Published January 13, 2015
State agents are sorting through some 2,400 bottles of Jack Daniel whiskey estimated to cost $1 million found in storage buildings.
The bottles were found following an investigation into possible illegal sales of whiskey by two businesses in this southern Middle Tennessee town where the Jack Daniel distillery is located.
No one has been arrested.
Authorities said they received permission to search two storage buildings on Highway 55 last weekend and found hundreds of bottles of Jacks Daniel's.
"There are bottles here that are not even sold in this county," said Mike Cawthorn, senior agent in charge of the Nashville office of the Tennessee Alcohol Beverage Commission. "There are bottles of Jack Daniel's here that are to be sold only in Italy and Spain."
Officials said the rarity of the bottles helped drive up the value of the find.
Danielle Elks, executive director of the ABC, said Thursday one bottle dates back to 1914. She told WSMV-TV of Nashville it was still sealed and worth about $10,000.
"This is a major enterprise," Cawthorn told The Tullahoma News. "Every time we turn around, there's something new."
Some of the illegal whiskey also was found in a motel in Nashville.
Moore County Sheriff Mark Logan said there was enough whiskey recovered to fill a trailer and truck that then transported it to Nashville for storage.
Authorities said they were working with officials from the Jack Daniel distillery to determine how the whiskey was obtained.
Agents said anyone arrested could face charges of possession of untaxed whiskey.
Some of the whiskey could be auctioned off but most of it will be destroyed.
A Web site helped tip agents off about the whiskey. The investigation is continuing.
An after-hours Associated Press call to the ABC office in Nashville was not returned Thursday night.
Lynchburg is 65 miles southeast of Nashville.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/1-million-worth-of-rare-jack-daniels-whiskey-bottles-seized