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Gastropod

The Secret History of the Slave Behind Jack Daniel’s Whiskey

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.73.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Back in 1866, Jack Daniel’s became the first registered distillery in the United States; today, it’s the top-selling American whiskey in the world. For much of the brand’s 150-plus years, the story went that the young Jack Daniel learned his trade from a pastor named Dan Call. In reality, he was taught to distill by an enslaved African, Nearest Green, whose contributions had been written out of history. In this episode, listen in as Fawn Weaver, the entrepreneur who has made rediscovering Green’s story her business, and Clay Risen, the whiskey expert whose 2016 article in The New York Times launched Weaver’s quest, tell us the true story of Nearest Green and Jack Daniel—and of American whiskey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

First, sweet tarts dare to combine sweet and tart, but they didn't stop there.

0:06.0

Now they've combined soft and bouncy to bring you new sweet tarts, gummy fruity splits.

0:12.0

A uniquely delicious dual-sided gummy with one side that's sweet, and the other side that's tart.

0:19.0

But entirely smooth and squishy.

0:22.0

A powerfully perfect combo.

0:24.0

Sweet tarts dare to combine.

0:28.0

It's late.

0:30.0

You're almost home after catching that concert you and your friend's snack tickets to you with MX months ago.

0:34.0

You're all speechless from the last hour spent singing your hearts out, and the only thing playing in the car is the last song of the night, on a full blast, in your head.

0:44.0

Admit it. You want it stuck there.

0:47.0

The live version, you can't get anywhere else.

0:49.0

Looks like you're getting goosebumps all over again.

0:53.0

When the night's a hit, that's when you're with MX.

0:55.0

American Express. Don't live life without it.

0:58.0

Well, it was hard. I decided I wanted to go to Lynchburg, Tennessee, and he said absolutely not.

1:07.0

I am not as a black man going to a town with Lynch in the name, but that is exactly where we are going this episode.

1:14.0

To Lynchburg, Tennessee, the home of Jack Daniels Whiskey.

1:18.0

Because Fawn Weaver, she's the woman who wanted to convince her husband to go on a trip to Lynchburg, she discovered new information about the forgotten history of Jack Daniels, and the role of a former slave in building this iconic American brand.

1:30.0

You're listening to Gastropod, the podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history.

1:34.0

I'm Cynthia Grieber, and I'm Nicola Twilly, and this week we're telling a story.

1:39.0

It's a story about one man, a former slave who got ridden out of history, but it's also a story about how American whiskey became a man.

1:47.0

He became American whiskey and a story of the role of enslaved people in its creation.

...

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