“Unveiling the Bizarre Local Secret That Keeps Jack Daniel’s Out of Its Hometown!”
Have you ever thought about the irony of buying a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey in the very town it’s made? Well, prepare to be amused because in Lynchburg, Tennessee, it’s actually illegal to buy alcohol! Yes, you heard that right—home to one of the world’s most renowned whiskey brands, yet the laws here hold a peculiar dry status. While this might sound downright absurd, there’s a clever loophole that allows visitors at the Jack Daniel’s distillery to walk away with a commemorative bottle—complete with a little liquid courage as a surprise gift! Intrigued? Let’s dive into the peculiar world of dry counties and the funny regulations that keep the spirits flowing… in a roundabout way! LEARN MORE.
Jack Daniel’s may be a drink you’ll find behind countless bars around the world but in the place where it all comes from you’re not actually allowed to buy alcohol.
It may sound weird to say that one of the world’s most famous booze brands is distilled in a place which forbids the sale of alcohol but it’s entirely true.
Of course that doesn’t mean you can’t actually visit the Jack Daniel’s distillery and come away with a bottle of the stuff, they’ve found ways around that.
The Jack Daniel’s distillery is located in the Tennessee city of Lynchburg in the US state’s Moore County, and that place is something called a ‘dry county’.
The Jack Daniels distillery is located in a dry county, meaning it’s not legal to buy alcohol there (Ron Buskirk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
What is a ‘dry county’?
A dry county is one where it’s illegal to sell alcohol, though you can still drink it so those visiting the distillery for a taste test won’t be breaking the law.
It has posed some problems for Jack Daniel’s throughout history, with the company having to move out of Tennessee after the state banned alcohol in 1910, a decade later the entire US would officially go dry.
While prohibition was repealed in 1933 it wasn’t until 1938 that Jack Daniel’s could start operating in Tennessee again, though Moore County has remained dry.
You can technically still buy Jack Daniels at the distillery, you’re just buying the bottle and there happens to be alcohol in it as a gift (Andrew Woodley/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The loophole
Fortunately for Jack Daniel’s and the people who want to buy a bottle of the stuff when they visit the distillery, there exists a loophole where people are allowed to buy commemorative bottles and they just so happen to contain some free alcohol inside as a gift.
Technically nobody has bought or sold any alcohol in the transaction, it just so happened to be poured into this commemorative bottle that someone got.
A special act was passed through the Tennessee General Assembly in 1994 which allowed the sale of commemorative Jack Daniel’s decanters, and therein lies the loophole.
Considering Moore County is a rather small place consisting pretty much just of Lynchburg, a city which reputes to be so small that it only has one traffic light and the Jack Daniel’s distillery, it would likely be a simple matter to repeal Moore County’s dry status.
However, there’s a certain mystique and appeal to brewing the stuff in a place where it’s technically illegal to buy alcohol.
Since there are some pretty clear ways around it this would seem to fall into the category of those old laws which still exist but aren’t really enforced.
Featured Image Credit: John Keeble/Getty Images
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