Spirits and wine maker Brown-Forman is to build a new barrel-making facility in Decatur, Alabama to meet up with the huge demand for Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey.

Scheduled to open by May 2014, the Jack Daniel’s cooperage at Alabama will help the company double its barrel-making capacity and also provide jobs for 200 people.

The company also owns a cooperage in Louisville, Kentucky.

Jack Daniel’s master distiller Jeff Arnett said barrels are more than a container for their whiskey; they are an important ingredient.

"All of the color of Jack Daniel’s and more than half of our whiskey’s flavor is derived from the barrel" Arnett added.

Brown-Forman executive vice president and chief production officer Jill Jones said the new cooperage’s proximity to the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, TN, as well as its centralized location between the two stave mills at Stevenson and Clifton that supply the wood for the barrels, make Decatur a perfect location for a second cooperage to supply additional Jack Daniel’s barrels.

"With the continued long-term growth of the Jack Daniel’s Family of Brands, including the recent introduction and unprecedented success of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, we are expanding to meet anticipated growing production demand," Jones said.

The historical ties between Jack Daniel’s and Alabama can be dated back to 1900s, when Tennessee went dry and forced Jack Daniel’s to move operations to Birmingham, Alabama.