The Distillery Awaits

Today was our day to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery.  I had done it in the past but Jim hadn’t and it’s really something you can do anytime you’re in the area…which is usually one less time the never.  We had a great tour guide that looked like a mix between Santa Claus and Denver Pyle (Uncle Jesse from the Dukes of Hazzard).  He was very amusing and we enjoyed the tour, which dropped us at the White Rabbit shop where you can purchase commemorative bottle of Jack Daniels, Gentleman Jack or Single Barrel.  I have a bottle that I purchased (okay, that someone else purchased for me because I wasn’t 21 yet) in 1997 when I was here, a commemorative Bicentennial bottle, so we had to purchase more to add to the collection.  I mean who doesn’t need a 3 bottles of whiskey right?  Mmm, Tennessee Whiskey…wait, where was I?

Oh yes, on to lunch!  We ate at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House, which is a local tradition.  It actually used to be a boarding house run by Miss Mary Bobo herself but was purchased by the Distillery and made into a restaurant.  It is separate rooms that your group is seated in and it also has a hostess that sit and eats with you while explaining the history of the restaurant and talks about the area.  The food was great!  The most amazing fried chicken you have ever tasted, fried okra, macaroni and cheese, Jack Daniels apples, green beans, chess pie, sweet tea, my mouth is watering just talking about it!  We ate with four other teams that we have competed against in the past and really enjoyed ourselves. 

After lunch we headed into the square for a little shopping and to pick up our barrel head.  We had pre-ordered a barrel head with the Jack Daniels 2010 Invitational Barbeque World Championships logo and our team name emblazoned on it.  It will be a great piece to add to our collection, don’t you think?  This was the last day before the festivities, excitement and work actually start so I carved the pumpkins for our booth (the Jack Daniels logo, AKA the “Jack”-o-lantern, and the McFrankenboo logo) and then we walked around and met some of the teams.  There are actually 4 teams from New England out here so we chatted with them and, as with the six degrees of separation that only happens in New England, there is someone here that used to work with one of my best friends from college!!  What a small world!  There are over 60 teams here in the actual competition for most of the states as well as all over the world like Canada, Switzerland, Poland (insert your own joke here), Germany, etc. 

Oh yes, and Seamus no longer goes after squirrels, it’s Chihuahuas!  I think he thinks they are chew toys…not good.