Slaves Were Key to Jack Daniels' Production, Admit Company

Jack Daniels, on its 150th anniversary, is finally opening up about the central contribution of slaves to its original whiskey production.

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While the history is no secret, the company will begin telling the story in a social media campaign this summer as well as an optional part of its official tours, reported the New York Times.

Little evidence exists beyond oral history of the role Nearis Green, the slave of Jack Daniel’s teacher Dan Call, had in making the whisky, but historians confirmed to the New York Times Friday that the story is likely to be true.

“In the same way that white cookbook authors often appropriated recipes from their Black cooks, white distillery owners took credit for the whiskey,” said the article. Distilleries across the country heavily relied on slave labor, which may have also played a role in inventing the recipe.

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“Traces of German, Scots-Irish and English distilling traditions are evident in the American style, but there’s much that can’t be traced to an earlier source — a gap that slave traditions might fill,” said whisky historian Mike Veach. Slaves were known to produce their own alcohol, often employing West African techniques.

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Call, who—according to legend—taught Jack Daniel to distill, allegedly praised Green’s whisky, and a distant relative and former employee of the distillery said that he knew Green “helped Jack Daniel make whiskey.”

The global brand director of Jack Daniel’s, Phil Epps, told the Times that, “I don’t think it was ever a conscious decision” to omit Green’s story, but that, “As we dug into it, we realized it was something that we could be proud of.”

Some are suspicious and interpret the sudden openness as a marketing ploy.

“When you look at the history of Jack Daniel’s, it’s gotten glossier over the years,” Peter Krass, author of a book on Jack Daniel’s, told the New York Times. “In the 1980s, they aimed at yuppies. I could see them taking it to the next level, to millennials, who dig social justice issues.”