Editing Jack Daniel's (section)

== Career of Jasper Daniel ==
{{stack|[[File:Jack Daniel (brewer).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jack Daniel]], founder (ca 1890s; ca age 50)]]}}
As a teenager, Daniel was taken in by Dan Call, a local lay preacher and [[moonshine]] distiller. He began learning the distilling trade from Call and his Master Distiller, [[Nathan "Nearest" Green]], an enslaved African-American man. Green was known to specialize in the [[Lincoln County Process]], a distilling process that filters the whiskey through sugar maple charcoal.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Floyd |first=Tiffany |title=Nathan "Nearest" Green |url=https://www.whiskeyuniv.com/g-nathan-nearest-green |access-date=2023-11-02 |website=Whiskey University |language=en-US}}</ref> This process created the distinction between [[Bourbon whiskey|bourbon]] and the Tennessee whiskey known today. While under Green as an apprentice, Daniel was taught the Lincoln County Process.<ref name=":0" /> Green continued to work with Call after [[Emancipation Proclamation|emancipation]].<ref name=KrassBlood />

In 1875, on receiving an inheritance from his father's estate (following a long dispute with his siblings), Daniel founded a legally registered distilling business with Call. He took over the distillery shortly afterward when Call quit for religious reasons.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan /> The brand label on the product says "Est. & Reg. in 1866", but his biographer has cited official registration documents, asserting that the business was not established until 1875.<ref name=TennLibrary /><ref name=KrassBlood>{{cite book |last1=Krass |first1=Peter |year=2004 |title=Blood and whiskey: the life and times of Jack Daniel |location=[[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]], New Jersey |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons|Wiley]] |isbn=0-471-27392-9}} (page 7 saying "after he was born in 1849", and page 19 saying "By the time Jack was born in January 1849, ...")</ref>

After taking over the distillery in 1884, Daniel purchased the hollow and land where the distillery is now located.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=ridgway /> By the 1880s, Jack Daniel's was one of 15 distilleries operating in Moore County, and the second-most productive behind Tom Eaton's Distillery.<ref name=nrhp>Carroll Van West, Megan Dobbs, and Brian Eades, [http://digital.mtsu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15838coll4/id/2273/rec/94 National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Lynchburg Historic District], Southern Places Database (MTSU Center for Historic Preservation), 1995.</ref> He began using square-shaped bottles, intended to convey a sense of fairness and integrity, in 1897.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan />

According to Daniel's biographer, the origin of the "Old No. 7" brand name was the number assigned to Daniel's distillery for government registration.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan /> He was forced to change the registration number when the federal government redrew the district, and he became Number 16 in district 5 instead of No. 7 in district 4. However, he continued to use his original number as a brand name, since the brand reputation had already been established.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan /> An entirely different explanation is given in the 1967 book ''Jack Daniel's Legacy'' which states that the name was chosen in 1887 after a visit to a merchant friend in Tullahoma, who had built a chain of seven stores.<ref>{{cite book |title=Jack Daniel's Legacy |first=Ben A. |last=Green |location=Shelbyville, Tennessee |date=1967 }}</ref>

Jack Daniel's had a surge in popularity after the whiskey received the gold medal for the finest whiskey at the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition|1904 St. Louis World's Fair]]. However, its local reputation began to suffer as the [[Temperance movement in the United States|temperance movement]] began gaining strength in Tennessee.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan /><ref name=ridgway />

{{stack|[[File:Lem-Motlow-house-tn1.jpg|thumb|The replica home of Lem Motlow, proprietor from 1911 to 1947; the original home was demolished in 2005 and rebuilt at the distillery in Lynchburg.<ref name=OldHome>{{cite web |first=Robert |last=Holman |url=http://www.tullahomanews.com/old-motlow-home-getting-more-than-a-facelift/ |title=Old Motlow home getting more than a facelift |newspaper=The Tullahoma News |date=2015-09-03 |access-date=2016-09-19 }}</ref>]]}}
Jack Daniel never married and did not have any known children. He took his nephews under his wing – one of whom was Lemuel "Lem" Motlow (1869–1947).<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan />

In failing health, Jack Daniel gave the distillery to Lem Motlow and another nephew in 1907.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan />

Tennessee passed a statewide [[prohibition]] law in 1910, effectively barring the legal distillation of Jack Daniel's within the state.  Motlow challenged the law in a test case that eventually worked its way to the [[Tennessee Supreme Court]]. The court upheld the law as constitutional.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TIcEAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Motlow+v.+State%22+%22from+moore%22&pg=PA557 |title=Motlow v. State |journal=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee |volume=125 |date=1912 |pages=557-594 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1912-03-17/ed-1/seq-1/#date1=1910&sort=relevance&date2=1912&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=7&words=Daniel+Jack&proxdistance=5&state=&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=jack+daniel&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=6 |title=Can't Make Whiskey There |work=The New York Sun |date=1912-03-17 |page=1 }}</ref>

In 1911, Daniel died from [[blood poisoning]]. An oft-told tale is that the infection began in one of his toes, which Daniel injured one early morning at work by kicking his safe in anger when he could not get it open (he was said to always have had trouble remembering the combination).<ref>{{cite book |last=Freeth |first=N. |date=2005 |title=Made in America: from Levis to Barbie to Google |location=[[St. Paul, MN]] |publisher=MBI }}</ref> Daniel's modern biographer has asserted, however, that this account is not true.<ref name=KrassBlood /><ref name=cspan />

Because of prohibition in Tennessee, the company shifted its distilling operations to [[St Louis, Missouri|St Louis]], Missouri, and [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], Alabama. None of the production from these locations was ever sold due to quality problems.<ref name="thewhiskyguide.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.thewhiskyguide.com/America/Jack_Daniel_Distillery.html |title=Jack Daniel Distillery |work=The Whisky Guide |access-date=2009-10-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109133641/http://www.thewhiskyguide.com/America/Jack_Daniel_Distillery.html |archive-date=2010-01-09  }}</ref>

While the passage of the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-first Amendment]] in 1933 repealed prohibition at the federal level, state prohibition laws (including Tennessee's) remained in effect, thus preventing the Lynchburg distillery from reopening. Motlow, who had become a [[Tennessee Senate|Tennessee state senator]], led efforts to repeal these laws, which allowed production to restart in 1938. The five-year gap between national repeal and Tennessee repeal was commemorated in 2008 with a gift pack of two bottles, one for the 75th anniversary of the end of prohibition and a second commemorating the 70th anniversary of the reopening of the distillery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1435109/brownforman_unveils_plans_to_celebrate_75th_anniversary_of_end_of/index.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910120128/http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1435109/brownforman_unveils_plans_to_celebrate_75th_anniversary_of_end_of/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-09-10 |title=Brown-Forman Unveils Plans to Celebrate 75th Anniversary of End of Prohibition |date=2008-06-16 |access-date=2009-10-08 |work=RedOrbit}}</ref>

From 1942 to 1946, the Jack Daniel's distillery ceased operations when the U.S. government banned the manufacture of whiskey due to [[World War II]]. Motlow resumed production of Jack Daniel's in 1947 after good-quality corn was again available.<ref name="thewhiskyguide.com" /> Motlow died the same year, bequeathing the distillery to his children, Robert, Reagor, Dan, Conner, and Mary, upon his death.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jackdaniels.com/history/lem-motlow |title=Lem Motlow |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130604064918/http://www.jackdaniels.com/history/lem-motlow |archivedate=2013-06-04 |work=Jack Daniel's website |accessdate=2024-03-20 }}</ref>

{{stack|[[File:Officesign.JPG|thumb|A plaque on Jack Daniel's office recognizing the distillery's status in the [[National Register of Historic Places]]]]}}
The company was later incorporated as "Jack Daniel Distillery, Lem Motlow, Prop., Inc.", allowing the company to continue to include Motlow in its tradition-oriented marketing. Likewise, company advertisements continue to use Lynchburg's 1960s-era population figure of 361, though the city has since formed a [[consolidated city-county]] government with [[Moore County, Tennessee|Moore County]]. Its official population is more than 6,000, according to the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]].{{fact|date=May 2025}}

In 1956, the company was sold to the [[Brown–Forman]] Corporation.<ref name=time>{{cite magazine|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836197,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080222003202/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,836197,00.html|url-status= dead|archive-date=2008-02-22| title=Slight Change of Recipe|access-date=2008-07-25 | date=1966-08-05 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] }}</ref>

In 1972, the Jack Daniel's Distillery was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Daniel Distillery |url={{NRHP url|id=72001248}} |publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref>

In 2012, a Welshman, Mark Evans, claimed to have discovered the original recipe for Daniel's whiskey in a book written in 1853 by his great-great-grandmother. Evans said that his great-great-grandmother's brother-in-law, John "Jack the lad" Daniels, had taken the recipe to Tennessee.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/16/welsh-man-recipe-jack-daniels |title=Welshman claims to have found original Jack Daniel's whiskey recipe |first=Jo |last=Adetunji |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=2012-06-16 |access-date=2016-09-19}}</ref>