Lynchburg Lemonade

Lynchburg Lemonade is Tennessee’s own entry in the whiskey-and-lemonade family: Jack Daniel’s, a splash of orange liqueur, and fresh lemon juice, shaken hard and topped with lemon-lime soda. It’s named for the small Tennessee town Jack Daniel’s has called home since 1866, and it drinks like a whiskey sour that decided to get some fizz.

What You’re Learning

Why Jack Daniel’s specifically. This isn’t just a whiskey sour with a hometown name attached. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey goes through the Lincoln County Process, filtered slowly through sugar maple charcoal before it ever touches a barrel, which mellows it out and rounds off the char-forward edge you get from a straight bourbon. That smoother, slightly sweeter profile is what keeps the drink balanced against tart lemon juice and sweet triple sec instead of turning sharp.

Why it’s shaken, then topped, not built all at once. The whiskey, triple sec, and lemon juice get shaken together with ice first, the same way any whiskey sour would, so they chill and dilute properly and pick up a light froth. The lemon-lime soda goes in last, poured gently over the top rather than shaken in, because shaking a carbonated mixer knocks the fizz out of it almost immediately. Add it last and it stays lively all the way down the glass.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz (45ml) Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey
• 1 oz (30ml) triple sec
• 1 oz (30ml) fresh lemon juice
• 2 oz (60ml) lemon-lime soda, chilled
• Ice
• Lemon wheel and fresh mint sprig, for garnish (optional)

Method

1. Fill the shaker. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake. Add the Jack Daniel’s, triple sec, and fresh lemon juice. Shake hard for about 15 seconds, until well-chilled.
3. Fill the jar. Pack a Mason jar with fresh ice.
4. Strain in. Strain the shaken whiskey mixture over the ice.
5. Top with soda. Top with the chilled lemon-lime soda, pouring gently to keep the fizz.
6. Garnish and serve. Add a lemon wheel and mint sprig, give it one gentle stir, and serve right away.

Notes

• Real Jack Daniel’s matters here. It’s the drink’s namesake, and its charcoal-mellowed sweetness is part of the balance. A different whiskey will work, but it isn’t a Lynchburg Lemonade anymore.
• Serve it in a Mason jar. That’s the true Lynchburg presentation, the same jelly-jar pour served at Jack Daniel’s own Lynchburg, Tennessee visitor bar.
• Shake first, top after. Shaking the soda in flattens it fast, so it always goes in last, over ice, poured gently.
• Fresh lemon juice only. Bottled juice reads flat and can’t stand up to the whiskey and triple sec the way fresh-squeezed does.
• Scales easily for a crowd. Multiply the whiskey, triple sec, and lemon juice, but top each glass individually with soda right before serving so it stays fizzy.