Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is a fixture at any bar or home liquor cabinet, and each bottle has the same curious design at the black label’s center: a white circle with Old No. 7 written in an old-timey font. The story behind the Old No. 7 designation is one of the most popular details on the Jack Daniel’s distillery tour because there’s much debate about the truth. One historian believes the No. 7 is a nod to the original tax system once used to regulate distillers; the law dictated that distillers labeled every bottle with their registration number, and it just so happens that the original tax district number for the Jack Daniel’s distillery was lucky number 7.

The history of Jack Daniels begins in the mid-19th century. In 1864, a man named Jasper “Jack” Newton Daniel met Nearest Green, an enslaved man who taught Jack how to make whiskey. The original recipe is more than 150 years old. Within two years, Jack opened his first official distillery (and the first in the United States), and soon after, he purchased the now-famous land around Cave Spring Hollow in Lynchburg, Tennessee (for just over $2,000). While there are several different Jack Daniel’s expressions available today, the Old No. 7 stays true to its award-winning recipe and artisanal process.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the old saying: “if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, yada yada, then it probably is a duck.” Well, just because Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 tastes like a bourbon, smells like a bourbon, and technically meets all the legal requirements of a bourbon, Jack Daniel’s advocates insist that their product is not, in fact, bourbon. When Prohibition was repealed in the 1930s, the federal government insisted on new rules that required distillers to classify their products according to a strict set of guidelines. Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 technically should have fallen into the bourbon category. However, the Jack Daniel’s brand fought back against the regulators, insisting that its product was fundamentally different and deserved its own classification — Tennessee whiskey.

Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 is an iconic brand, so it’s a pretty safe gift for anyone who loves whiskey or other nostalgic American spirits. While there are plenty of JD products that you could choose for the whiskey lover in your life, the Old No. 7 is probably your best overall purchase. At roughly $30 for a 750mL, you’re getting an artisanal liquor without breaking the bank. Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 is slowly filtered through maple charcoal and aged in curated barrels — the resulting product is smooth and tasty, ideal for serving on the rocks and sharing with friends.