Whisky & Food

Tennessee doesn't eat the same everywhere. In the west of the state, around Memphis, ribs smoke for hours, rubbed with a dry spice blend instead of drowned in sauce. In the middle of the state, where Lynchburg and Nashville sit, it's all about something else entirely. Fried chicken buried under a fiery red paste of cayenne pepper.

This Nashville Hot Chicken is marinated, breaded, and fried. It's then dipped in a paste of cayenne pepper and other spices, graded from mild to blazing hot. The sweetness and charcoal-mellowed roundness of a Tennessee Whiskey tame the heat without drowning it out. A sip between bites, and the next round of heat feels fresh all over again.

In Lynchburg itself, right next to the distillery, Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House has served Southern cooking in an old boarding house since 1908. The table fills with fried chicken, cornbread, and fish platters, plus several side dishes all at once. Guests eat at long tables, sitting across from strangers, simply passing the platters along.

At home, far less effort will do. Tennessee Whiskey pairs just as well with mac and cheese as it does with collard greens, that bitter, leafy cousin of Southern cooking. The whiskey's sweetness balances out the greens' bitterness, while its toasty notes pick up the creaminess of the cheese.

Along the official Tennessee Whiskey Trail, a number of stops between Lynchburg and Nashville now deliberately connect the two. Tasting comes first in the morning, then the plate in the afternoon. In this cuisine, smoke, char, and heat have always belonged together, one making little sense without the other.