Day 14 - Tuesday, September 23
We left Nashville and travelled south through lovely Tennessee countryside to the George Dickel distillery, one of only two approved to make "Tennessee Whisky". The other is Jack Daniel's in nearby Lynchburg.
Another one is trying to get approval but the key criterion is that the whisky must be aged in new barrels for all production, and they are trying to get this relaxed on cost grounds. The existing two are naturally resisting this. They send their used barrels to Scotland apparently.
Interesting fact - the barrel-ageing process takes about 12 years (they have ageing stores in many locations around the state containing vast quantities of whisky) and during that time over 50% of the production is lost to evaporation. As in Scotland, they call it "the angels' share" - I think the angels must have parties every weekend.
We took the tour around Dickel - which uses water direct from a nearby natural spring arising from a limestone aquifer, and filters the spirit through charcoal made in the open on the premises - they were preparing to make some as we were there.
We enjoyed the tour of the distillery, which is located in an idyllic little wooded valley with a crystal clear stream running along it, but the main point of interest was this guy who was part of the group......
After the tour we went on to Lynchburg. We'd read that the tours of Jack Daniel's can be very crowded, which is why we went to Dickel, but, as JD is usually my spirit of choice when I don't want to drink any more beer, I wanted to at least have a look at Lynchburg.
We stopped for lunch in the town square - an attractive mix of old buildings, now almost all containing JD related businesses. After lunch we had a JD and raisin ice cream. Yum yum.
Then onto Chattanooga where we were staying at the old station which has now been converted into a hotel - called, naturally, the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel.
The station concourse is now the lobby - a huge hall under a dome - and the bar and restaurant have been retained and modified to current standards. All very atmospheric.
The loos also are in the old grand style, spacious and with lots of dark wood and old fashioned tiling.
A couple of tracks remain and these hold a few railcars which have been converted into hotel rooms - they are quite expensive so we didn't stay in them - but we got a key from reception to have a quick look.
The other tracks have been converted into gardens with the platforms now acting as pathways.
Altogether a great idea and we're glad we stayed there but, to be honest, the rooms were a bit shabby and the whole thing needs some investment to improve the overall quality.
And yes, the Glenn Miller version of the song was on the playlist.
Chattanooga itself is a city which has seen hard times but it seems to be on the up now, with a busy city centre and some nice modern buildings alongside some interesting old ones.
The location is nice - on a huge bend of the Tennessee River.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Alleia just around the corner from the hotel. A very nice place where we were seated in an outside dining area where there was a pleasant buzz of people but very low lighting.The waiter left menus but it was impossible to read so we used the light from our phones. When the waiter came back he asked, as they do, whether we had any questions about the menu, to which Mary replied "yes - what does it say ?".
We eventually sorted it out and had a very good evening - our first without live music for a while.
We left Nashville and travelled south through lovely Tennessee countryside to the George Dickel distillery, one of only two approved to make "Tennessee Whisky". The other is Jack Daniel's in nearby Lynchburg.
Another one is trying to get approval but the key criterion is that the whisky must be aged in new barrels for all production, and they are trying to get this relaxed on cost grounds. The existing two are naturally resisting this. They send their used barrels to Scotland apparently.
Interesting fact - the barrel-ageing process takes about 12 years (they have ageing stores in many locations around the state containing vast quantities of whisky) and during that time over 50% of the production is lost to evaporation. As in Scotland, they call it "the angels' share" - I think the angels must have parties every weekend.
We took the tour around Dickel - which uses water direct from a nearby natural spring arising from a limestone aquifer, and filters the spirit through charcoal made in the open on the premises - they were preparing to make some as we were there.
We enjoyed the tour of the distillery, which is located in an idyllic little wooded valley with a crystal clear stream running along it, but the main point of interest was this guy who was part of the group......
After the tour we went on to Lynchburg. We'd read that the tours of Jack Daniel's can be very crowded, which is why we went to Dickel, but, as JD is usually my spirit of choice when I don't want to drink any more beer, I wanted to at least have a look at Lynchburg.
We stopped for lunch in the town square - an attractive mix of old buildings, now almost all containing JD related businesses. After lunch we had a JD and raisin ice cream. Yum yum.
Then onto Chattanooga where we were staying at the old station which has now been converted into a hotel - called, naturally, the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel.
The station concourse is now the lobby - a huge hall under a dome - and the bar and restaurant have been retained and modified to current standards. All very atmospheric.
The loos also are in the old grand style, spacious and with lots of dark wood and old fashioned tiling.
A couple of tracks remain and these hold a few railcars which have been converted into hotel rooms - they are quite expensive so we didn't stay in them - but we got a key from reception to have a quick look.
The other tracks have been converted into gardens with the platforms now acting as pathways.
Altogether a great idea and we're glad we stayed there but, to be honest, the rooms were a bit shabby and the whole thing needs some investment to improve the overall quality.
And yes, the Glenn Miller version of the song was on the playlist.
Chattanooga itself is a city which has seen hard times but it seems to be on the up now, with a busy city centre and some nice modern buildings alongside some interesting old ones.
The location is nice - on a huge bend of the Tennessee River.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Alleia just around the corner from the hotel. A very nice place where we were seated in an outside dining area where there was a pleasant buzz of people but very low lighting.The waiter left menus but it was impossible to read so we used the light from our phones. When the waiter came back he asked, as they do, whether we had any questions about the menu, to which Mary replied "yes - what does it say ?".
We eventually sorted it out and had a very good evening - our first without live music for a while.
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