FILE – In this May 20, 2009, file photo, Jeff Arnett, the master distiller at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., drills a hole in a barrel of whiskey in one of the aging houses at the distillery. After 12 years of leading production of the powerhouse Jack Daniel’s whiskey brand, Arnett is stepping down as master distiller at the Tennessee distillery, the company announced Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020.
FILE – In this May 20, 2009 file photo Jeff Arnett, the master distiller at the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., tests glasses of whiskey during a taste test at the distillery. After 12 years of leading production of the powerhouse Jack Daniel’s whiskey brand, Arnett is stepping down as master distiller at the Tennessee distillery, the company announced Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — After 12 years of leading production of the powerhouse Jack Daniel’s whiskey brand, Jeff Arnett is stepping down as master distiller, the company announced Thursday.
Arnett stewarded the brand’s continued global growth and executed a strategy that expanded the Jack Daniel’s lineup with flavored brand extensions and super-premium products that fetch higher prices — part of an industrywide trend in American whiskey production.
As master distiller, Arnett was responsible for overall whiskey-making operations at the famed distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Through the years, master distillers took on another role as leading brand ambassadors to promote their products. Jack Daniel’s — the flagship brand of Louisville, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman Corp. — is sold in more than 170 countries.
The company didn’t give a reason for Arnett’s departure. His career at the distillery spanned nearly 20 years and earlier roles included overseeing quality control and the brand’s single barrel program.
Arnett said in a statement that his work at the distillery was “an incredible chapter in my life and I look forward to spending some time to think about what the next chapter will hold.”
He said it was an “honor and privilege” to be one of only a handful of people to have served as master distiller of a brand “known around the world as simply ‘Jack.’”
