Ep. 25: Heath Clark and John Brittle: The Unbelievable True Story of “Tennessee Whiskey”

Climbing the Charts with Angie Lawless and Brandon Miller

In the 1950s, Frank Sinatra famously proclaimed Jack Daniel’s the “nectar of the gods.” Sales doubled, the warehouses emptied, and Mr. Daniel’s “nectar” was on allocation for the next twenty-five years.

In 2013, a state law in Tennessee established a legal definition of “Tennessee Whiskey” for the first time, better known as the “Lincoln County Process.” While a few whiskey nerds followed the arcane legal and political developments that paved the way for official “Tennessee Whiskey,” on November 4, 2015 the worlds of music and Tennessee whiskey would again collide when Justin Timberlake made a surprise appearance to join Chris Stapleton on-stage for the 2015 CMA awards. While Tennessee Whiskey was originally written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove in 1981 and made famous by George Jones in 1983, the Stapleton-Timberlake collab equated to a sonic boom in the worlds of music and brown liquor, bringing a new level of national and international attention to Tennessee’s favorite spirit that was now a “category” all its own. It almost goes without saying that sales of Stapleton’s debut studio album, “Traveller,” produced with Dave Cobb, would also explode, winning numerous awards and ultimately becoming the top selling country album of the 2010s.

The story of Tennessee Whiskey is complicated, and fascinating. Join us for this very special episode of Climbing the Charts as John Brittle, real estate guru and founder of The Whiskey House, a 501(c)(3), and Heath Clark, a recovering healthcare attorney turned whiskey entrepreneur and founder of H Clark Distillery, tell us the incredible true story of how Tennessee went from almost 1,000 distilleries before Prohibition, to having just TWO distilleries until Prichard’s opened in 1997, to now having almost 50 distilleries with almost 30 that are now part of the officially designated “Tennessee Whiskey Trail.”

There are few better at turning phrases or crafting tall-tales than these guests (e.g., “I can have a one-night stand with a bottle of wine, but with a bottle of whiskey, I can have a long-term relationship.” — John G. Brittle). We promise, whether you are a whiskey novice or aficionado, you will learn a lot and laugh even more through this episode, and you’ll also have a true appreciation for the fact that all bourbon is whiskey, but that not even all Tennessee whiskey is “Tennessee Whiskey” . . . . with the exception of Prichard’s!