Do we like them?

Do we like Jack Daniel's?

Tennessee whiskey brand made in Lynchburg, Tennessee; the flagship of Louisville-based Brown-Forman.

Our score: 5 out of 10. A well-known brand with a mostly clean record. The evidence we found is thin, and the harm is that of alcohol, plus a fungus dispute and a 12% job cut. We'd hold, not buy.

Jack Daniel's is the best-known whiskey of Brown-Forman, the Louisville company that owns it. The distillery is in Lynchburg, Tennessee, and it's one of the most recognisable spirits brands in the world.

Things are bumpy at the parent company. Its sales for the year to April 2026 were down 1%, and operating income fell 10%. A global restructure is expected to cut the workforce by 12%. Boss Lawson Whiting will retire once a successor is found.

There was takeover drama too. Talks with Pernod Ricard ended in April without agreed terms. Sazerac then made a roughly $15bn cash offer, and Brown-Forman rejected it in May.

Locally, a lawsuit accused the distillery of letting black 'whiskey fungus' spread on nearby property. It asked for new barrelhouse construction to be halted. We didn't find how it ended. It's also taken a lot of trademark fights, including a Supreme Court dog-toy case.