By Richard Thomas
(Credit: Diageo)
John Lunn could be fairly described as the giant of Tennessee Whiskey that the average enthusiast has never heard of, and he passed away on March 30, 2023. He was 53 years old. In an era when veteran master distillers are revered by a large and growing fan base as rock stars, Lunn’s lower profile has always struck me as remarkable, so his story is worth telling.
A Tennessee native, Lunn graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1992 with a degree in chemical engineering. His initial work after earning his degree was in environmental engineering. * From there, he joined George Dickel Distillery in 2004, a time when there were just three distilleries running in what was then and now America’s second-ranking whiskey state: the large veterans of Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel, and the smaller, newer Prichard’s Distillery. Lunn was recruited as apprentice and successor by Jennings Backus, the Master Distiller at Dickel who would retire the next year. For the next decade, Lunn was the chief whiskey-maker down in Cascade Hollow, Tennessee, during the years when the Bourbon Boom steadily gained momentum.
Lunn departed Dickel abruptly in March 2015, with Lunn’s hiring by the Newport, Tennessee-based Popcorn Sutton Distillery announced the same day as his departure from Dickel. The next year, Lunn’s former deputy at Dickel, Allisa Henley, followed him out of Cascade Hollow and down to Newport. Despite being the #2 distiller at Dickel at the time of Lunn’s departure, Dickel’s parent company Diageo had not seen fit to promote her to the top job. Indeed, Diageo wouldn’t appoint a formal successor to Lunn until Nicole Austin was hired in 2018.
To this day, no on-record, authoritative statement as to the reasons for Lunn’s and Henley’s departure has been made by any party concerned. However, most observers at the time felt that Dickel parent company Diageo was neglecting the brand in the midst of the accelerating Bourbon Boom. A global drinks giant, Diageo has a reputation with observers for sometimes puzzling business moves and byzantine corporate politics. It’s not hard to see how that situation could lead to a pair of talented distilling veterans either leaving in search of better opportunities or being forced out after some internal clash.
Popcorn Sutton, however, was already known to be an over-ambitious and troubled project. Two years before Lunn came to work there, the company was sued by Jack Daniel’s for bottling its products in a fashion that was nearly identical to the style used by Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7. Folks who visited the distillery often commented on the gorgeous, expensive distillery equipment, built to a scale more suited to a medium-sized distillery than a start-up, craft outfit, and wondered how it was all paid for. Lunn was later reported as saying that equipment was running at 20% capacity.
Everything changed when Sazerac, parent company of Buffalo Trace and Barton 1792, decided to get into the Tennessee Whiskey business. They acquired Popcorn Sutton, moved the distillery from Newport to Murfreesnboro, and eventually renamed it to A&J Bond Distillery, after the partnership between Allisa (Henley) and John (Lunn). It went operational in 2017. At the time, Sazerac indicated they were less interested in the excellent Vendome-made equipment, as much as they were interested in acquiring the services of Lunn and Henley.
As I observed at the beginning, Lunn was the major master distiller that most enthusiasts had never heard of. In conversations at bars and events, it always amazed me how many folks outside of the industry and media had never heard of him. I pin the lion’s share of that obscurity on the low profile of both the A&J Bond Distillery and Lunn himself. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the obituaries that I’ve read feature either a candid photo of Lunn taken by the author or his official photo from his George Dickel days, a photo at least seven years old and perhaps older.
Also, A&J Bond is doing things the old fashioned way: they’ve been making Tennessee Whiskey down in Murfreesboro for six years now, but haven’t released any product. Although the tried and true way in the craft sector is to build a brand using sourced whiskey while also building up a distillery and in-house spirits, Sazerac isn’t a start-up and A&J Bond isn’t a small distillery. Arranging a press visit A&J Bond isn’t easy, and the distillery doesn’t even have a website or even a listing on the Sazerac company homepage. Apparently, Sazerac will launch their Murfreesboro-made whiskey when the whiskey is good and ready.
This story underscores what to me is the saddest part of Lunn’s passing away at such a young age. After several years of work, he won’t be there to see the project he worked so hard on reach its first launch, let alone its fruition.
* Coincidentally, Lunn’s eventual and formal successor, Nicole Austin, also went from environmental engineering to whiskey-making.