What is Tennessee whiskey? Is it different than bourbon? All your questions answered

What's the difference between Tennessee whiskey and bourbon? Not much.

One common misconception about bourbon is that it only comes from Kentucky, but that's not true.

Tennessee whiskey is a type of bourbon, explained Matthew "Moss" Morrissey, executive director of Whiskey House, a nonprofit organization that uses its extensive collection of old and rare whiskies for charitable causes like auctioning off tastings to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

What do bourbon and Tennessee whiskey have in common? They must be bottled at between 80 and 125 proof ethanol, made of at least 51% corn and aged in new, charred oak barrels.

But Tennessee Whiskey must follow two more requirements:

"One, it's made in Tennessee and two, it goes through the 'Lincoln County Process,'" Morrissey said. "And that's just a fancy way of saying filtering through charcoal."

The carbon in charcoal bonds with undesirable compounds in whiskey and removes them before aging.

Does it make a difference?

"Yes, absolutely," Morrissey said. "That's why it's smooth and mellow."

Whiskey doesn't have to be brown; that's the effect of barrel-aging. Unaged whiskey, for example, is called white whiskey. Many distilleries called their white whiskey "moonshine," though moonshine by definition is untaxed and unregulated, and anything you're buying on the up-and-up is most certainly both of those.

Morrissey, a Nashville native, said not everyone held Tennessee whiskey in high regard historically. But that's all changed — thanks to an expansion of premium spirits.

"Jack Daniel's, over the last four years or so, has started producing more lines of whiskey that a lot of people have fallen in love with," he said. "Even people who didn't care about Jack Daniel's before."

Suddenly, some who claimed not to like Jack Daniel's anymore because of overindulging in Old No. 7 in college changed their tunes, he said, adding: "Including myself."

The Whiskey House's top-five favorite Tennessee whiskies

1. Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Coy Hill High Proof
2. Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey
3. Old Dominick Bottled in Bond Tennessee Whiskey
4. Nelson's Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey
5. George Dickel Bottled in Bond (Fall 2005)

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What is Tennessee whiskey? Is it different than bourbon? All your questions answered