As a teenager, Daniel was taken in by Dan Call, a local lay preacher and moonshine distiller. He began learning the distilling trade from Call and his Master Distiller, Nathan “Nearest” Green, an enslaved African-American man.

In 1884 he took over the distillery and bought the land where it was located.

The company was sold to the Brown–Forman Corporation in 1956.

The Jack Daniel’s Distillery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.