(2011)
Lem Motlow and his brothers set up shop in Birmingham, culminating in 1904 with their own distillery — they were the nephews of Jack Daniel of Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Being that Tennessee enacted prohibition in 1910, it seemed a smart move to have operations elsewhere, and it wasn’t until 1915 that Alabama had its own statewide prohibition.
It turned out that due to the different water sources, the whiskey tasted different which wasn’t a good selling point, and more of the nation headed toward prohibition which really sealed the deal on this ill-fated outpost of a family distillery.
It was Lem Motlow who reopened the JD distillery in Lynchburg after prohibition.
This letter from Jesse B. Motlow to Felix Motlow was written in 1905, inviting Felix for a visit as there had been no yellow fever in Birmingham.
(from a visit to the Birmingham History Center Museum which is no longer extant, 2012)