GOOSE
Jack of all tales, master of laughs
DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor
If you’ve ever toured the Jack Daniel Distillery, there’s a good chance you met “Goose.” And if you didn’t, well, you missed out on hearing the whiskey-soaked wisdom of one of its longest-serving and most beloved tour guides: Randy “Goose” Baxter.
Born in Franklin County but woven deeply into the fabric of Moore County life, Baxter spent 46 years at the iconic Lynchburg distillery – not just working, but shaping its story. “I was born here in Franklin County,” Goose said. “But my mama was an Edde from Edde Bend [Hurdlow], so I’ve got Moore County ties.”
For nearly five decades, Goose made the same drive: from Belvidere to the distillery and back. “I think my pickup could’ve made that drive by itself, as much as I went up and down that road,” he chuckled.
He didn’t exactly apply for his first job at Jack. “I got a phone call one day from Roger Brashears,” Goose recalled, referring to the legendary PR man at the distillery. “He said, ‘Meet me at Miss Bobo’s for lunch, and we’ll talk about it.’ ” By the time dessert was served, Goose had a job.
His first gig? Cooking catfish and setting up events at Cumberland Springs for anywhere from 100 to 1,000 guests. But soon, he transitioned to shipping merchandise – everything from signs to souvenirs – from the Craig Street warehouse to retailers and the company store. “It was like a Cracker Barrel before Cracker Barrel,” Goose explained.
In 1980, that part of the business moved to Nashville, and Roger wasn’t about to let Goose go. “He said, ‘You’re coming with me – we’re going to the barrel house.’ That’s when I became a tour guide. I told him, ‘There’s no way I can do that,’ and he said, ‘Oh yeah, you can.’ ”
His first tour? “Scared to death,” he said. “Fifteen, maybe 18 people. But by the end of my career, I could talk in front of 500.”
Goose gave tours from 1981 to 2014, and then transitioned into leading whiskey tastings as part of the Tennessee Squires Association. He witnessed – and played a part in – some of the distillery’s most successful growth.
“The Single Barrel program? They thought it might sell 200 barrels,” Goose said. “By the time I left, we were selling over 10,000 barrels a year.”
He became something of an ambassador, meeting people from all over the world. “Jack Daniel’s sells itself,” he said, “but what makes it special is this: Jack was a real person. He was no Jolly Green Giant or Captain Morgan. And the people and the place – that’s what makes the brand.”
He credits the harmony between the distillery and the local community for Jack’s continued success. “I’ve always said this: Jack Daniel’s is good for Lynchburg and Moore County, but Lynchburg and Moore County are good for Jack Daniel’s, too.”
Goose is proud of the old-school Southern hospitality that made Jack’s tours famous – and a little disappointed to see some of it changing. “They don’t let tour guides wear overalls anymore,” he said with a shake of the head. “That’s what got ’em where they’re at – overalls and flannel shirts.”
He also worries about rising costs. “You got a family of four coming out for a tour, by the time they leave that visitor center, they’ve spent over $100. They might just bypass town,” he warned. “They need to watch that. You can overprice yourself.”
But what Goose remembers most aren’t numbers or policies. It’s the people – coworkers like Randall Fanning and Ray Rogers, longtime visitors, and those who took the time to stop and savor the stories behind the whiskey. “Ray always told me, ‘Every person that walks through that door is our boss,’ he said. ‘They made the choice to come here. So take your time, make ’em feel at home.’ ”
It’s that philosophy – and the easy charm of a man who could fry catfish and sell whiskey with the same steady hand – that made Goose a legend in Lynchburg.
Now retired, you’ll find Goose chasing toddlers instead of barrels. “My granddaughter is 3, and the twins – they’re 14 months. Into everything,” he laughed. “I’m busier now than when I worked full time.”
But if you sit down with Goose Baxter, don’t be surprised if the conversation turns to whiskey, overalls, and how a small-town distillery turned into an international icon – one tour, one taste, one tale at a time.
‘Tell ’em to call us’
In Lynchburg, the weather can be either blazing hot or bone-chilling cold – and sometimes both in the same week. But that didn’t stop Goose from showing up, day after day, season after season, dressed head to toe in weather-ready gear: rubber boots for the rain, a floor-length winter coat for the cold, and, if you caught him in the dead of winter, only his eyes visible beneath the layers.
After his days as a tour guide, Goose moved over to the Tennessee Squire Association. “Well, I didn’t have to get out in that heat,” he says with a laugh. “The air conditioner worked; didn’t have to worry about the weather.
“Y’all saw us tour guides – we’d go rain, snow, sleet, shine.”
Albeit before his time, Goose tells the story of how the Squires came about. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, Jack Daniel’s faced an unexpected problem – it simply didn’t have enough whiskey. The demand outpaced the supply, and for years, the distillery couldn’t keep up. “From the ’50s all the way into the ’80s, we were in a shortage,” he explains. “They never had any idea that export would be as good as it was.”
The export market took off faster than anyone anticipated, and with it came the realization that international sales brought more profit – there were no domestic taxes to pay. So, as the barrels rolled overseas, the shelves at home often sat empty.
That’s when marketing manager Art Hancock and Jack Daniel executive Winton Smith found themselves in a Texas airport and spotted a sign offering a “square foot of Texas” as part of a dude ranch promotion. The idea stuck. Why not create a similar connection between Jack Daniel’s and its loyal fans?
“They came back and started working on the program,” Goose recalls. “We told liquor stores and bars, ‘If somebody comes in and asks for Jack and y’all don’t have it, tell ‘em to call us.’ ”
What those customers got in return was a bit of Tennessee land – symbolically, at least. The Tennessee Squire Association was born, offering fans a deed to a square foot of land in Moore County, along with the honor of being a “Tennessee Squire.” It was brilliant. Even if folks couldn’t get a bottle of Jack, they got a letter in the mail, a certificate, and the feeling that they were still part of something special.
The goal? Keep Jack Daniel’s on the minds – and in the hearts – of customers around the world until the whiskey shortage passed.
“And it worked,” he says. “We were just hoping when we did have enough on the market, they would come back being a Jack consumer. And they did.”
Over the decades, the Tennessee Squire Association has grown into a worldwide program, with thousands of members across the globe. Today, communication is faster – emails instead of letters – and while Goose is not exactly sure how many Squires there are, it’s clear the program helped build a loyal base that stuck with Jack Daniel’s through thick and thin.
As for this tour guide turned local legend, he may no longer need to brave the elements every day, but his pride in the work – and the brand – hasn’t faded one bit.
“I gave them 46 years,” he says. “They were good to me. Real good.”
And in return, he – and thousands of Squires like him – have been just as good for Jack.
‘Bingo. That was it.’
When it comes to whiskey, few voices carry the weight – and the charm – of Goose, a man who spent more than four decades helping tell the story of Jack Daniel’s from Lynchburg to London. But ask Goose about flavored whiskey, and you’ll get a dose of honesty as strong as the mash bill itself.
“You got your Honey, Fire, Apple,” Goose says, rattling them off like a bartender in full swing. “They’re good liqueurs. Pretty good seller for the company.”
Flavored whiskey isn’t just about chasing trends – it’s about reaching a new generation of drinkers. And Goose gets that. “What it is, we’re kind of introducing younger people to Jack. We just hope that when they do get older, that Jack will be their drink of choice.”
But don’t let his laid-back tone fool you – he’s serious about quality. “I gotta say this about Brown-Forman,” Goose says. “The R&D folks? They won’t come out with nothing until they think it’s right.”
He recalls the early days of Tennessee Honey, Jack Daniel’s first flavored release. “We had a big shindig here at the store in Lynchburg. Distributors were in, big event – it went over good.”
But that first taste? It didn’t go down so easy.
“We had a guy from R&D come down from Louisville with some in the back of his car,” Goose says, shaking his head. “I tasted it and said, ‘God Almighty, that’s nasty stuff!’ I thought no way.”
Turns out the problem wasn’t the whiskey – it was the temperature.
“The next day, I remembered he said you gotta chill it – put it in a deep freezer, let it get cold,” Goose explains. “He’d hauled it all the way down here in the heat. So, I took that second bottle, put it in the big freezer. That evening, we tasted it again. Bingo. That was it.”
Lesson learned. “You got to chill it. All liqueurs are made to be chilled.”
Each flavor gets its due from Goose. The cinnamon? “Tastes just like they took a bunch of Red Hots, mashed ’em down, and infused it in whiskey. It tastes just right.” The apple? “You really got the apple. … I don’t know how they done it.”
Still, Goose knows flavored whiskey isn’t for everybody. “They’re big in some places. But here in the U.S.? Most people want a cocktail. Give ’em a bit of ice and a mix. They don’t want no liqueur,” he says.
And as for Goose? “If they depend on me buying the liqueurs, they’ll go broke,” he says with a grin.
But even if it’s not his go-to, Goose respects what flavored whiskeys have done for the brand – and how they’ve opened the door for the next generation of Jack fans. Just make sure you keep it cold. Goose insists on it.
Lasting legacy – even in London
Most people from rural Tennessee never expect to see a familiar face halfway around the world. But for one family vacationing in London, England, that’s precisely what happened.
“They said the first damn person they saw was Goose – in the subway, the underground,” he says with a laugh.
It wasn’t just a chance sighting. Goose had become something of a global ambassador for Jack Daniel’s, his familiar face and warm Tennessee charm crossing oceans as part of the brand’s growing international reach. At the time, Jack Daniel’s was introducing Tennessee Honey to the UK market – and who better to send than Goose?
He didn’t just fly across the Atlantic for appearances – he made history. While in London, he helped unveil the first-ever Jack Daniel’s barrel Christmas tree constructed outside of the United States. Just like the towering wooden tree that graces Lynchburg every holiday season, the UK version stood tall as a symbol of tradition, craftsmanship, and Tennessee spirit.
“It was the same size as the one in Lynchburg,” Goose recalls. “We built it right there in London.”
But building a Christmas tree out of whiskey barrels in a foreign country isn’t as easy as it sounds. The Jack Daniel’s team first assembled the tree inside a warehouse to make sure it would hold. Every barrel, brace, and light was numbered and cataloged. Then it was disassembled, trucked to the Covent Garden site, and rebuilt – this time in pouring London rain.
“I’ll tell you what, it rained however long we were out there. It rained the whole time,” Goose says. “But they built that thing in two days and two nights. They worked straight through.”
The final moment was pure showbiz. Goose was told to hit a large red button to “light” the tree. But before the big moment, the man overseeing the event gave him a word of caution.
“He said, ‘Just hit that red ball and it’ll pop on.’ I said, ‘Is that ball hooked to the Christmas tree?’ He said, ‘Nope, I got the switch in my hand. When you hit it, I’ll turn it on. But if it don’t come on right, I’m gonna be running. It’s gonna be your problem.’ ”
Fortunately, the switch worked. The tree lit up. And Jack Daniel’s lit up London.
Goose’s appearance made waves. He handled press events, gave speeches, and brought his down-home humor and hospitality to the UK press corps.
“It was good marketing,” he says. “That tree – the first one ever built outside the U.S. – it made a real impact.”
His face even appeared in advertisements around the city. “They used my picture a bunch. My cousin’s family said I was the first person they saw when they got off the plane.”
From the hills of Lynchburg to the streets of London, Goose has carried the story of Jack Daniel’s with pride, humor, and humility. He didn’t just represent a brand – he embodied it.
And that’s a legacy as enduring as a barrel tree in a London downpour.
Jack Daniel statue and Jack Daniel Distillery sign photo courtesy Jack Daniel's Media.
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