NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — House and Senate committees are
scheduled to take up bills seeking to undo the legal definition of
Tennessee whiskey enacted last year.
The current law requires
spirits to be charcoal mellowed and stored in unused oak barrels in
order to print "Tennessee whiskey" on their labels.
The law was
passed at the behest of Jack Daniel’s, which distills its whiskey about
65 miles south of the state Capitol, in Lynchburg. Some smaller
distillers including George Dickel, Pritchard’s and startups like Full
Throttle oppose the law as too restrictive.
But other new
distillers agree with Jack Daniel’s that dialing back the law could lead
to quality problems like artificial colors and flavoring.
Jack Daniel’s is owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman Corp., while Dickel is owned by global rival
Diageo PLC.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — House and Senate committees are
scheduled to take up bills seeking to undo the legal definition of
Tennessee whiskey enacted last year.
The current law requires
spirits to be charcoal mellowed and stored in unused oak barrels in
order to print "Tennessee whiskey" on their labels.
The law was
passed at the behest of Jack Daniel’s, which distills its whiskey about
65 miles south of the state Capitol, in Lynchburg. Some smaller
distillers including George Dickel, Pritchard’s and startups like Full
Throttle oppose the law as too restrictive.
But other new
distillers agree with Jack Daniel’s that dialing back the law could lead
to quality problems like artificial colors and flavoring.
Jack Daniel’s is owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman Corp., while Dickel is owned by global rival
Diageo PLC.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.