The Tennessee Whiskey You Should Try, Right Behind Jack Daniel's And George Dickel

When you think of Tennessee whiskey, there's probably one name that comes immediately to mind — Jack Daniel's. Jack Daniel's is undeniably famous and, unsurprisingly, comes in at number one in our ranking of the top 15 Tennessee whiskey brands. Coming in just behind Jack Daniel's is George Dickel, a smaller brand, which dates back to around the same time as Jack Daniel's. However the Tennessee whiskey you should try, right behind these two prominent distilleries, is from an even smaller brand, though one that is arguably just as if not more historic: Nelson's Green Brier.

Established by brothers Andy and Charles Nelson in 2009, Nelson's Green Brier can trace its roots to the 1800s, when the Nelson brothers' great-great-great grandfather, Charles Nelson, purchased a distillery in Green Brier Tennessee, known as Old No. 5 Distillery (as it was the fifth registered distiller in the state of Tennessee). At one point, Nelson's distillery was the largest producer of Tennessee whiskey, selling 2 million bottles of Nelson's Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey in 1885. The distillery shut down in 1909, when Tennessee adopted Prohibition. It would be 100 years before the brand would be revived. 

The Nelson brothers reformed the company in 2009 and in 2014, built the Nelson's Green Brier Distillery in Nashville, producing Tennessee whiskey based on an interpretation of the original family recipe. That historic recipe, combined with use of the Lincoln County Process, where whiskey is filtered through maple charcoal — the step that makes Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey different (and how Jack Daniel's rewrote the rules to claim Tennessee whiskey) — makes it a solid Tennessee whiskey from a small, family-owned brand.

At 45.5% alcohol by volume, Nelson's Green Brier comes closer to George Dickel's Signature Recipe No. 12 of 45% alcohol by volume and quite a bit stronger than Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 of 40% alcohol by volume. For a product from a small and young distillery, Nelson's Green Brier Tennessee whiskey is priced quite affordably at around $30 a bottle. The distillery also produces straight rye whiskey and bourbon under the Nelson Bros. brand. Visitors can tour the distillery, which also makes our list of the 10 best distilleries with restaurants to visit across the United States.