Jack Daniel’s invented “in Wales”

A Welsh businessman believes he has found the original recipe for Jack Daniel’s whiskey in a book of herbal remedies.

Mark Evans was researching his family history when he discovered the recipe in an old book of herbal remedies written in 1853 by his great-great grandmother, a local herbalist in Llanelli called Mrs Daniel.

Her brother-in-law John Daniel left the Welsh town at about the same time to move to Lynchburg, Tennessee – where the Jack Daniel’s distillery opened three years later.

Evans believes the recipe was taken to Lynchburg, Tennessee.

“My great-great-grandmother wrote in the book in 1853, and Jack Daniel’s is dated 1866, so it predates it,” Evans said

“There is a link, because my grandmother’s grandfather’s brother – my great-great uncle – left for America and nobody ever heard from him after a couple of letters.

“That was during the time that Jack Daniel’s was set up, but more important than that, he was called John “Jack the Lad” Daniels.

“We know he went to Lynchburg, Tennessee, but nobody knows what happened after that.”

However Jack Daniels has poured cold water on the story.

“It’s a good story, but one based in fancy rather than fact – the people and dates just don’t match up,” said Jack Daniel’s master distiller Jeff Arnett.

“Jack Daniel’s family was living in America for two generations prior to the 1853 date Mr. Evans suggests his relative came to the United States. His John ‘Jack the Lad’ Daniel is not our Jasper Newton ‘Jack’ Daniel.

“We also know that Jack Daniel learned to make whiskey from a local Lutheran minister here in Lynchburg and not a herbal remedies book.”