The World Loves Jack Daniel’s, Whiskey Maker Responds With $100M Expansion

Jack Daniel’s senior vice president John Hayes announces the distillery expansion in Lynchburg. Labels on Jack Daniel’s whiskey list the town’s population at 361, even though it has grown in recent years. Credit: TN Photo Services

Soaring sales figures show the world has developed a taste for American whiskey. And to satisfy the masses, Jack Daniel’s is expanding its distillery in little Lynchburg, Tenn.

Last year, Jack Daniel’s hit a sales record – 11 million cases of charcoal-mellowed, sour mash whiskey. But the nearly 150-year-old brand still only controls three percent of the global market.

“Even with all this growth and success, we believe we’re only scratching the surface,” senior vice president John Hayes said Thursday at the expansion announcement.

With other spirits, the leading label often controls a 10 percent share.

So parent company Brown-Forman is pumping $100 million into Jack Daniel’s, adding 90 jobs over the next five years along with new stills and space for aging more barrels.

Jack Daniel’s whiskey is aged in barrels made by the company. They’re stored in warehouses until they reach the standards of the master distiller. Credit: Moriah Farmer

The one-of-a-kind process in an out-of-the-way place is part of the Jack Daniel’s story. And Frank Coleman of the U.S. Distilled Spirits Council says a rising middle class around the world is drinking it up.

“For the last four or five years, more than half of the Jack Daniel’s that was consumed on the planet earth was not within the borders of the United States,” Coleman says.

Jack Daniel’s is now sold in 160 countries.

While more whiskey will flow from Lynchburg, it won’t all be the Old No. 7 recipe. One of the hot sellers is a new flavored variety called Tennessee Honey.