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Jack Daniels finally acknowledges slave that tought them to make whiskey

By HANNAH PARRY FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 19:26 EST, 26 June 2016 | UPDATED: 09:30 EST, 27 June 2016

After 150 years, Jack Daniels has finally revealed that a slave was behind the world-famous recipe of America’s most popular whisky.

Until now, the story told was that a white moonshine distiller named Dan Call had taught his young apprentice, Jasper Newton ‘Jack’ Daniel, how to run his Tennessee distillery.

But it appears that the brand is finally ready to embrace its controversial history after it revealed it was not Dan Call, but one of Call’s slaves named Nearis Green who had passed on his distilling experience to Daniel.

‘It’s taken something like the anniversary for us to start to talk about ourselves,’ Nelson Eddy, Jack Daniel’s in-house historian, told the New York Times.

After 150 years, Jack Daniels has finally revealed that a slave was behind the world-famous recipe of America’s most popular whisky. A photo taken from the time shows a man thought to be one of Nearis Green’s (the slave who passed on the recipe) sons sitting on the left of founder Jack Daniel (circled, right) and his workers

According to a 1967 biography, Jack Daniel’s Legacy, Call told his slave to teach Daniel everything he knew.

‘Uncle Nearest is the best whiskey maker that I know of,’ Call is recorded as having said.

Slavery was brought to an end in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

Daniel opened his own distillery a year later where he employed two of Green’s sons.

A photo taken from the time shows a man thought to be one of Green’s sons sitting alongside Daniel and his workers. The photograph is significant as typically, black employees would have been forced to stand at the back.

His inclusion may have signified that he played an important role at the Jack Daniels distillery.

Yet Nearis Green and his family were all too quick forgotten about until very recently.

Until now, the story told was that a white moonshine distiller named Dan Call (pictured) had taught his young apprentice, Jasper Newton ‘Jack’ Daniel, how to run his Tennessee distillery

A man thought to be Green’s son was sat on the left of Daniels (in the white hat) in the 150 year-old picture. The photograph is significant as typically, black employees would have been forced to stand at the back

After decades of ignoring the Greens’ story, which was well known to local historians, Jack Daniels has accepted the history which will be featured on its distillery tour

Historians also believe that certain methods used to create American whiskies, not found in German or British traditions, may have come from ancient African techniques passed down through the generations (pictured are barrels of Jack Daniels at the distillery)

Slaves once make up the majority of men working in the distilling industry and records of slave sales show that their whisky making skills were highly prized.

Historians also believe that certain methods used to create American whiskies, not found in German or British traditions, may have come from ancient African techniques passed down through the generations.

But, like so much else appropriated from enslaved African Americans – from recipes to traditions, the distillery owners would take credit for their slaves’ whisky.

And with so little written about the contribution of slaves at the time, historians are left with few clues to how enslaved men and women created American whisky.

Another Jack Daniel’s tradition is the Lincoln County process, where unaged whiskey is passed through several feet of maple charcoal to purify the bourbon, leaving it with a slightly sweet flavor.

Once again, the history books credit white Tennessean Alfred Eaton with inventing the technique in 1825. But experts say it is more likely that it stemmed from slaves who would use charcoal to remove the impurities when illicitly brewing their own alcohol.
Read more:

http://originalpeople.org/jack-daniels-finally-acknowledges-slave-that-tought-them-to-make-whiskey/