Tennessee Hollerin' Whiskey Barbecue Sauce

A statue of Jack Daniel stands guard over the spring from which the distillery gets most of its water.

Comments from recipe testers

"Just out of this world. We are going to stop buying the sauce we use and just make this for multi-use sauce. One thing I did not expect was the fact that this sauce did not really taste good until it is got cooked down. The long, slow cooking process really brought out the flavor." Ken Hume, Aurora, CO

Scotch Sauce

"This weekend I modified and simplified this recipe by replacing the two step Jack Daniel’s whiskey addition with a single step addition of 1/3 cup of an Islay Single Malt Scotch per cup of finished sauce. The smoky peat flavors came through beautifully and I can’t wait to see how it ages. My single malt buddies went absolutely nuts over the sauce, so this will become one of my standard offerings. Thanks for encouraging experimentation while providing a solid foundation from which to build!" Gary, Portland, OR

The best aged Kentucky Bourbons and Tennessee Whiskeys are the Cognacs of the country.

Bourbon is named for Bourbon County, Kentucky, and, although law requires Bourbon to be 51% corn, the best are 75% or more corn, with the balance wheat, rye, or barley. Although they are not called Bourbon, Tennessee whiskeys such as Jack Daniel's are made pretty much the same way as Bourbon and are comparable in taste.

The fermentation is induced by the introduction of "sour mash", some of the fermenting mash from previous batches, a process similar to the way sourdough bread is made. The mash ferments and is distilled to 80% alcohol (160 proof), which is aged in oak barrels for two years or more. Most are aged four years, and the best are aged eight years or more. They are blended with water and bottled from 80-90 proof.

In recent years Bourbon has grown in popularity, in part because some producers have begun bottling single barrels, aging for longer periods, and using fancy bottles.

The Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue is considered by many to be the most prestigious competition in the world. It is held in the holler just behind the distillery's home, Lynchburg, Tennessee. A few years back they added a sauce competition, but all sauces had to have Jack Daniel's in them. Inventive chefs cooked up some mighty nice sauces, and many of them have found their way into bottles.

Aged corn whiskeys have a wonderful sweet vanilla flavor that is great in barbecue sauces, but it is easily lost among the bold flavors of the alcohol and the other ingredients of a barbecue sauce. To showcase the whiskey flavors, my sauce does not have many ingredients, but it still is very complex. The secret is that we begin by gathering the essence of Bourbon by reducing a cup to a few tablespoons of magical elixir.

I named my sauce after the holler in which it was invented. It has a kick, and after one taste you'll be bending over and hollerin' "Kick me!"

Recipe

Makes. About 2 cups of sauce. Click here to calculate how much you need and for tips on saucing strategies.
Preparation time. 45 minutes.

Ingredients
2 cups Jack Daniel's Black Label or Bourbon
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons malt vinegar
4 tablespoons dark molasses
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)

Method
1) Taste the whiskey to make sure it is up to your standards. Pour 1 cup of whiskey into a saucepan and set aside the remaining whiskey. Bring the saucepan to a boil and reduce the liquid to about 2 tablespoons. Don't let the alcohol flame. Taste the unused whiskey to make sure it hasn't gone bad.

2) Add 1/2 cup of the whiskey and the other ingredients. Simmer over a low heat for 30 minutes and reduce it by about 1/3. Use it immediately or bottle it and keep it in the refrigerator for a month or more. Drink the remaining whiskey.

This page was revised 2/17/2009

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