NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- The Senate sponsor of an effort to rewrite the legal definition of Tennessee whiskey has withdrawn the measure from consideration this year.
The bill had pitted two global liquor giants against each other and was moved to be looked at in a summer study committee.
Under a law enacted at the behest of Jack Daniel's last year, spirits must be charcoal filtered and stored in unused oak barrels in order to print "Tennessee whiskey" on their labels.
Some smaller distillers including George Dickel, Pritchard's and startups like Full Throttle called the law too restrictive, and asked for the regulations to be repealed.
Jack Daniel's is owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Brown-Forman Corp., while Dickel is owned by global rival Diageo PLC.
