Sunday, August 2, 2015

The Mystery of the Belle Of Lincoln Bottle

There was a time when I (G) thought that Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey was the end all of spirits.  I had visited the distillery 5 times and could have been one of the tour guides by the last visit.  So when my father said he had a Jack Daniels bottle up in his liquor cabinet, I assumed it was just your run of the mill bottle o' Jack.  To my surprise, he had in his possession, a commemorative bottle.  The Belle of Lincoln  Bottle.



It was empty (insert sad face here) but was still immensely cool.  It had belonged to my grandfather who got it from one of his very best friends.  The engraved name plate with it's registration number and a little booklet with some information regarding the bottle were still attached.  I loved it from the moment I laid eyes on it.  And with that, my dad said "It's yours."

It sat in my china cabinet for years.  Proudly displayed with other barware and memorabilia. But when I started to write this blog, I thought of the story that must accompany it.  I'd seen other commemorative bottles at the distillery before and kind of wish that I'd known about the Belle of Lincoln earlier so I could have seen it with all it's gold hued goodness inside.  So I did some digging and this is what I found.

"The Belle of Lincoln was originally the name given to a new brand of whiskey made by the Jack Daniel Distillery in the 1890’s, but would also become the name of a commemorative bottle. Known as the Belle Bottle, this commemorative bottle was personally created by Jack Daniel himself and was unlike any before it. It was never mass produced and the few bottles made were given away by Jack as gifts…
The Distillery released this commemorative Belle of Lincoln decanter in 1979 filled with 90 proof whiskey, basing its design on sketches and descriptions of how the original bottle most likely appeared."- Jackdanielsbottles.com
It turns out that I have pretty neat little bottle sitting in my collection of spirits.  It still sits proudly in the china cabinet where it's been for years.  Soon I hope to head back to the distillery and get picture with a full bottle.

Cheers!



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