Jack's Back It takes years. And potato chips. View in browser NEW YORK | 25 AUGUST 2015 The life you're meant to live: FOOD & DRINK Jack's Back How to become a whiskey master distiller Online 5 Min For One Welcome to Good Job, InsideHook’s deep dive into envy-inducing employment. Today, we talk with Jeff Arnett, Master Distiller at Jack Daniel’s. Here’s his story, in his own words. You can also check out our review of his newest creation — Jack Daniel's Barrel Proof whiskey — right here. He’s only the seventh Master Distiller in Jack Daniel’s 149-year history. “Since 1866, there have been 20 U.S. presidents and 12 Catholic popes, but only seven Master Distillers. So being at this job is about three times better than being president and twice as good as being pope.” In college, he didn’t know he’d end up being a whiskey distiller. “I mean, I really got to know this product in college (laughs). I thought I was going to be an engineer, in the automotive field.” He lost his first job before it started. “I had one interview with GM. Then they laid off 3,000 people and had a hiring freeze right as I graduated. Even though they had offered me a salary, showed me where I was going to sit and introduced me to my workmates, they couldn’t make good on that.” He started working with...potato chips. “They made Pringles in my hometown. I was part of Procter & Gamble: they were largest industrial employer in our town. Eventually, I went to New Orleans to work for Folgers (a former subsidiery of P&G).” He learned from coffee masters. “I was part of the evaluation process for coffee beans at Folgers. You have 4-5 beans in a blend, all doing different things: acidity, flavor, body, etc. My job was to find the beans to give those attributes. Lots of slurping and sipping, going through a grading process. I was exposed to sensory sciences." To get to Jack Daniel’s, he became a Squire. “Back in the 1950s, Frank Sinatra held up Jack Daniel’s on stage and called it the “nectar of the Gods.” Jack Daniel’s sales doubled, and they literally couldn't make enough. The Squire’s Program was a way for the brand to maintain a relationship with fans who couldn’t get bottles. We were essentially unpaid ambassadors.” A Squire’s dream? Quit whatever job they have and work at Jack Daniel’s. “That was true for me, too. It was hard to become a Squire: you have to be nominated by another Squire, and there are only two slots open each year. But that role convinced me to leave Procter & Gamble and come here.” He lucked out. “I found a headhunter in the area, and was able to get a job as a quality control manager in 2001. I started there, took over the Single Barrel program, then did work in warehousing, maturation, distillation, charcoal mellowing management, barrel quality and bottling, and was a member of the Master Tasters’ panel. It took seven years to become the Master Distiller.” History is important. “I think what I really do is take volumes of Jack Daniel’s history and find the core of who we are. And I have to make sure what we do now and what we do 10 years from now is consistent.” He doesn’t always know what’s coming next. “The cinnamon whiskey craze, for example. But we were able to come up with Tennessee Fire, which I’ll hold up to anything. That said, we’re not Baskin Robbins. There won’t be a different flavor for every day of the month.” Nota bene: Jack Daniel’s just introduced a new variation, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof. Read our review here.
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