I Know Jack!

Today was the annual Christmas in Lynchburg, Tennessee. For those of you who may not be familiar with Lynchburg, it is the home of the Jack Daniel's distillery. I'd link you to the page, but their linking agreement is a bit wordy. I didn't want to read the agreement so you can figure it out (it's pretty easy) or click on the Christmas in Lynchburg link. But you gotta be 21 to enter!
Our adventure began this morning at Cracker Barrel in Franklin. We met up with some friends, had a great breakfast and all piled into the truck for the backroads trip to Lynchburg. We got to town in time to enjoy a bit of shopping (and some awesome homemade potato chips!) The Christmas parade was spectacular and lasted 18 minutes this year! That's up a couple minutes from last year. Then after the parade was the dog Christmas costume judging contest. Seventeen entries this year. The competition was staggering!

Once the festivities on the square died down a bit we walked over to the distillery for a tour. This is a "must do" for anyone in the area. I've been there 5 or 6 times and it's still fun, especially if you take people who have never been. The best part of the tour is smelling the charcoal "mellowing" vats. There is no describing how good it smells. It is mouth-watering! I swear that several guys in our tour group were breathing it in through their mouth, the pigs! (I wonder if it worked.)

Another neat thing about today is that it was the annual bottle signing by the Master Distiller and the Master Taster. The Master Distiller is the guy you see in the commercials. He holds the glass up to the light, evaluating, studying...the lucky blank-ity blank blank. The Master Taster is a character. He's a spitter not a swallower. (I kid you not!) What do you have to do to get either one of those jobs? I took a bottle of Single Barrel in for signing. I don't know when/if I'll open it. Right now I'm enjoying a simple shot of Gentleman Jack on the rocks. Tasty!

I'd love to sprinkle this post with photos, but I left my camera in Nashville. We'll go again next year and will make sure to get there early enough to go on the Home Tour and then eat dinner at Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House.

We ended the day with a great Mexican dinner in Eagleville. No cervesas, but plenty of good food! Their chips were some of the best I've ever had.

I even got a bit of knitting done. I'm knitting the heel flap on the Classy Slip Up socks. PROGRESS! Well, I'm going to retire to my not-so-comfy sofa with my half-finished glass of Gentleman Jack, and he and I are going to ponder life. Jack is good. What a great day!