Ole Smoky Launches 1st Expression Honoring Family

James Ownby Reserve Tennessee Straight Bourbon Whiskey is a 94-proof whiskey is aged in American virgin charred oak barrels and filtered utilizing the Lincoln County Process, passing through sugar maple charcoal before aging. Less than 200 barrels of James Ownby Reserve will be released this month.

Ownby is the fifth generation great-grandfather of Ole Smoky Distillery’s Founder, Joe Baker.  He enlisted in the Army at 17, served six tours of duty and was a member of the renowned ‘Overmountain Men’ regiment under the command of Colonel John Sevier in the Battle of Kings Mountain – the battle which Thomas Jefferson fittingly deemed ‘The turn of the tide of success,’ in the Revolutionary War,” said Baker.

In the late 1800s, James set down roots in East Tennessee, just a stone’s throw from where Ole Smoky operates the distillery today on the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Ownby family became known as one of the original families who settled in the area and brought their knowledge of distilling.

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