Episode 3828

- [Narrator] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you, in part, by.

- [Lottery Narrator] Some of our biggest checks have also made the biggest difference. The Tennessee Lottery, proud to have raised more than $7.5 billion for education. Now that's some game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Trails Narrator] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways. Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more Made-in-Tennessee experiences, showcased among these 16 driving trails. More at tntrailsandbyways.com.

- [Co-op Narrator] The Co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently-owned Co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural-lifestyle customers and their communities, throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [MTSU Narrator] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cla.

- Well, you can tell it's spring. Even the cupcakes are blooming. We'll go batty at a sporting goods company. Find out who taught Jack Daniel to make Jack Daniel's. And cast a line with us at a West Tennessee resort. We hope we caught your interest. I'm Miranda Cohen. Welcome to "Tennessee Crossroads." Is it a dessert or a work of art? Many of our stories on the culinary crafts blur the lines between the two. And our first segment is no exception. Vicki Yates brings us the heartwarming, taste-tempting tale behind Blooming Kupcakes.

- Hi. Come on in. Can I have you drop off your bag in there and then use the restroom to wash your hands.

- [Vicki] Today, we're at the Gallatin home of Katherine and Andy Halbeck. Joining them are six inquisitive, creative students who are hoping to learn at the table of the master.

- I'm Katherine, my husband Andy. Andy has taken over the baking, so he makes our yummy cupcakes and prepares all our buttercream. So, I just color 'em and pipe them for you all.

- [Vicki] Piping is defined as ornamentation on food, consisting of lines of icing, whipped cream, et cetera. Katherine first learned about piping online and is now teaching her students how to make beautiful, delicious cupcakes that look as if they were exquisite flowers, better known now as Blooming Kupcakes.

- So, open up your hands and, definitely do this at home, too, before you start working out. I mean, because your hands will get extremely tired. Ooh, I can hear you snapping.

- I played softball for many, many years and I was a pitcher, and so that is what you're hearing.

- [Vicki] Katherine got involved with creating cupcakes after her career in the medical and legal profession was quickly put on the back burner following the outbreak of COVID in 2020.

- Come May is when I got furloughed from work. And during that time, I went ahead, on Instagram, one night, scrolling. I found a lady who was piping. Then one click after another, I kept watching different videos. When you're piping a leaf, you want to make sure that this particular tip is vertical.

- [Vicki] The piping led Katherine to dig a little deeper into creating cupcakes.

- [Katherine] I bought some piping tips and I started practicing at home. Tried different varieties of buttercream and different recipes of cupcakes. And within a couple weeks, I realized, I have a knack, I didn't know I had a hidden talent to pipe. And I was encouraged by my neighbors that I kept passing around the cupcakes and said, "Why don't you start a side business?" So, I did. And it just bloomed right after that. So, it was pretty exciting. I kept getting consulate inquiries from my followers, "Are you gonna teach? Do you have any online classes? How can I learn what you're doing?"

- [Vicki] Her expertise with buttercream and her floral creativity allowed Katherine and Andy to branch out, traveling across the pond to England for an international competition.

- So, last year, I competed at Cake International. It was my very first international competition. It was pretty big. And I went in completely novice, in the cupcake division, and I actually earned silver. So, that was pretty exciting. And then, this year in April, we competed domestically and got gold.

- [Vicki] Katherine did return to work her full-time job, but her new hobby was starting to create a concern.

- So, for the first year, mind you, I worked full-time, eight hours, and I would rush home and bake and frost till one o'clock in the morning. It got to be quite tedious and overwhelming. So, my husband told me, "Well, why don't you teach me how to bake?" And he started baking for me to help offload those hours. And then we just said, "Well, when do I quit my full-time job to do this full-time?" And we figured, "Well, let's go visit the cupcake collection with Mignon Francois."

- [Vicki] You may be familiar with Francois. She started her business selling cupcakes out of her front window, using just $5 to get her start. The busy mother of seven is now the head of a business that has brought in more than $10 million in sales.

- I dropped off my business card and didn't hear from her for about a month. So, one day during lunch, I get a call and it was Mignon. She goes, "I was reading the Bible this morning." And she goes, "I was studying Matthew 26, and God led me to go ahead and give you a call. Your business card was sitting on my desk and he told me, I needed to call you." So, when she said that, I started crying. The significance of that is, I had a son who died. His name was Matthew. And so, sorry. In my grieving process, many years ago, I received a solicitation in the mail. I don't know who it came from, but it had the life verse, Matthew 19:26, "With God, all things are possible." So, the fact that she called me, and my life verse was Matthew 19:26, and she said that God led her to call me. It was a beautiful thing. It was kismet. And she spent an hour with me. She was only gonna spend five minutes with me, on the phone. She spent an hour with me. She read scripture over me, she fed my cup, she gave me affirmation. She told me what I needed to do 'cause I was telling her I was struggling. When do I quit? When do I start going on my own? And she gave me lots of words of wisdom. And so, I came home that weekend, spoke to my husband, and came to work on Monday, and I resigned.

- [Vicki] Today's students, like Cheryl and Jennifer, are glad that she didn't give up her side job. And what do you think you'll do with what you've learned tonight?

- Try to outdo my other mother-in-law with birthday cakes.

- [Vicki] Her just, kind of like, a little?

- Oh, she does it so good. I'm just gonna try to, you know, compete a little bit with her.

- I thought the whole process was actually a lot easier than what I expected it to be, because I've never done piping at all, on anything. And so, to be able to come in with having no experience and having these beautiful cupcakes at the end, it was so exciting.

- [Vicki] And what's next for Blooming Kupcakes?

- Well, we started creating online courses. So, hopefully, we'll start releasing those very shortly. And the hopes is that that does well enough where I can just become a content creator. And so, the goal is to become a content creator and create more online classes and teach worldwide.

- [Andy] Okay. There you go.

- Great.

- Beautiful.

- Thanks, Vicki. Great story. The next time you're at a ballpark, enjoying the great American pastime, pay a little extra attention to the bat. Whether you're at a Sounds game or watching the World Series, there might just be a Tennessee connection. In our next story, we swing for the bleachers, in White House. The sound is unmistakable. It is the sound of America's favorite pastime, baseball. The game caught on, in the late 1800s, and has been a national craze ever since.

- So, baseball and life go hand in hand, the lessons that you learn and everything. So, it's a great family sport and it's something that will be around forever.

- [Miranda] Ryan Mortenson, or as his friends call him, Morty, has what some would consider a field-of-dreams job, working here at the Old Hickory Bat Company.

- You, obviously, don't have to be able to play baseball to be able to work here, but it's that baseball fit and that baseball, kind of, personality and environment that, kind of, really encapsulates, kind of, what we do here at Old Hickory. We are a team. It's more of a family. Obviously, we're sitting on family land that the company was started on. So, you know, Chad's more of, like, a father figure than a boss.

- [Miranda] Chad is owner and founder, Chad Lamberth. He and his partners started the Old Hickory Bat Company back in 1999, in a garage with a loan from his mother and a love for the game. Today, he and about 15 employees, working in this 6,000-square-foot center, will turn out about 250 bats a day.

- So, we just supply to anyone and everyone that needs a baseball bat. So, we supply drop five weighted-ounce bats, so, that's for younger amateur players, for younger kids, all the way up to all 36 MLB teams.

- [Miranda] Only wooden bats are used in the major leagues. And because of that, more and more coaches are starting to put wooden bats in the hands of their younger players. And that is just fine with these guys.

- True wood bat with good grains and everything is gonna give you as much pop, if not more. And it just gives you a better feel for the ball. You understand where you're hitting the ball in the barrel and everything. It takes away that that room for error. And it just, kind of, makes you a better hitter.

- About 95% of the bats will be made from sturdy maple wood, but they will also use birch or ash, depending on the hitter's personal preference. With custom-made choices of grip, color, size, and weight, the Old Hickory Bat Company can create more than 10,000 variations of a bat. And once all of the decisions have been made, this all-star team will go to work. Okay, Ryan, just walk us through this process. This is the way the wood looks when it comes into Old Hickory Bat Company.

- Yes ma'am. So, the trees will be chopped down up in Pennsylvania and New York. They'll cut 'em into pieces like this. This is what I call a rick. It'll look like this. They'll put in a lathe, has really sharpened, fine knives. Spin it in a circle, knock those corners off. Make it a little bit more of a rough cylinder, like that. And then from there, they'll put it in an even finer lathe that has sharper and finer knives, cut it into that perfect cylinder. From there, they'll weigh it out, put it in a kiln, just get all the moisture out of it. And that's what gives it that pretty white color right there. From there, it'll come to us and it'll become a bat.

- [Miranda] Before they are swinging for the bleachers, these bats will be meticulously hand-sanded, over and over. They will then be weighted, painted, and lacquered. Finally, finished with an Old Hickory Bat Company logo.

- So, that's kinda one of the great things about Old Hickory is everything's done by hand. So, each process, someone's looking at it. So, from the time that the billy gets picked up by the cutter, coming off the machine, to each sander, to the paint guys, to our final engraver, that's four to five different new sets of eyes that are gonna be looking at the bat. So, nothing leaves the facility that's not up to our quality and our standard.

- [Miranda] And if you think these bats look familiar, you're right. They may start out in the hands of little leaguers, but they may, also, end up in prime time, in the hands of major league stars, like Byron Buxton, Matt Olson, Ke'Bryan Hayes, and Mike Trout.

- At the age of 17, Mike picked up a Old hickory bat at a tournament and never looked back. He's used us ever since then and he loves us and he'll always use us. Yeah, every night you turn the TV on, you can see someone using an Old Hickory bat and know that it came out of this facility. Touched all the guys that you know.

- They are the team behind the teams, inspiring players of every age or skillset with every swing or crack of the Old Hickory bat. Next, Cindy Carter dons her detective hat to investigate the little-known story of a great man whose talents helped make Jack Daniel's Whiskey world famous. You see, Jack didn't know jack until he met Uncle Nearest.

- [Cindy] Much has been said, even sung about Tennessee whiskey. Smooth and distinct, it is spirit, it is tradition, it is history, dominated for the most part by one name and brand, Jack Daniel's. But the story of Jack just doesn't exist without the story of a formerly-enslaved man known as Nathan Uncle Nearest Green.

- We now know Nearest to be the first known African American master distiller in the world. And we also know him to be the teacher and mentor of a young Jack Daniel. And we also know him to be the only known master distiller for Distillery Number Seven. And we also know him to be the first master distiller for Jack Daniel.

- [Cindy] That's Fawn Weaver. She and her husband, Keith, own and operate the Nearest Green Distillery, outside of Shelbyville, Tennessee. A place where the almost-forgotten contributions of Nearest Green are highlighted in tours, tastings, and testimonies.

- [Fawn] Nearest Green, just this story, in the heart of Tennessee, and this story of love, of honor, of respect between a black man, a formerly-enslaved man, and a white orphan. The story is absolutely remarkable.

- [Cindy] The orphan, as Fawn mentioned, was Jack Daniel, who at age 14 went to work on a Lincoln County farm, owned by a local preacher and whiskey maker. Young Jack was mentored by the farm's master distiller, a black man, friends and family called Uncle Nearest. In 2016, Fawn stumbled across a New York Times article that included an old photograph of Jack Daniel, seated next to Nearest Green's son. It caught her attention big time.

- And I became fascinated by understanding, "Who is this man?" And why, in 1904, was the center position seeded to him, instead of Jack being the center of attention?" And so I looked at that and thought, "There's a pretty interesting story here that we don't know." And so, I just went in a rabbit hole to to dig it out.

- [Cindy] That rabbit hole led Fawn to Tennessee. And as she dug up Nearest Green's past, she realized, this man, who had such a lasting impact on Tennessee whiskey deserved a place and a brand of his very own, Nearest Green Premium Whiskey.

- [Fawn] We knew that if we were gonna do it, we had to do it with excellence. And we had to do it to make sure that every generation moving forward, would know the name Nearest Green.

- [Bartender] You can sip it, shoot it, however you like.

- [Cindy] Those who visit Nearest Green Distillery sample and sip the brand's seven expressions, made just the way Nearest Green did it, using a technique of sugar-maple-charcoal mellowing, known as the Lincoln County process.

- [Bartender] It's gonna be a little bit sweeter and a little bit smoother than what you guys have already trying right now.

- [Fawn] Depending on which bottle you're drinking, it's going to taste completely different. One may have dried fruits, may be what comes out forward. One might be maple, one might be, you know, toffee, one might be caramel.

- [Cindy] The once-forgotten name of Nearest Green is now the moniker of the fastest-growing whiskey brand in the US. And the fastest-growing African American brand of all time.

- [Fawn] The whiskey's really, really good. We needed a property and grounds that were as amazing as the story, as amazing as our whiskey.

- [Miranda] The distillery is built on 432 acres of what was once a Tennessee Walking Horse farm. The farm's show arena has been transformed into a beautiful welcome center and retail space, the origin point for both self-paced and guided tours.

- And y'all, you can try every single flavor of a Moon Pie they ever decided to create. Now, that doesn't mean they should have, but you can try it if you want to.

- [Cindy] The horse arena's original concessions stand was also renovated and features Tennessee-made products.

- Now, I don't know how familiar you guys are with Tennessee and alcohol, but around here, we truly love some prohibition.

- There's a non-alcoholic speakeasy in honor of Fawn's teetotaler parents, a rickhouse, barrel house barbecue, family tasting room, and much, much more. Nearest Green Distillery has its own bar called Humble Baron. And if you wanna belly up to this bar, shouldn't be a problem. With 202 seats and stretching 518 feet, it's the longest bar in the world.

- [Fawn] People come here and they will be here for eight hours, just going from place to place that's on our location.

- [Cindy] But at the heart of this enterprise is a story of mutual friendship and respect. Nearest Green's descendants still work at Jack Daniel's and his great-great granddaughter, Victoria Edie Butler, is the master blender for Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey.

- [Fawn] You can't go to Jack Daniel and not hear about Nearest Green. And so, both of our distilleries talk about the significance of each other.

- [Cindy] A significant story, one that was lost for far too long. But today, the legacy of Nearest Green is finally celebrated and often honored in a way that you can't help but think he'd be pleased by, a toast to his name. With that smooth Tennessee whiskey that bears his name.

- Back in 1812, earthquakes caused the Mississippi River to run backward, resulting in the formation of Reelfoot Lake. It's a natural paradise for hunting, fishing, or just relaxing. And our Joe Elmore did just that, a few years ago, at the Blue Bank Resort.

- [Joe] It's Tennessee's only natural lake. An 18,000-acre wildlife wonderland, home to more than 300 species of rare or endangered plants and animals, Reelfoot Lake is a paradise for outdoor lovers. And whether they come to hunt, fish, or bird watch, people often settle in here at Blue Bank Resort.

- One of the most fun things to see is multiple generations coming back over again. So, it's real fun just to see how much fishing is involved in the family.

- [Joe] That's Drew Hayes, a fifth-generation family member to host travelers here at this Reelfoot resort. His great-great-grandmother built the area's first hotel, back in the early 1920s. This resort dates back to 1959. Owner's, Mike and Kathy Hayes, gladly welcome both serious anglers and a newer breed of resort fishermen.

- They fish a couple hours and a hire guide. They go to Discovery Park. They bring their wives and kids. It's a whole new fisherman. And I think if you don't change with that, you're not gonna make it in this business.

- But we still take care of our hardcore fishermen. We wanna make sure they have a good time and they'll come, you know, when it's cold, when it's rainy, they're here 'cause they wanna fish.

- [Joe] Enjoying nature doesn't necessarily imply roughing it. Guests have their choice of accommodations that include all the usual amenities and more, from a swimming pool and hot tub to this. It's a beautifully-landscaped butterfly garden where you can take a walk and work up an appetite for lunch or dinner at the Blue Bank Grill.

- [Kathy] Of course, you know we're gonna have fish. But not only do we have fish, we have, like, redfish New Orleans, and then we have our bang bang shrimp. We have burgers, we have salads. Anything you could like, we've probably got on the menu.

- [Joe] Of course, the main event is this beautiful, mysterious lake. Part open water and part bayou, the average depth is only about five-and-a-half feet, with a maximum depth of about 18.

- [Drew] It was a swamp beforehand. And then all the trees and underwater structures are still out there, which makes it where you wanna make sure you're not going too fast across most of the lake, unless you know where you're going.

- Lot of stumps, huh?

- Lot of stumps.

- [Joe] So, while you won't find any skiing on Reelfoot, the lake's shallow cypress-fueled water is one of the world's greatest natural hatcheries for fish. Well, here on a beautiful crisp West Tennessee morning, it's time to sample some of that Reelfoot lake magic myself. And while my fishing skills are meager at best, I'm lucky enough to have one of the best guides in the business, Billy Blakely.

- [Billy] I've been doing it with the Hayes family, there, for 39 years.

- [Joe] 39 years?

- Since I was in ninth grade in high school. I mean, you get into high school and, of course, all you want to do is play around. So, my playing around was on this lake, hunting and fishing. So, I just kept playing and kept playing and kept playing. And I'm still playing. So, I'm doing pretty good with it. Yeah, that's a good one. Not a bad one. Whoop. He's gonna get me, yet.

- He's trying to.

- Come here. Let put you back in there.

- [Joe] Send him back home.

- Let him get it. Down there. I'd rather watch somebody catch fish, than me catch 'em. And believe me, I love catching fish. Anytime that cork goes under, I get excited. I don't care if it's my cork, your cork, or whose cork. Oh, you got a drum. I got a catfish.

- Oh, you got two?

- Oh.

- [Joe] Yeah.

- There ain't nothing wrong with them at all.

- Boy, that's fun, man.

- [Billy] Yeah, it is.

- [Joe] And what a way to wind up our visit. Small wonder, folks come back, year after year, to renew friendships with the owners and staff, to hunt or fish with some of the best guides in the business. And to marvel at the many wonders of this natural Tennessee attraction.

- [Billy] You got everything on this lake.

- Well, that brings us to the end of another show. Remember, you can watch us anytime on our website, at tennesseecrossroads.org or on the PBS app. Until next week, you take care and thanks for watching.

- [Narrator] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you, in part, by.

- [Lottery Narrator] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over seven-and-a-half billion dollars we've raised for education, providing more than 2 million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery, game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Trails Narrator] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways. Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more Made-in-Tennessee experiences, showcased among these 16 driving trails. More at tntrailsandbyways.com.

- [Co-op Narrator] The Co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently-owned Co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural-lifestyle customers and their communities, throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [MTSU Narrator] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cla.