KQI 3/24/22 KQI 3/24/22

"No. 7"

We were at an antique bottle show recently, and we had a collector ask us about the correlation between J.W. Kelly’s “No.7” and a certain other - slightly more well known - “Old No. 7.”

It is true that most of the distillers in Kelly’s time knew each other. Jack Daniel visited Chattanooga often, and there is evidence that Kelly travelled to middle Tennessee quite a bit. There is also a pretty good connection between J.W. Kelly & Co and Jack Daniel’s in this advertisement:

Gadsden, AL Daily Times December 16, 1910. Kelly & Co distilled Special Deep Spring, and were exclusive importers for Budweiser and Schlitz

A lot of collectors (both Kelly and Daniel) often mistake the “No. 7” in Kelly’s bottles as an indicator that it was part of Jack Daniel’s distillery. It was not. The best reference we’ve found to Kelly’s “No.7” was on a bottle of Silver Spring Corn Whiskey (circa 1906).

Prior to 1906, Deep Spring was a much smaller distillery and there was no warehouse attached. It was also located in town, across from the location of the present-day Chattanooga Choo Choo. Here’s an image:

The distillery and warehouse received an upgrade (and many parts of the original distillery were razed and rebuilt) in 1906. Also, the distillery was moved to more acreage. Through all that, it still carried it’s No. 7 distinction.

The truth about Kelly’s “No. 7” is actually pretty simple. And it has nothing to do with Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Tennessee was broken up into districts approximately around 1890 (some records indicate that Chattanooga also had districts). Deep Spring Distillery was located in District #2. It was registered distillery #7 in that district (despite being founded in 1866). That is where Kelly’s “No. 7” comes from. Check out these images of the distillery:

Side Note: You’ll notice in the image above that it also has “U.S. Bonded Warehouse” painted on the side. In 1906, there were 3 other “U.S. Bonded” warehouses in the USA. Deep Spring was one here in Chattanooga. Here’s an article about it.