Blood and Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel [Hardcover]

Peter Krass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2004

The first-ever biography of the man who created America's most famous whiskey
Born in Lynchburg, Tennessee, in 1850, Jack Daniel became a legendary moonshiner at age 15 before launching a legitimate distillery ten years later. By the time he died in 1911, he was an American legend-and his Old No. 7 Tennessee sipping whiskey was an international sensation, the winner of gold medals at the St. Louis World's Fair and the Liege International Exposition in Belgium. Blood and Whiskey captures Daniel's indomitable rise in the rough-edged world of the nineteenth-century whiskey trade-and shows how his commitment to quality (his whiskey was always charcoal-filtered) and his flair for marketing and packaging (he launched his distinctive square bottle in 189-5) helped create one of America's most venerable and recognizable brands.
Peter Krass (Hanover, NH) is the author of Carnegie (0-471-46883-5), cited by Barron's as the "definitive" biography and selected by Library Journal as one of the best biography/business books of 2002.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author traces the Daniel family lineage from Scotland and Ireland to rural Tennessee, and Jasper "Jack" Newton Daniel's rise from hardscrabble youth to a dandy gent with a love of horses, fine clothes and women, a colleague of J.P. Morgan's and one of the most famous spirits producers in the world. Orphaned at 15, Jack discovered a whiskey still on the property of his longtime neighbor and new guardian, Dan Call, and his interest in distilling booze was born. Krass (Carnegie) details the early business partnership between Call and Daniel and their eventual split, as Call forces himself to choose between preaching and making whiskey. "One Call [descendant] wished he'd given up preaching instead because the Jack Daniel Distillery was eventually worth tens of millions of dollars," Krass writes. While Krass's research is ample, the book often gets bogged down in historical minutiae, and at times the reader wishes for a more charismatic star of the show than the somewhat dour Daniel. But witnessing the maturation of his namesake company—not to mention the maturation of the U.S. as it confronts slavery, the Civil War and the temperance movement—is engrossing. Fans of the whiskey will be happy to hear the alleged real story behind the Old No. 7 that adorns each bottle, and anyone can appreciate the classic American characters sprinkled throughout the text, including the richly monikered Eph Grizzard, Beauregard Beam and Lemuel Motlow.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

The author traces the Daniel family lineage from Scotland and Ireland to rural Tennessee, and Jasper “Jack” Newton Daniel’s rise from hardscrabble youth to a dandy gent with a love of horses, fine clothes and women, a colleague of J.P. Morgan’s and one of the most famous spirits producers in the world. Orphaned at 15, Jack discovered a whiskey still on the property of his longtime neighbor and new guardian, Dan Call, and his interest in distilling booze was born. Krass (Carnegie) details the early business partnership between Call and Daniel and their eventual split, as Call forces himself to choose between preaching and making whiskey. “One Call [descendant] wished he’d given up preaching instead because the Jack Daniel Distillery was eventually worth tens of millions of dollars,” Krass writes. While Krass’s research is ample, the book often gets bogged down in historical minutiae, and at times the reader wishes for a more charismatic star of the show than the somewhat dour Daniel. But witnessing the maturation of his namesake company—not to mention the maturation of the U.S. as it confronts slavery, the Civil War and the temperance movement—is engrossing. Fans of the whiskey will be happy to hear the alleged real story behind the Old No. 7 that adorns each bottle, and anyone can appreciate the classic American characters sprinkled throughout the text, including the richly monikered Eph Grizzard, Beauregard Beam and Lemuel Motlow. Agent, Ed Knappman. (May) (Publishers Weekly, April 12^th, 2004)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471273929
• ISBN-13: 978-0471273929
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,478 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars book, September 13, 2009

By 

J. Thomas "history buff" (Chattanooga, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel (Hardcover)

Great reading for history buffs relating facts about the people, cities, politics involving the making of whiskey. The town of Lynchburg, Tennessee with the whiskey distillery is still very much active today 9-11-2009 as I visited this historical town in August of this year. Jack Daniels appeared to be a very good relative and neighbor helping each. Good interesting reading.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History lesson wrapped in biography, December 4, 2009

By 

A. User (Alabama) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel (Hardcover)

This was a well written, detailed description of not only Jack Daniel's life,but also the times in which he grew up. Krass did a great job of weaving the history of American whiskey making and it's Scottish (and Scots-Irish) roots through rich fabric of Mr. Daniel's story. A great testimony to ingenuity, self sufficiency, independent spirit and enterpreneurship. A quick and enjoyable read. History in narrative form. Makes me want to read more of Mr. Krass' work. As an added bonus, I now know how Old No.7 got its name!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bottoms Up, March 9, 2008

By 

William J Higgins III (Laramie, Wyoming United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood & Whiskey: The Life and Times of Jack Daniel (Hardcover)

A double shot of a biography on whiskey magnate Jack Daniel with hard-work and determination as the foundation to his life and principles.
Born in the mid-1800's and orphaned at the age of fifteen, JD immediately found himself working in a local Tennessee distillery manufacturing some of the highest quality spirits in the region from men who were the best in the business. He was known as the boy distiller.
In his early twenties, he had the opportunity to partnership with his mentor and the rest as they say is history.
It was not easy though. For decades he battled revenuers, the government, corrupt officials, temperance groups and later the prohibition movement. Even with these many adversities throughout his life, philanthropy was his middle name.
Peter Krass has uncorked an imbibing read of a unique man and the times in which he lived.