00:18:54,958 and that's what makes it special." 406 00:18:54,958 --> 00:18:57,875 [dramatic music] 407 00:18:57,875 --> 00:19:00,500 [tense music] 408 00:19:00,500 --> 00:19:03,083 - [Narrator] But the initial launch is dismal. 409 00:19:03,083 --> 00:19:05,750 The local market is unwilling to pay a premium 410 00:19:05,750 --> 00:19:09,375 for Jack Daniel and Nearest Green's signature whiskey. 411 00:19:09,375 --> 00:19:12,583 - As a distiller, you are responsible for the cost 412 00:19:12,583 --> 00:19:13,917 that the federal government will get 413 00:19:13,917 --> 00:19:15,875 from the excise tax on that whiskey. 414 00:19:15,875 --> 00:19:17,583 And there are a lotta people who, 415 00:19:17,583 --> 00:19:19,042 if they're given the option between moonshine 416 00:19:19,042 --> 00:19:21,875 and a Tennessee whiskey, they're gonna choose moonshine. 417 00:19:21,875 --> 00:19:23,375 - At this point in history, 418 00:19:23,375 --> 00:19:27,542 moonshine isn't really known for nuanced flavors. 419 00:19:27,542 --> 00:19:30,375 It's just kinda there to get you drunk. 420 00:19:30,375 --> 00:19:34,167 Corn-forward spirit, very, very harsh. 421 00:19:34,167 --> 00:19:37,042 So now imagine in the very same region 422 00:19:37,042 --> 00:19:39,708 where that's the alcohol you can drink, 423 00:19:39,708 --> 00:19:43,542 you suddenly get something with sugar notes, 424 00:19:43,542 --> 00:19:48,042 maple notes, toasted notes that is smooth. 425 00:19:48,042 --> 00:19:51,042 You can sip it, sip it over ice. 426 00:19:51,042 --> 00:19:53,625 It's gotta be like night and day. 427 00:19:53,625 --> 00:19:57,750 - I think Jack Daniel bet his career on making good stuff 428 00:19:57,750 --> 00:19:59,292 as opposed to cheap stuff. 429 00:20:02,750 --> 00:20:04,292 - [Jack] Reverend. 430 00:20:04,292 --> 00:20:05,750 - [Narrator] Then Daniel gets 431 00:20:05,750 --> 00:20:08,708 an even more devastating piece of news. 432 00:20:08,708 --> 00:20:09,917 - What? 433 00:20:11,542 --> 00:20:12,667 No. No. 434 00:20:12,667 --> 00:20:13,833 - Jack. 435 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,042 [ax thudding] [dramatic music] 436 00:20:19,042 --> 00:20:20,875 - [Jack] Get out! 437 00:20:20,875 --> 00:20:24,542 [dramatic music continues] 438 00:20:28,708 --> 00:20:31,208 - [Narrator] In 1890 before the whiskey 439 00:20:31,208 --> 00:20:34,625 they created together even gets off the ground... 440 00:20:34,625 --> 00:20:39,458 - The righteous perish and no one takes it to heart. 441 00:20:40,667 --> 00:20:42,167 - [Narrator] Jack Daniel loses his friend 442 00:20:42,167 --> 00:20:44,417 and mentor Nearest Green. 443 00:20:45,458 --> 00:20:48,250 - The devout are taken from us 444 00:20:48,250 --> 00:20:51,417 and no one understands the righteous are taken away 445 00:20:51,417 --> 00:20:55,125 to be spared from evil. 446 00:20:55,125 --> 00:20:56,500 Those who walk upright- 447 00:20:56,500 --> 00:20:59,208 - I think Nearest Green's death 448 00:20:59,208 --> 00:21:01,958 impacted Jack Daniel greatly. 449 00:21:01,958 --> 00:21:05,333 [dramatic music] 450 00:21:05,333 --> 00:21:07,042 Not even from a business standpoint, 451 00:21:07,042 --> 00:21:08,792 but from a personal standpoint. 452 00:21:08,792 --> 00:21:12,167 He lost his friend, he lost his teacher, 453 00:21:12,167 --> 00:21:15,125 and he lost his partner in business. 454 00:21:15,125 --> 00:21:17,875 And so I'm quite sure that Jack Daniel 455 00:21:17,875 --> 00:21:20,750 was devastated when Nearest Green died. 456 00:21:22,875 --> 00:21:25,542 - Jack Daniel learned to distill from Nearest 457 00:21:25,542 --> 00:21:26,750 and that's what made his whiskey good, 458 00:21:26,750 --> 00:21:29,208 and I think Jack Daniel would not have wanted 459 00:21:29,208 --> 00:21:31,042 to work with anybody else. 460 00:21:31,042 --> 00:21:32,875 [dramatic music continues] 461 00:21:32,875 --> 00:21:34,458 - [Narrator] If Jack Daniel was going to find a way 462 00:21:34,458 --> 00:21:37,167 to revolutionize the whiskey industry 463 00:21:37,167 --> 00:21:40,250 he was going to have to do it on his own. 464 00:21:47,042 --> 00:21:49,042 [tense music] 465 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,125 - [Narrator] As the 20th century approaches, 466 00:21:53,125 --> 00:21:58,208 Jack Daniel is now on his own and his potential customers 467 00:21:58,208 --> 00:22:00,542 continue to choose cheaper moonshine 468 00:22:00,667 --> 00:22:02,833 over his new premium whiskey. 469 00:22:03,708 --> 00:22:05,708 - None of these are good enough. 470 00:22:05,708 --> 00:22:07,792 - [Narrator] So he turns an eye towards marketing, 471 00:22:07,792 --> 00:22:10,375 starting with the bottle it's sold in. 472 00:22:10,375 --> 00:22:13,208 - Back in those days, the bottles, they were jugs. 473 00:22:13,208 --> 00:22:16,125 They were any sort of, you know, container 474 00:22:16,125 --> 00:22:19,875 that folks could just go and get a refill essentially 475 00:22:19,875 --> 00:22:22,583 of their own whiskey and then take it home. 476 00:22:22,583 --> 00:22:26,583 There wouldn't be, you know, this iconic labeling involved. 477 00:22:26,583 --> 00:22:28,250 [tense music continues] 478 00:22:28,250 --> 00:22:30,208 - I want more options on my desk by Monday. 479 00:22:30,208 --> 00:22:31,583 - You got it. 480 00:22:31,583 --> 00:22:33,208 - [Narrator] Jack Daniel is totally re-imagining 481 00:22:33,208 --> 00:22:34,583 his whiskey's image, 482 00:22:35,208 --> 00:22:37,208 [dramatic music] 483 00:22:37,208 --> 00:22:39,333 not just with new packaging, 484 00:22:39,333 --> 00:22:41,708 but a legend he can sell along with it. 485 00:22:41,708 --> 00:22:44,250 - We perceive that distillers have been these guys 486 00:22:44,250 --> 00:22:46,708 in seersucker suits sitting on a porch 487 00:22:46,708 --> 00:22:48,917 somewhere in Kentucky sipping on a mint julep, 488 00:22:48,917 --> 00:22:51,500 when, in fact, distillers have always been 489 00:22:51,500 --> 00:22:53,875 the marginalized people of society. 490 00:22:53,875 --> 00:22:55,542 [tense music] 491 00:22:55,542 --> 00:22:58,125 First it was slaves, then it was people who, 492 00:22:58,125 --> 00:23:00,792 for whatever reason, mainstream society had said, 493 00:23:00,792 --> 00:23:02,417 "We don't wanna do business with you." 494 00:23:02,417 --> 00:23:05,333 Jack Daniel is the picture of this. 495 00:23:05,333 --> 00:23:07,292 - [Narrator] Jack Daniel transforms himself 496 00:23:07,292 --> 00:23:09,375 from a rough-and-tumble orphan 497 00:23:09,375 --> 00:23:11,875 into the quintessential Southern gentleman. 498 00:23:13,708 --> 00:23:18,292 And in 1895, he debuts a new signature bottle 499 00:23:18,292 --> 00:23:20,583 to evoke a square deal. 500 00:23:20,583 --> 00:23:21,833 [tense music continues] 501 00:23:21,833 --> 00:23:25,208 - A square bottle in a sea of round bottles 502 00:23:25,208 --> 00:23:29,792 or oval bottles or circular bottles is easy to pick out. 503 00:23:29,792 --> 00:23:30,875 [tense music] 504 00:23:30,875 --> 00:23:33,708 - It was different and you could pack more 505 00:23:33,708 --> 00:23:36,792 to a case and was maybe sturdier. 506 00:23:36,792 --> 00:23:39,875 So, it was a clever innovation, 507 00:23:39,875 --> 00:23:42,500 and one that has obviously stuck till today. 508 00:23:43,875 --> 00:23:47,167 - The Jack Daniel's label is iconic. 509 00:23:47,167 --> 00:23:51,458 Black label, white lettering, with the No. 7 on it. 510 00:23:51,458 --> 00:23:55,125 That No. 7 has its own meaning. 511 00:23:55,125 --> 00:23:56,833 Some say it was a distillery, 512 00:23:56,833 --> 00:23:59,583 some say it was the amount of girlfriends he had, 513 00:23:59,583 --> 00:24:02,500 or it was his seventh recipe. 514 00:24:02,500 --> 00:24:04,708 - [Narrator] Now armed with his signature look 515 00:24:04,708 --> 00:24:07,833 and the iconic bottle that still bears his name, 516 00:24:07,833 --> 00:24:10,833 Jack Daniel's whiskey takes off. 517 00:24:10,833 --> 00:24:12,375 [dramatic music] 518 00:24:12,375 --> 00:24:14,667 - Jack Daniel was not only ahead of his time, 519 00:24:14,667 --> 00:24:17,667 he was one of the founders of American branding 520 00:24:17,667 --> 00:24:19,250 as we understand it. 521 00:24:19,250 --> 00:24:22,333 He was making a commodity, which was not branded whiskey, 522 00:24:22,333 --> 00:24:25,083 it was like corn or like milk. 523 00:24:25,083 --> 00:24:26,375 But Jack took that and turned it 524 00:24:26,375 --> 00:24:29,333 into what we now recognize as a brand 525 00:24:29,333 --> 00:24:32,583 and was one of the first to really do that 526 00:24:32,583 --> 00:24:37,375 in a dramatic way and one that is remarkably persistent 527 00:24:37,375 --> 00:24:39,333 and continues even now. 528 00:24:39,333 --> 00:24:41,500 - I think for a lot of people, 529 00:24:41,500 --> 00:24:44,917 Jack Daniel's is almost what you conjure in your head 530 00:24:44,917 --> 00:24:46,958 when you think of a liquor bottle. 531 00:24:46,958 --> 00:24:51,000 Everybody knows what Jack Daniel's looks like, 532 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,083 to some degree knows what it smells like, 533 00:24:53,083 --> 00:24:55,333 what it tastes like. 534 00:24:55,333 --> 00:24:56,208 [dramatic music continues] 535 00:24:56,208 --> 00:24:57,542 - It was genius. 536 00:24:57,542 --> 00:25:00,875 He was able to really gain popularity quickly, 537 00:25:00,875 --> 00:25:04,375 and again, folks would ask, "Do you have some of that Jack?" 538 00:25:04,375 --> 00:25:07,042 Like, they would ask for it by name, 539 00:25:07,042 --> 00:25:09,125 which was something that was just completely unheard of 540 00:25:09,125 --> 00:25:10,917 during that time period. 541 00:25:10,917 --> 00:25:15,875 [dramatic music crescendos] [singers vocalizing] 542 00:25:15,875 --> 00:25:17,208 [tense music] 543 00:25:17,208 --> 00:25:18,917 - [Narrator] Thanks to Jack Daniel's innovative branding, 544 00:25:18,917 --> 00:25:22,958 by 1903, he's selling over half a billion bottles a year 545 00:25:22,958 --> 00:25:26,417 and operates the largest distillery in Tennessee. 546 00:25:26,417 --> 00:25:29,875 - It's America's first true whiskey brand. 547 00:25:29,875 --> 00:25:32,792 It's the whiskey with an E in the word. 548 00:25:32,792 --> 00:25:36,167 It is something that is spicy, 549 00:25:36,167 --> 00:25:38,458 mixes really well with things. 550 00:25:38,458 --> 00:25:41,250 There's a bit of smoothness to it 551 00:25:41,250 --> 00:25:43,708 that's a little bit unexpected. 552 00:25:43,708 --> 00:25:46,250 But again, it's one of these things 553 00:25:46,250 --> 00:25:48,667 that's beloved by working class 554 00:25:48,667 --> 00:25:51,000 and aristocratic people alike. 555 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,917 - Daniel now sets his sights on expanding nationally, 556 00:25:55,292 --> 00:25:59,042 and brings his nephew Lem Motlow into the fold. 557 00:26:00,208 --> 00:26:03,000 - Jack Daniel didn't marry, didn't have any kids. 558 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,583 He really didn't have anybody to pass his legacy down to. 559 00:26:06,583 --> 00:26:07,583 [dramatic beat pulses] 560 00:26:07,583 --> 00:26:09,167 - Just inspecting the barrels. 561 00:26:09,167 --> 00:26:11,042 They are old. 562 00:26:12,125 --> 00:26:14,458 - Now, we say aged. 563 00:26:14,458 --> 00:26:16,375 - They are in need of replacement. 564 00:26:16,375 --> 00:26:17,583 [electricity zaps] 565 00:26:17,583 --> 00:26:19,875 - Lem sort of presented himself to the world 566 00:26:19,875 --> 00:26:23,625 in a different way from Jack Daniel's "I'm an outlaw, 567 00:26:23,625 --> 00:26:26,625 renegade, I don't follow the rules" kinda thing. 568 00:26:28,042 --> 00:26:30,208 - I don't want you trying to reinvent the wheel here. 569 00:26:30,208 --> 00:26:31,208 [dramatic beat pulses] 570 00:26:31,208 --> 00:26:32,208 - We'll continue this later. 571 00:26:33,042 --> 00:26:34,292 [tense music] 572 00:26:34,292 --> 00:26:35,958 - [Colin] But they were very different personalities, 573 00:26:35,958 --> 00:26:39,208 and Lem was better at business. 574 00:26:39,208 --> 00:26:42,083 - [Narrator] But just as Motlow joins the ranks, 575 00:26:42,083 --> 00:26:45,833 the crusade against alcohol rapidly builds. 576 00:26:45,833 --> 00:26:48,333 Soon, three states go dry 577 00:26:48,333 --> 00:26:50,958 and the rest of the country begins to take notice. 578 00:26:50,958 --> 00:26:54,667 - Individual states were putting in their own prohibitions 579 00:26:54,667 --> 00:26:58,042 well before Prohibition itself actually hit. 580 00:26:58,042 --> 00:27:01,792 And sometimes it even went down to county to county. 581 00:27:01,792 --> 00:27:03,792 - Every single thing that Jack Daniels 582 00:27:03,792 --> 00:27:06,708 has ever built is on the line. 583 00:27:06,708 --> 00:27:10,750 Jack Daniels is now at risk of losing his livelihood, 584 00:27:10,750 --> 00:27:14,000 his reputation, and everything he's worked for. 585 00:27:15,167 --> 00:27:17,708 - [Narrator] As the idea of prohibition takes hold, 586 00:27:17,708 --> 00:27:22,042 another unlikely adversary emerges, beer brewers. 587 00:27:22,042 --> 00:27:23,375 [tense music] 588 00:27:23,375 --> 00:27:26,417 - The beer industry, with Anheuser-Busch at its head, 589 00:27:26,417 --> 00:27:27,833 really took the lead in trying 590 00:27:27,833 --> 00:27:31,917 to separate themselves from distilled spirits. 591 00:27:31,917 --> 00:27:35,708 Most of their advertising promoted 592 00:27:35,708 --> 00:27:38,708 the good old German beer hall atmosphere 593 00:27:38,708 --> 00:27:40,708 where people were singing and dancing 594 00:27:40,708 --> 00:27:44,000 and having a good time, and then could go home 595 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,792 to their families in a relatively sober situation. 596 00:27:47,792 --> 00:27:50,417 [tense music] 597 00:27:50,417 --> 00:27:51,917 - [Narrator] But the ads paint 598 00:27:51,917 --> 00:27:55,208 the most famous whiskey brand in the country as the enemy. 599 00:27:55,208 --> 00:27:58,750 - As rohibition fever became more intense, 600 00:27:58,750 --> 00:28:01,792 the beer brewers just aggressively push the idea 601 00:28:01,792 --> 00:28:03,417 that they're not distillers, 602 00:28:03,417 --> 00:28:07,292 which, no surprise, was infuriating to the distillers. 603 00:28:08,833 --> 00:28:10,792 - Anheuser-Busch is railroadin' us. 604 00:28:12,167 --> 00:28:14,833 [tense music] 605 00:28:15,833 --> 00:28:17,042 - [sighs] The last thing we need right now 606 00:28:17,042 --> 00:28:19,333 is to go to war with the brewers. 607 00:28:19,333 --> 00:28:21,958 - There was no chance that the distillers and brewers 608 00:28:21,958 --> 00:28:25,750 were ever going to come together in a united front 609 00:28:25,750 --> 00:28:29,500 to try to protect each other, ever, no chance at all. 610 00:28:29,500 --> 00:28:31,833 And now what are you going to do? 611 00:28:31,833 --> 00:28:34,208 You are gonna have to scramble to survive. 612 00:28:35,708 --> 00:28:37,917 - Maybe consider putting out a peach brandy. 613 00:28:37,917 --> 00:28:38,958 - No. 614 00:28:38,958 --> 00:28:39,958 - Just hear me out. 615 00:28:39,958 --> 00:28:40,958 - No, it's outta the question. 616 00:28:40,958 --> 00:28:42,000 - Nothin' is outta the question. 617 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,458 - It's my name on the bottle. 618 00:28:44,458 --> 00:28:46,875 [tense music] 619 00:28:46,875 --> 00:28:48,292 - Then slap somebody else's name on the label. 620 00:28:48,292 --> 00:28:49,833 Hell, put mine on it. 621 00:28:49,833 --> 00:28:51,583 - Lem really wanted to build a brandy distillery 622 00:28:51,583 --> 00:28:54,708 'cause brandy was lower proof than whiskey. 623 00:28:54,708 --> 00:28:55,875 Jack was like, "No, no, no. 624 00:28:55,875 --> 00:28:57,125 We're just gonna do this thing, 625 00:28:57,125 --> 00:28:58,375 and we're just gonna do this thing great, 626 00:28:58,375 --> 00:29:00,458 and that's what we're about." 627 00:29:00,458 --> 00:29:03,208 - So long as we keep makin' the best whiskey in the world, 628 00:29:03,208 --> 00:29:05,042 suppose everything else works itself out. 629 00:29:05,042 --> 00:29:08,625 - I'm just thinking about what's best for the company. 630 00:29:08,625 --> 00:29:12,083 - The product is the company. 631 00:29:12,083 --> 00:29:14,875 - [Narrator] Now, under attack on two fronts, 632 00:29:14,875 --> 00:29:17,958 Daniel and Motlow need to get on the same page 633 00:29:17,958 --> 00:29:20,042 if they're going to weather the storm 634 00:29:20,042 --> 00:29:22,125 with the distillery intact. 635 00:29:28,208 --> 00:29:30,083 [tense music] 636 00:29:30,083 --> 00:29:32,292 - [Narrator] In 1908 with calls for a prohibition on liquor, 637 00:29:32,292 --> 00:29:35,333 Jack Daniel's brash nephew, Lem Motlow, 638 00:29:35,333 --> 00:29:38,042 wants to implement a risky new strategy. 639 00:29:38,042 --> 00:29:41,792 - Lem would have been very threatened 640 00:29:41,792 --> 00:29:43,792 by the thought of prohibition, 641 00:29:43,792 --> 00:29:46,667 as were plenty of other distilleries 642 00:29:46,667 --> 00:29:48,958 that were booming during that time period 643 00:29:48,958 --> 00:29:50,542 because it was their livelihood. 644 00:29:50,542 --> 00:29:53,625 So, they were very nervous as to how Prohibition 645 00:29:53,625 --> 00:29:55,417 was going to shut that down. 646 00:29:56,875 --> 00:30:01,250 - Currently our warehouses are stocked at 65%. 647 00:30:01,250 --> 00:30:04,250 Now, I wanna get that to 95% by the end of the year. 648 00:30:04,250 --> 00:30:06,708 - Most distillers didn't think the temperance movement 649 00:30:06,708 --> 00:30:08,208 was actually going to stick. 650 00:30:08,208 --> 00:30:10,917 Lem Motlow saw the end of the road coming, 651 00:30:10,917 --> 00:30:15,167 and so he wanted to start ramping up production. 652 00:30:15,167 --> 00:30:16,792 - We're already producing as much 653 00:30:16,792 --> 00:30:18,917 as this distillery can handle. 654 00:30:18,917 --> 00:30:20,333 - Which is why starting next week 655 00:30:20,333 --> 00:30:23,875 we'll begin diluting the mixture by 5%. 656 00:30:23,875 --> 00:30:25,792 [George scoffs] 657 00:30:25,792 --> 00:30:27,750 The customer won't know the difference. 658 00:30:27,750 --> 00:30:29,417 - Did you run that by your uncle? 659 00:30:30,708 --> 00:30:32,542 - Lem was a little less brand protective. 660 00:30:32,542 --> 00:30:35,875 Lem was more, "How do we make money off of distilling?" 661 00:30:35,875 --> 00:30:37,417 and Jack Daniel was more, 662 00:30:37,417 --> 00:30:39,542 "How do we make the best whiskey that money can make?" 663 00:30:39,542 --> 00:30:42,792 - My uncle put me in charge. 664 00:30:44,333 --> 00:30:48,208 From here on in, y'all report directly to me and only to me. 665 00:30:48,208 --> 00:30:50,708 [ominous music] 666 00:30:50,708 --> 00:30:52,042 Uncle Jack is many things, 667 00:30:52,042 --> 00:30:53,625 but he is a man livin' in the past. 668 00:30:53,625 --> 00:30:55,625 I am thinkin' about the future. 669 00:30:55,625 --> 00:30:57,292 [tense music] 670 00:30:57,292 --> 00:31:01,333 From here on, our top priority is expansion. 671 00:31:02,500 --> 00:31:05,625 [tense music continues] 672 00:31:05,625 --> 00:31:08,208 [Jack exhales] 673 00:31:09,375 --> 00:31:10,958 - Get out. Now. 674 00:31:14,958 --> 00:31:16,458 You, too, George. 675 00:31:17,708 --> 00:31:20,375 [tense music] 676 00:31:25,792 --> 00:31:27,958 Okay, let me make this crystal clear. 677 00:31:29,958 --> 00:31:32,833 Quality is our top priority. 678 00:31:33,792 --> 00:31:37,125 [tense music continues] 679 00:31:39,042 --> 00:31:43,208 You're excused for the day. 680 00:31:43,208 --> 00:31:44,375 Get out. 681 00:31:45,375 --> 00:31:47,042 - [Lem] Come on, Jack, let's be a little- 682 00:31:47,042 --> 00:31:48,833 - Get out! [glass breaking] 683 00:31:48,833 --> 00:31:50,125 [dramatic music] 684 00:31:50,125 --> 00:31:51,500 - I think Jack had serious reservations 685 00:31:51,500 --> 00:31:54,958 about leaving the distillery to anyone. 686 00:31:54,958 --> 00:31:56,542 If he wasn't gonna be in charge of the whiskey, 687 00:31:56,542 --> 00:31:58,958 he didn't want anybody making the whiskey, 688 00:31:58,958 --> 00:32:01,417 and was suspicious of Lem for reasons 689 00:32:01,417 --> 00:32:03,792 that bore out over time. 690 00:32:03,792 --> 00:32:06,333 [dramatic music crescendos] 691 00:32:06,333 --> 00:32:07,625 - [Narrator] As Daniel and his nephew 692 00:32:07,625 --> 00:32:09,208 wrestle over strategy, 693 00:32:09,208 --> 00:32:13,292 [tense music] [gravel crunches] 694 00:32:14,625 --> 00:32:18,625 six states have now banned the sale of alcohol. 695 00:32:18,625 --> 00:32:20,208 [tense music] 696 00:32:20,208 --> 00:32:23,708 - On one part, it's fear of alcohol as a sinful thing, 697 00:32:23,708 --> 00:32:26,542 but also we are experiencing the Industrial Revolution, 698 00:32:26,542 --> 00:32:28,333 and new ways of working are being developed. 699 00:32:28,333 --> 00:32:29,875 And some of the biggest enthusiasts 700 00:32:29,875 --> 00:32:32,042 behind the Temperance Movement are employers 701 00:32:32,042 --> 00:32:35,292 who want workers that are showing up on time. 702 00:32:35,292 --> 00:32:36,542 And that's a whole new concept, right? 703 00:32:36,542 --> 00:32:38,458 You don't just show up at work at dawn. 704 00:32:38,458 --> 00:32:40,708 Now we have this thing called the clock. 705 00:32:40,708 --> 00:32:42,875 [dramatic music] 706 00:32:42,875 --> 00:32:44,125 Half the workers don't show up on time, 707 00:32:44,125 --> 00:32:46,417 the other half sort of trickle in by lunchtime. 708 00:32:46,417 --> 00:32:49,208 They kick off and go have a couple beers at noon. 709 00:32:49,208 --> 00:32:52,250 And so, there's a real incentive among employers 710 00:32:52,250 --> 00:32:54,917 to promote temperance as something 711 00:32:54,917 --> 00:32:56,292 gonna get you into heaven, 712 00:32:56,292 --> 00:32:58,875 but is also gonna make you a more productive citizen 713 00:32:58,875 --> 00:33:01,208 in this new industrial economy. 714 00:33:01,208 --> 00:33:03,208 [tense music continues] 715 00:33:03,208 --> 00:33:05,958 - [Narrator] In 1909, North Carolina goes dry, 716 00:33:06,792 --> 00:33:09,167 [tense music] [bird chirping] 717 00:33:09,167 --> 00:33:13,625 followed by Jack Daniel's home state of Tennessee. 718 00:33:13,625 --> 00:33:16,167 Before more states could go dry, 719 00:33:16,167 --> 00:33:19,583 Motlow is pushing to sell as much Jack Daniel's as he can, 720 00:33:19,583 --> 00:33:21,875 but his uncle has been holding him back. 721 00:33:21,875 --> 00:33:23,375 - Lem. 722 00:33:23,375 --> 00:33:25,458 Can I speak to you a second? 723 00:33:27,792 --> 00:33:29,458 It's important. 724 00:33:29,458 --> 00:33:32,083 [tense music] 725 00:33:33,208 --> 00:33:34,583 - What? 726 00:33:34,583 --> 00:33:35,875 [footsteps tapping] 727 00:33:35,875 --> 00:33:39,458 - [Narrator] Then, on October 9th, 1911... 728 00:33:39,458 --> 00:33:42,500 - Your uncle, he passed away last night. 729 00:33:45,250 --> 00:33:48,000 - [Narrator] Jack Daniel dies unexpectedly 730 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:49,625 of blood poisoning. 731 00:33:50,833 --> 00:33:52,083 - I'm sorry. 732 00:33:52,792 --> 00:33:55,875 [tense music] 733 00:33:55,875 --> 00:33:57,375 - Thanks for letting me know. 734 00:34:00,375 --> 00:34:02,083 - [Narrator] Without the man whose famous name 735 00:34:02,083 --> 00:34:04,833 adorns the bottle, the future of the distillery 736 00:34:04,833 --> 00:34:07,750 rests squarely on Motlow's shoulders. 737 00:34:09,125 --> 00:34:11,625 - Lem had these now keys to the kingdom 738 00:34:11,625 --> 00:34:13,917 that had been developed by Jack Daniel, 739 00:34:13,917 --> 00:34:16,625 but the doors to the kingdom were just shut 740 00:34:16,625 --> 00:34:19,000 by the Tennessee government. 741 00:34:24,958 --> 00:34:26,208 [tense music] 742 00:34:26,208 --> 00:34:28,042 - [Narrator] With Prohibition looming, 743 00:34:28,042 --> 00:34:30,958 Lem Motlow is planning to risk everything 744 00:34:30,958 --> 00:34:33,042 to cash in while he still can. 745 00:34:33,833 --> 00:34:35,542 - You wanted to see me? 746 00:34:35,542 --> 00:34:38,417 - Days of the five-day work week are over. 747 00:34:39,708 --> 00:34:41,958 I need you and everyone else to work around the clock, 748 00:34:41,958 --> 00:34:43,917 that's nights, weekends, whatever. 749 00:34:43,917 --> 00:34:45,792 - That's a lot of overtime. 750 00:34:45,792 --> 00:34:47,333 - I'll pay. 751 00:34:47,333 --> 00:34:48,792 - By the time he took over, the temperance people, 752 00:34:48,792 --> 00:34:51,125 the prohibitionists, they were already pushing 753 00:34:51,125 --> 00:34:54,958 very, very, very hard against alcohol consumption 754 00:34:54,958 --> 00:34:57,250 in the U.S. and it was already 755 00:34:57,250 --> 00:34:59,792 definitely affecting the business. 756 00:34:59,792 --> 00:35:02,167 - You can take a calculated risk 757 00:35:02,167 --> 00:35:05,083 when you really know your market. 758 00:35:05,083 --> 00:35:07,042 You need to be decisive, 759 00:35:07,042 --> 00:35:09,042 and I think the best entrepreneurs 760 00:35:09,042 --> 00:35:11,292 really have a fire inside of them, 761 00:35:11,292 --> 00:35:15,458 and I think that fire can get a person 762 00:35:15,458 --> 00:35:19,208 through all the adversities and all the setbacks 763 00:35:19,208 --> 00:35:20,792 that can happen. 764 00:35:20,792 --> 00:35:22,292 - Can I ask what this is about? 765 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:25,375 - Temperance. 766 00:35:26,417 --> 00:35:27,875 Prohibition, goin' dry, whatever you wanna call it. 767 00:35:27,875 --> 00:35:32,042 It's comin', and when it does, there's no goin' back. 768 00:35:32,042 --> 00:35:33,333 You need to increase production. 769 00:35:33,333 --> 00:35:35,042 Push the men as hard as you need to. 770 00:35:35,042 --> 00:35:36,375 - And if they complain? 771 00:35:39,458 --> 00:35:40,500 - Fire 'em. 772 00:35:44,208 --> 00:35:47,250 [dramatic music] 773 00:35:47,250 --> 00:35:48,750 - [Narrator] To maximize sales, 774 00:35:48,750 --> 00:35:52,250 Lem starts pumping out 300 gallons of Jack Daniel's a day. 775 00:35:53,250 --> 00:35:55,542 But he's playing with fire. 776 00:35:55,542 --> 00:35:57,458 - It does take a special kind of risk taker 777 00:35:57,458 --> 00:35:59,125 because you never know when the government's 778 00:35:59,125 --> 00:36:01,208 gonna come in to shut you down. 779 00:36:01,208 --> 00:36:02,958 [tense music] 780 00:36:02,958 --> 00:36:06,833 - [Narrator] By 1918, the calls to ban alcohol nationwide 781 00:36:06,833 --> 00:36:08,917 reach a fever pitch. 782 00:36:08,917 --> 00:36:10,875 [tense music continues] 783 00:36:10,875 --> 00:36:13,208 - You have the push for a constitutional amendment 784 00:36:13,208 --> 00:36:17,708 to outlaw alcohol consumption or sale of alcohol. 785 00:36:17,708 --> 00:36:19,125 And it's successful. 786 00:36:20,542 --> 00:36:23,542 And then by 1918, you have the formal passage 787 00:36:23,542 --> 00:36:26,208 of that amendment, which becomes the Volstead Act. 788 00:36:26,208 --> 00:36:27,750 [tense music] 789 00:36:27,750 --> 00:36:29,208 - [Narrator] On January 16th, 1920, 790 00:36:29,208 --> 00:36:32,667 Congress ratifies the 18th Amendment 791 00:36:33,583 --> 00:36:36,792 and alcohol becomes illegal in the U.S., 792 00:36:36,792 --> 00:36:39,458 grinding the Jack Daniel's distillery to a halt. 793 00:36:39,458 --> 00:36:40,750 - The strategy of ramping up 794 00:36:40,750 --> 00:36:43,708 backfired because he had now sunk all of this money 795 00:36:43,708 --> 00:36:46,042 into a product he could no longer sell. 796 00:36:46,042 --> 00:36:51,292 And so, all of the capital that they had was in danger. 797 00:36:52,708 --> 00:36:56,417 And so, Jack Daniel's started to really teeter on the edge. 798 00:36:57,833 --> 00:37:00,042 - [Narrator] Motlow has spent the last few years 799 00:37:00,042 --> 00:37:02,958 cranking out whiskey at a breakneck pace, 800 00:37:02,958 --> 00:37:07,792 and he's sitting on 50,000 gallons of it in his warehouse. 801 00:37:07,792 --> 00:37:09,000 [tense music continues] 802 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,292 - That was kind of the moment 803 00:37:10,292 --> 00:37:12,125 that everything sorta crashed in around him. 804 00:37:12,125 --> 00:37:14,083 At that point, he had no idea how he was gonna, 805 00:37:14,083 --> 00:37:16,208 you know, run his business. 806 00:37:22,625 --> 00:37:24,958 - [Narrator] As Prohibition takes hold, 807 00:37:24,958 --> 00:37:26,833 Lem Motlow spends years 808 00:37:26,833 --> 00:37:30,500 trying to keep the Jack Daniel's distillery afloat, 809 00:37:30,500 --> 00:37:32,292 while other producers have figured out 810 00:37:32,292 --> 00:37:33,792 how to skirt the law. 811 00:37:33,792 --> 00:37:35,167 - One thing that Prohibition doesn't do 812 00:37:35,167 --> 00:37:37,208 is eliminate alcohol. 813 00:37:37,208 --> 00:37:38,417 It makes it a little bit harder to get it, 814 00:37:38,417 --> 00:37:39,875 makes it a little bit more expensive, 815 00:37:39,875 --> 00:37:42,500 but anytime something that people want is made illegal, 816 00:37:42,500 --> 00:37:44,500 it immediately creates a black market 817 00:37:44,500 --> 00:37:47,292 where people who are bold enough, daring enough, 818 00:37:47,292 --> 00:37:49,250 can capitalize on it. 819 00:37:49,250 --> 00:37:50,542 [tense music continues] 820 00:37:50,542 --> 00:37:53,208 - Because you've now pushed it underground, 821 00:37:53,208 --> 00:37:55,375 you have organized crime. 822 00:37:55,375 --> 00:37:58,333 Mafia bosses saw it as an opportunity. 823 00:37:59,417 --> 00:38:02,375 They wanna go full blast in it, and they do, 824 00:38:02,375 --> 00:38:04,167 and they make millions. 825 00:38:04,167 --> 00:38:05,708 [tense music continues] 826 00:38:05,708 --> 00:38:07,458 - [Narrator] At the height of Prohibition, 827 00:38:07,458 --> 00:38:09,708 Al Capone's criminal syndicate alone 828 00:38:09,708 --> 00:38:13,500 generates the modern equivalent of nearly $1.5 billion. 829 00:38:14,583 --> 00:38:17,042 And in the depths of the Great Depression, 830 00:38:17,042 --> 00:38:20,375 Americans have never been more desperate to indulge. 831 00:38:20,375 --> 00:38:21,333 - America's in the worst economic depression 832 00:38:21,333 --> 00:38:22,542 in its history. 833 00:38:22,542 --> 00:38:25,208 Unemployment nationally is 25%. 834 00:38:25,208 --> 00:38:28,208 In industrial cities like Detroit, it's 40%. 835 00:38:28,208 --> 00:38:31,958 And public mood switches to a degree in the 1930s 836 00:38:31,958 --> 00:38:35,042 as people realize how much they miss having alcohol around, 837 00:38:35,042 --> 00:38:37,458 and how unsuccessful Prohibition is 838 00:38:37,458 --> 00:38:40,292 in keeping alcohol away from people. 839 00:38:40,292 --> 00:38:41,750 [dramatic music] 840 00:38:41,750 --> 00:38:46,083 - [Narrator] Finally, on December 5th, 1933, 841 00:38:46,083 --> 00:38:47,792 Prohibition is repealed. 842 00:38:47,792 --> 00:38:50,583 - Prohibition was repealed because of the Great Depression. 843 00:38:50,583 --> 00:38:52,042 The federal government needed revenue again 844 00:38:52,042 --> 00:38:54,917 and one sure place to get it was taxing distilled spirits 845 00:38:54,917 --> 00:38:56,875 and alcohol generally. 846 00:38:56,875 --> 00:38:58,208 [dramatic music continues] 847 00:38:58,208 --> 00:39:01,208 - [Narrator] While Prohibition is repealed, 848 00:39:01,208 --> 00:39:03,583 some states opt to stay dry. 849 00:39:04,458 --> 00:39:05,667 [tense music] 850 00:39:05,667 --> 00:39:10,333 And in Tennessee, alcohol is still illegal 851 00:39:10,333 --> 00:39:13,208 in the county where Jack Daniel's is made. 852 00:39:13,208 --> 00:39:16,167 So company president Lem Motlow spends years 853 00:39:16,167 --> 00:39:19,375 lobbying the local government to let him operate. 854 00:39:19,375 --> 00:39:21,417 - Bouncing back after Prohibition 855 00:39:21,417 --> 00:39:23,917 was especially difficult for Jack Daniel 856 00:39:23,917 --> 00:39:27,333 because Tennessee extended their prohibition 857 00:39:27,333 --> 00:39:29,208 past the federal mandate. 858 00:39:29,208 --> 00:39:30,625 [phone ringing] 859 00:39:30,625 --> 00:39:32,708 - Lem had to fight a long way to get out of it. 860 00:39:32,708 --> 00:39:36,125 It took him a long time after Prohibition ended 861 00:39:36,125 --> 00:39:39,292 to convince Tennessee to allow manufacture of alcohol. 862 00:39:39,292 --> 00:39:42,167 [phone ringing] 863 00:39:42,167 --> 00:39:43,500 - Yeah? 864 00:39:43,500 --> 00:39:44,958 - [Narrator] It takes five long years 865 00:39:44,958 --> 00:39:47,250 before Motlow finally gets the news 866 00:39:47,250 --> 00:39:49,500 that the Jack Daniel's distillery 867 00:39:49,500 --> 00:39:51,375 can legally operate again. 868 00:39:51,375 --> 00:39:55,292 - You're kiddin'? Thank you. 869 00:39:55,292 --> 00:39:56,875 - [Narrator] When they reopen, 870 00:39:56,875 --> 00:39:59,542 of more than a thousand registered distilleries 871 00:39:59,542 --> 00:40:04,417 in the state before prohibition, they're the only one left. 872 00:40:04,417 --> 00:40:06,917 Motlow rushes his whiskey back to the market, 873 00:40:06,917 --> 00:40:10,042 introducing a one-year-aged version. 874 00:40:10,042 --> 00:40:13,167 But it isn't until the company is sold to Brown-Forman 875 00:40:13,167 --> 00:40:16,042 in 1956 for the modern equivalent 876 00:40:16,042 --> 00:40:17,917 of nearly $113 million 877 00:40:18,875 --> 00:40:21,917 that it rises again to national prominence. 878 00:40:21,917 --> 00:40:25,417 Today, it's still illegal to buy booze 879 00:40:25,417 --> 00:40:28,167 in the county where Jack Daniel's is made. 880 00:40:28,167 --> 00:40:31,625 But with more than a hundred million liters sold annually, 881 00:40:31,625 --> 00:40:35,208 it's the bedrock of a U.S. alcohol industry 882 00:40:35,208 --> 00:40:38,208 worth over $222 billion a year. 883 00:40:38,208 --> 00:40:41,750 - I think it's really impossible to overstate the legacy 884 00:40:41,750 --> 00:40:46,750 of Jack Daniel, both as a man and as a brand. 885 00:40:46,750 --> 00:40:49,625 Every single American spirit maker 886 00:40:49,625 --> 00:40:52,958 that now is nationally available 887 00:40:52,958 --> 00:40:56,333 owes a debt of gratitude to Jack Daniel. 888 00:40:56,333 --> 00:40:59,125 - Jack Daniel, if he saw where 889 00:40:59,125 --> 00:41:01,875 the alcohol industry was today, 890 00:41:01,875 --> 00:41:05,792 I think he'd be impressed by what has happened to it. 891 00:41:05,792 --> 00:41:07,250 And he would probably be happy 892 00:41:07,250 --> 00:41:10,667 to see that he stayed relevant and stayed strong 893 00:41:10,667 --> 00:41:13,208 through the '50s and the '60s and the '70s 894 00:41:13,208 --> 00:41:18,125 to this giant brand it is today. 895 00:41:19,125 --> 00:41:20,792 - [Narrator] Forged with the help of his friend and mentor, 896 00:41:20,792 --> 00:41:23,208 Nearest Green, Jack Daniel's legacy 897 00:41:23,208 --> 00:41:26,625 is the best-selling American whiskey in the world, 898 00:41:26,625 --> 00:41:30,542 available in over 170 countries. 899 00:41:30,542 --> 00:41:32,917 And it helped transform distilling 900 00:41:32,917 --> 00:41:35,750 from barnyard moonshine to a respected 901 00:41:35,750 --> 00:41:37,208 American tradition. 902 00:41:37,208 --> 00:41:39,500 - Not only did Jack Daniel 903 00:41:39,500 --> 00:41:42,125 buck the system in terms of the conventions 904 00:41:42,125 --> 00:41:44,958 of what a whiskey could be or how it could be made, 905 00:41:44,958 --> 00:41:48,750 but he bucked the system in terms of who he could work with, 906 00:41:48,750 --> 00:41:52,875 who he would elevate, who he would trust and rely upon, 907 00:41:52,875 --> 00:41:55,708 who he would make into a partner. 908 00:41:55,708 --> 00:41:59,042 And there is no Jack Daniel's without Nearest Green, 909 00:41:59,042 --> 00:42:03,792 and there is no true drinking culture in the United States 910 00:42:03,792 --> 00:42:05,458 without Gentleman Jack. 911 00:42:05,458 --> 00:42:07,083 [dramatic music] 912 00:42:07,083 --> 00:42:09,125 - Jack Daniel's makes things cheaper and more available. 913 00:42:10,417 --> 00:42:12,375 You don't have to go out to the juke joint 914 00:42:12,375 --> 00:42:14,750 or to wherever to get whiskey. 915 00:42:14,750 --> 00:42:18,792 You get it in your store and it looks legitimate, 916 00:42:18,792 --> 00:42:23,375 just as legitimate as your tomato soup. 917 00:42:23,375 --> 00:42:26,917 [dramatic music continues]