On Our Second Date of Christmas: Jack Daniel's Distillery & Miss. Mary Bobo's Boarding House

We decided to use the long holiday weekend to get out of town for the day, and we took a day trip to the little town, with an unfortunate name, Lynchburg, Tennessee.  Lynchburg is where the one and only Jack Daniel's Distillery is located.  I had toured the distillery years and years ago, when I was under 21, and couldn't take part in the sampling. So I decided it was about time I took Adam up there. The tour is always a lot of fun and you really learn how much time and effort goes into making the perfect whiskey.

Oh, and did you know the distillery is located in a dry county? And that it will never be a wet county because the town needs a passing vote of 2500 to allow the sale of liqueur, and the town only has a population of about 600? And you can't even purchase liqueur there, except for a loophole in the law, that allows for the purchase of one "commemorative bottle." I just find that amusing and charmingly backwards, as so much in the South is.

After the tour, we walked down to Miss. Mary Bobo's Boarding House for lunch. Miss. Mary Bobo's used to be an actual boarding house in the 1800's. But now it is a restaurant, and all the bedrooms have been turned into dining areas. You eat family style around a kitchen table. I love it that way, you really get to know the people at your table, and it is just some homey and inviting. The food is always very Southern and one dish always features the famous local product (Jack Daniel's Drunkin' Apples in this case).  We had fried chicken, meat loaf, broccoli & cheese casserole, pinto beans ,corn bread, cranberries, and fried okra.

Our last stop in Lynchburg was the Lynchburg Cake and Candy Company. I had read about it online and it is famous for its Whiskey Cakes (featured on food network). This cake shop is a really small operation, run by the most fabulous man. He took us around the business, even showing us the kitchen, and telling us all about how he makes the cakes, and how his business got started. We bought a few cakes and some pralines for our families, and I bought some whiskey balls for myself. Those whiskey balls were one of the most amazing candies I have ever had. In fact, I'm pretty sure they are the best candy in the history of ever. I'm sooo sad I only bought one package.  I could have eaten a million.