Jack Daniel’s is made in Lynchburg, Tennessee, in a small holler about an hour and a half from Nashville. It’s an unassuming place tucked between rolling hills, surrounded by plenty of local agriculture, with access to seemingly endless oases of spring water percolating up from the enormous local cave systems. For over 150 years, Jack Daniel’s has been operating in the town. Along the way, the brand has grabbed the whiskey zeitgeist again and again.
And right now, they’re on perhaps an all-time high. The bottles they’re dropping are some of the best in the world.
That’s why I figured it was high time to rank every current Jack Daniel’s Tennesse Rye, Tennessee Whiskey, American single malt, and flavored whiskey release. Below, I’ll be ranking each bottle that you can currently find — that includes the latest distillery-only expressions and limited edition releases, along with the well-known classics. But before we dive in, let’s talk a little bit about what makes Jack Daniel’s so unique.
- Tennessee whiskey — including Jack Daniel’s — has to be filtered through sugar maple charcoal, called the Lincoln County Process. Very long story short, that filtering process at Jack Daniel’s utilizes 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal (made on-site) that’s packed into large wooden barrels. The hot distillate drips ever so slowly through that charcoal.
- That process strips the hot distillate of the harsher grain oils while leaving the brighter and fruitier yeast notes as the star of the whiskey (and leaving the spirit more readily available to bond with the wood sugars from the barrel). That accounts for Jack Daniel’s often having a far fruitier tone than, say, a Kentucky bourbon.
- Jack Daniel’s also propagates its own yeast and lactobacillus bacteria strains for their on-site fermentation.
- Master Distiller Chris Fletcher and Assistant Master Distiller Lexie Phillips are both multi-generational whiskey folks at Jack Daniel’s. To say that the craft of whiskey is in their DNA would be an understatement. Since they’ve teamed up and taken over the reins at Jack Daniel’s, the brand has expanded with some of the best whiskey releases of the past decade.
It’s the people, above all things, that makes Jack Daniel’s so exciting right now. It’s honestly never been better to be a Jack Daniel’s fan because there’s something for everyone while still holding onto the core beauty of the product that started all the way back in 1860 when Nearest Green and Jack Daniel teamed up to make whiskey. Let’s dive into the ranking!
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Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey
ABV: 35%
Average Price: $21
The Whiskey:
Jack Daniel’s starts by making a honey liqueur for this release. They then add in their signature Tennessee whiskey to create a mixing liqueur with a touch of whiskey taste.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a lot of vanilla cream on the nose with a vibe like a box of Jell-O vanilla pudding but thin like it was made with skim milk.
Palate: The taste is very sweet honey hard candies with a mid-palate that lurches back towards that vanilla cream which doesn’t feel quite right with the honey candy.
Finish: The end is very short and very sweet but more vanilla than honey.
Bottom Line:
Vanilla and honey dominate this “whiskey” — it’s very sweet and very vanilla-heavy. I guess I can see using this for part of a cocktail that’s focused on something else, but that’d be a stretch. You can probably skip this unless you really want a saccharine pour of whiskey.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple
ABV: 35%
Average Price: $19
The Whiskey:
Jack Daniel’s starts by making their own apple liqueur before adding in a dose of their Old No. 7 to remind you that you’re drinking the good stuff.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This is a sweet apple on the nose, almost Red Delicious, with a hint of oaky whiskey backing it up.
Palate: The taste is kind of like an apple cider — not the bubbly kind but those little stubby Martinelli’s Apple Cider bottles you get in delis — with a dash of bourbon oak and vanilla with maybe a whisper of baking spice.
Finish: The end is very smooth and leads toward an apple cider oak barrel with a touch of that baking spice.
Bottom Line:
This is a good cocktail base, especially if you’re going for fall and winter flavors or hot whiskey drinks. Use it accordingly.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey Green Label
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $25
The Whiskey:
This expression is the sibling to the classic Old No. 7 Black Label Jack. In this case, all the barrels for the batch come from the ground floor of the warehouse and are generally younger than the average Old No. 7 barrels. Those barrels are vatted and proofed down to 80 proof. Since the barrels are from a specific area of the warehouse, there’s a slightly different flavor at play than the classic Black Label bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This feels a little greener with soft, raw sourdough biscuit dough, banana bread, walnuts, holiday spices, and a touch of cherry on the nose.
Palate: Vanilla silkiness kicks in on the taste and drives the palate back towards that walnut and spice-filled banana bread with a hint of charred oak bitterness and soft Luxardo cherry syrup.
Finish: That sweetness allows the finish to slowly fade out, leaving you with a soft sense of cherry, vanilla, and walnut.
Bottom Line:
This is a little raw but very fruity. If you want to make a banana Coke, then add some of this to your Coke glass. It’s oddly refreshing but not for everyone.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire
ABV: 35%
Average Price: $18
The Whiskey:
Cinnamon liqueur and Jack Daniel’s come together in this bottle. The cinnamon is given the spotlight with the Old No. 7 there to remind you that you’re still drinking Tennessee whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is exactly like cinnamon ginger snaps fresh from the oven that feels like an empty Red Hots box.
Palate: The taste is boldly cinnamon and ginger forward to the point that I feel like it’s December again. The taste is all Red Hots with a good cinnamon spice that starts to get woody by the end of the sip.
Finish: The end feels a little bit like classic Tennessee whiskey cut with sharp cinnamon.
Bottom Line:
This is just complex enough to be the best “flavored” Jack Daniel’s. The cinnamon spice is super clear and blends nicely with the whiskey it’s mixed with it.
Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $20
The Whiskey:
This is classic Jack Daniel’s made with their iconic mash bill of 80% corn, 8% rye, and 12% malted barley. That mashed juice is then sent through massive column stills before it’s slowly dripped through 10 feet of pebbly sugar maple charcoal, which is also made on-site at Lynchburg, from local lumber. After that, the whiskey is left alone for up to five or six years across Jack Daniel’s vast warehouses before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Buttery banana bread with walnuts and raisins (with a hint of the cardboard box they came in) dominate the nose with a light hint of old cinnamon powder (kind of like an empty spice jar) next to the faintest hint of chewing tobacco just kissed with cherry and apple.
Palate: The palate is thin, there’s no getting around that thanks to the proofing water. But it also presents as lush banana milkshake cut with fresh vanilla and dusted with nutmeg and maybe a faint hint of old milk chocolate over some very mild oakiness.
Finish: The proofing water really amps up on the finish as the flavor washes out, leaving you with a sense of an empty apple pin tin, hints of banana bread, and an echo of cherry pipe tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This is good standard American bourbon. It’s very fruity-forward and is built to be mixed with Coke, Sprite, ginger ale, and fizzy water.
Jack Daniel’s Gentleman Jack Double Mellowed Tennessee Whiskey
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $34
The Whiskey:
This bottle was introduced (in its current iteration) in 1990. The key to this expression is that it’s good ol’ Old No. 7 Jack Daniel’s that is passed through sugar maple charcoal twice before it’s barreled and left to rest for an undisclosed amount of years.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Jack is known for banana and it’s here in spades. There’s a clear sense of banana cream pie with a buttery crust and plenty of creamy vanilla pudding in the base.
Palate: The taste then leans towards a very mild spicy cherry tobacco with a hint of cedar box, nutmeg, and worn leather. There’s a twinge more of spice and cedar on the backend but not a lot.
Finish: The finish has a caramel sweetness that plays second fiddle to the banana and vanilla pie.
Bottom Line:
This is really good and easygoing sipping whiskey. It’s not going to wow you but that’s not what it’s made for. If you’re looking for something super easy to sip over ice or mix into an old fashioned, this is a good way to go.
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select Tennessee Whiskey
ABV: 47%
Average Price: $55
The Whiskey:
This was first introduced in 1997. The whiskey is hand-selected from barrels on the upper floors of Jack’s vast rickhouses. The whisky is bottled at a slightly higher proof to allow the nuance of the single-barrel whiskey to shine.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The banana notes are drawn way back here and replaced by a clear sense of toasted oak, dark cherry, apple tobacco, and a hint of molasses.
Palate: That oak is the underpinning for notes of caramel corn, mild winter spice barks, and plenty of oily vanilla beans that are all countered by a soft cherry soda with a whisper of clove.
Finish: The sweet banana fruit is there on the end and marries well to a peppery spice, cherry gum, and mulled wine that amps up as the end draws near with plenty of that toasted wood lingering the longest.
Bottom Line:
This starts off a little weak but ends very strong. I like this over a single rock after a big meal or mixed into a basic whiskey cocktail.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Straight Rye
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $27
The Whiskey:
This release from Jack asks “what would straight rye whiskey taste like if it was given the ol’ Lincoln County treatment?” Jack’s mash bill utilizes 70% rye mash bill and cave water from the nearby Tennessee mountains. They then treat the hot distillate as they would a standard Tennessee whiskey with sugar maple charcoal filtration and new oak barreling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens up with a mellow-yet-sharp spice next to rich vanilla and a hint of orchard fruit, raisins, and oatmeal cookies.
Palate: The sip leans into the spice while pairing a creamy mouthfeel with an oaky richness as applewood, floral honey, and a fair amount of nutmeg kick in.
Finish: The end lingers in the spice and vanilla while quickly fading, with hints of that oak popping back in.
Bottom Line:
This is an excellent standard rye whiskey. It works wonders in a cocktail or highball and can work over the rocks in a pinch.
Jack Daniel’s Triple Mash Blended Straight Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $39
The Whiskey:
This is where things get interesting. Evidently, Master Distiller Chris Fletcher and Assitant Distiller Lexi Phillips have been laying down barrels of American single malt on the side and not telling a soul. This expression, a “triple mash,” is comprised of 60% Jack’s Tennessee Rye, 20% Jack’s Tennessee Whiskey, and 20% of their new American malt. Once those bonded whiskeys are blended, they’re proofed down with that iconic cave water and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a hint of wet malts that leads into a big note of fresh honey with a hint of honeycomb. There’s a touch of vanilla on the nose alongside wet deck planks, a little bit of sweetgrass, a hint of potting soil, and big and plump dates with a very distant note of cream soda.
Palate: The palate is all about those wet malts with plenty of vanilla backbone — think full pods you pay $30 each for.
Finish: The mid-palate is super soft with hints of nutmeg, buttery toffee covered in crushed almond, and that vitamin aisle again all leading to wet wicker, more of that vanilla, a whisper of applewood, and a super clear sense of rain-covered slate on the very backend.
Bottom Line:
This is complex and very tasty. If you’re looking for a sweeter American whiskey that still feels familiar, then this is the play. Use it in your favorite cocktails.
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel 100 Proof Tennessee Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $66
The Whiskey:
This is Jack’s single barrel bottled-in-bond expression. It started out as a yearly release for the travel market, meaning it’ll be a little harder to find outside of duty-free shops. These days, it’s getting more mainstream visibility. The whiskey in the bottle is classic Jack Tennessee whiskey from a single distilling season that’s then aged in a bonded rickhouse for at least four years under the government’s watchful eye.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The oak really comes through with hints of old vanilla pods, fall-driven orchard fruit, and buttery and sweet toffee rolled in almond and just kissed with dark chocolate.
Palate: The palate leans into the vanilla and adds in plenty more dry oak with a full billow of pipe tobacco smoke cut by mild dark and dried fruits with a whisper of brandy.
Finish: The end is enriched by winter spice, orange zest, and more of that toffee as the oak and vanilla fade through the tobacco smoke on the long end.
Bottom Line:
This is just a nice and very easy sipper. The ABV/proof is perfectly dialed for neat sipping on a slow fall evening.
Jack Daniels’ Single Barrel Rye Tennessee Rye Whiskey
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $55
The Whiskey:
This expression is the same process as the Tennessee ryes above — 70% rye mash bill, cave water, sugar maple filtration, and new charred oak barrels. The difference is that these bottles are pulled from barrels that were deemed perfect just the way they are and are barely touched with water for bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a rich marrying of bright fruit (mildly banana and tropical with an almost mango feel) with dark rye crust and winter spice barks that greets you on the nose alongside a subtle spicy tiki cocktail vibe.
Palate: The vanilla is there to support the peppery wood spices as toasted oak edges in with a hint of cherry cough syrup, apple cider, and tobacco pouches.
Finish: The spice leans into a Christmas cake spicy matrix with more of that subtle tropical fruit, candied citrus, nuts, and vanilla. The end is warming, peppery, and has just enough bright fruit to sweeten your senses.
Bottom Line:
This is where we start getting into the really easy yet complex sippers. This stuff rules and makes a mean Manhattan.
Jack Daniel’s Bonded Tennessee Whiskey
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $31
The Whiskey:
This whiskey is made from Jack’s classic mash of 80% corn, 12% barley, and 8% rye before it’s twice distilled and run through Jack’s long Lincoln County sugar maple charcoal filtration process. The spirit then goes into the barrel for at least four years — per bonded law — before it’s batched, cut down with a little water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose draws you in with Cherry Jolly Ranchers next to sweet cedar bark braided with old strands of leather and orange-laced tobacco leaves while a hint of vanilla wafer and general “health food store” vibes underneath it all.
Palate: The palate feels like warm apple pie on a sunny day with the best vanilla ice cream on top as layers of eggnog nutmeg and creaminess move toward a Cream of Wheat vibe.
Finish: Some apple wood chips for a smoker and a hint of almond shells pop on the finish.
Bottom Line:
This punches way above its price point/weight class. This is a great workhorse whiskey that works wonderfully over some rocks as a table whiskey sipper or as a whiskey that you can build a great cocktail with. Plus, you can find it and it’ll be priced at $30.
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Tennessee Whiskey
ABV: Varies
Average Price: $67
The Whiskey:
Where the Single Barrel Select is cut with soft limestone water to bring it down to proof, this is the straight whiskey from the barrel. These barrels are all hand-selected from the vast Jack Daniel’s rickhouses. What’s left from the angel’s share then goes straight into the bottle. That means the ABVs and tasting notes for this bottle will vary ever so slightly depending on which bottle you snag.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Expect a nose full of rich vanilla, salted caramel, and toasted oak next to a rush of cherry-spiked spice layered into fruity dark tobacco.
Palate: The sip will have a mix of that vanilla, oak, and rich wintry spices with a nice dose of bright red fruits and a texture that’s more velvet than liquid.
Finish: The end really holds onto that vibe as the mild spice, toasted oak, rich vanilla, and almost maple syrup sweetness slowly fade across your senses, leaving you with chewy cherry tobacco stuffed into an old cedar box.
Bottom Line:
These always tend to be bangers. Each liquor store, online retailer, bar, and restaurant will likely have their own barrel pick of this bottle, so trying as many as you can is half the fun.
Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled American Single Malt 2022 Special Release
ABV: 52.85%
Average Price: $573
The Whiskey:
This brand-new whiskey from Jack Daniel’s is made with a 100% malted barley mash bill. Those grains are milled and mashed with Jack’s famed cave spring water right in Lynchburg, Tennessee. That mash is then fermented with Jack’s own yeast and then distilled before the long process of charcoal mellowing/filtration. The hot juice is run through ten feet of sugar maple charcoal and is then filled into new American white oak barrels for a several-year rest. Finally, those barrels were vatted and re-barreled in Olorosso sherry casks for a final maturation before bottling as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Light milk chocolate powder malts greet you on the nose with soft leather, a hint of cedar, fresh gingerbread, a hint of fresh wicker canes, oatmeal cookie dough, a whisper of spearmint, and some sweet ice tea powder.
Palate: The palate opens up with a sense of sour red fruit with a rich vanilla foundation that leads to woody spices with a mild essence of pine sap and saddle soap before a vanilla white cake sweetness and soft mouthfeel kick in.
Finish: The mid-palate expands toward higher ABV buzziness with a note of almond shell and coconut shell next to Mounds bars and fresh leather on the finish with a fleeting sense of cream soda just kissed with orange-chocolate syrup.
Bottom Line:
This is a game-changer whiskey. This American single malt is fantastically built while offering a perfect bridge between crafty American single malts and classic Tennessee bourbon fruitiness. This is the stuff you take your time with, add a little water, let bloom, and really enjoy the depth of.
Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select Tennessee Whiskey
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $175 (1-liter bottle)
The Whiskey:
Frank Sinatra was one of Jack’s biggest fans. So much so that the crooner was buried with a bottle. The actual juice in this expression is a throwback to how Jack was made in Sinatra’s day. They use special “Sinatra Barrels” that have concentric grooves carved into the newly charred oak, giving the whiskey more surface area to do its thing. Once that’s aged, it’s blended with traditional Old No. 7 and proofed at 45%, as it also would have been back in Sinatra’s heydays.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Peach cobbler, apple pie with a buttery crust and caramel drizzle, vanilla pods, old leather, and a hint of cherry tobacco inside an old wooden box built on the nose.
Palate: The sip leans into the fruit next to woody spice and soft leather that mellows dramatically towards a soft vanilla cream along with a very distant echo of cherry tobacco chewiness. The mild spice (think nutmeg) arrives late and is tied to a cherry syrup vibe that just touches on dry wicker, faint almonds, and a touch more of that tobacco.
Finish: Ultimately, the leather returns and builds towards a silken finish with just the right balance of woody apple, cherry tobacco, and oaky spice — all touched by the softest note of vanilla bean.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the best mainstream Jack Daniel’s expressions that you can actually get. This is legitimately great sipping whiskey that makes a killer cocktail. Yes, it’s pricey but you can also find it fairly easily. So, win-win.
Jack Daniel’s 10 Years Old Tennessee Whiskey, Batch 2
ABV: 48.5%
Average Price: $199
The Whiskey:
This age statement released from Jack Daniel’s is a throwback to a bygone era in Tennessee Whiskey. The whiskey is aged for at least 10 years before batching. During that time, the barrels spend time in the “Buzzard’s Roost” at the top of the rickhouse. Once they hit the right flavor profile, those barrels are moved to the bottom floors of other warehouses to slow the aging down. Finally, the whiskey is batched, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This opens with a rich matrix of cherry syrup, apple cores, sticky toffee, vanilla ice cream, and a bold line of wet and sweet oak with a mild earthiness.
Palate: The palate opens up towards the dark fruit but dries it out and marries it to a woody and spicy tobacco leaf alongside toasted cedar soaked in salted caramel paired with dry corn husks that are just singed.
Finish: The finish really takes its time as the cherry attaches to an old cinnamon stick and the tobacco takes on a sticky chewiness with an almost smoked oak woodiness.
Bottom Line:
This year’s 10-Year batch is a little oakier than last year’s, so keep that in mind before paying the big bucks for this release. That said, this gets super creamy poured over ice with a nice marzipan/Nutella edge that works wonders with the classic Jack Daniel’s dark fruitiness.
Jack Daniel’s 2023 Distillery Series Straight Tennessee Whiskey Finished in Añejo Tequila Barrels
ABV: 45%
Average Price: $41 (375ml bottle)
The Whiskey:
This new edition of the Jack Daniel’s Distillery Series (number 11) is a classic Tennessee whiskey with a special finish. Classic Jack was re-barreled into añejo tequila barrels for a finishing run for this limited release. Those finishing barrels were originally new oak that the Jack Daniel’s was originally aged in that were sent down to Mexico to age tequila and then sent back to Tennessee to finish this whiskey.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a light sense of old leather that gives way to dried chili spices on the nose with a sense of burnt orange, old oak staves, and light tobacco spiciness.
Palate: There’s a hint of peppery agave on the palate with soft apple butter, walnut bread, and old oak staves with a hint of winter spice and fruit orchard bark wrapped in leather.
Finish: White pepper just peaks in on the finish as apple and pear bread with cinnamon and walnut vibes with soft leathery tobacco and a whisper of clove and nutmeg rumminess.
Bottom Line:
This is delicious freaking whiskey. The agave just sneaks in and works wonders with the Tennessee whiskey’s fruit-forward profile. Overall, drink this over a big ol’ rock and let your worries slip away.
Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Barrel Proof Tennessee Rye Whiskey
ABV: 68.65%
Average Price: $72
The Whiskey:
The whiskey in this bottle is drawn from single barrels of the good stuff. The whiskey in those barrels was made with Jack Daniel’s rye mash bill of 70% rye, 18% corn, and 12% malted barley that’s fermented with Jack’d proprietary yeast and lactobacillus before running through column stills. The hot juice is then slowly — literally one drip at a time — filtered through 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal made on-site at the distillery. Once filtered, the whiskey is filled into new American oak barrels and left to rest until each one was just right for a barrel-proof bottling run.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose runs deep with a hint of dried red chili pepper that builds toward soft and fresh pipe tobacco cut with pear and packed into an old leather pouch as a little bit of old candy wrapper a note of fizzy chinotto soda with a rock candy sweetness and a hint of dry sweet cedar.
Palate: Sweet dark fruits and grilled peach open the palate as a dramatic warmth starts to build toward razor-sharp clove, cinnamon, and mace with a very slight woody bark presence before singed marshmallows come into play and the heat hits 9-point-holy-shit on the Richter Scale.
Finish: That heat fades pretty quickly on the back end as notes of old boot leather and apple skin tobacco mingle with a faint whisper of creamy almond and ginger rock candy next to a fleeting note of dried ancho chilis soaked in hot water.
Bottom Line:
This is just excellent whiskey. The only reason it’s 3 instead of 1, is the heat. This needs a rock to cool it down and let it bloom to even more flavor depth. Once you pour this over some ice though, it’ll be your new favorite.
Jack Daniel’s 12-Year-Old Tennessee Whiskey, Batch 1
ABV: 53.5%
Average Price: $537
The Whiskey:
Jack Daniel’s doesn’t hide any of its processes. The mash at the base of this whiskey is a mix of 80% corn, 12% barley, and 8% rye. Those grains are milled in-house and mixed with cave water pulled from an on-site spring and Jack Daniel’s own yeast and lactobacillus that they also make/cultivate on-site. Once fermented, the mash is distilled twice in huge column stills. The hot spirit is then filtered through 10 feet of sugar maple charcoal that’s also made at the distillery. Finally, the filtered whiskey is loaded into charred new American oak barrels and left alone in the warehouse. After 12 years, a handful of barrels were ready; so they were batched, barely proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is creamy with deep notes of old boot leather, dark and woody winter spices, black-tea-soaked dates, plum jam with clove, and an underbelly of chewy toffee-laced tobacco.
Palate: That creaminess presents on the palate with a soft sticky toffee pudding drizzled in salted caramel and vanilla sauce next to flakes of salt and a pinch of orange zest over dry Earl Grey tea leaves with a whisper of singed wild sage.
Finish: The end leans into the creamy toffee chewy tobacco with a hint of pear, cherry, and bananas foster over winter spice barks and a deep embracing warmth.
Bottom Line:
This is probably the best bourbon of the year so far. It’s just freaking amazingly well-made bourbon whiskey.
Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Special Release Tennessee Rye Whiskey 2023 Heritage Barrel Rye
ABV: 50%
Average Price: $599
The Whiskey:
This whiskey starts off with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Rye Whiskey which is hewn from a mash of 70% rye, 18% corn, and 12% malted barley with Jack’s own yeast and lactobacillus strains. After a slow drip-drop filtering through 10 solid feet of sugar maple charcoal (which strips oily graininess and highlights sweet fruitiness, among other notes), the mellowed juice is filled into “Heritage Barrels.” Those barrels were seasoned in the open air for years. Once coopered, the American white oak barrels are heavily toasted and lightly charred. That toasting allows the sugars to caramelize and become more easily available to the distillate while the light char means less filtering as the whiskey moves in and out of the wood.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with a deep sense of Christmas spiced cakes brimming with candied cherries and orange peels next to roasted walnuts and a moist strip of pear brandy-soaked marzipan with a light hint of homemade cranberry sauce, roasting herbs, and a light sense of fresh pipe tobacco just kissed with spicy chili-infused Mexican hot chocolate with a real vanilla pod as a swizzle stick.
Palate: That vanilla gets super creamy on the palate as eggnog with clove and nutmeg drive the taste back to candied pear, cherry, and orange with an underbelly of dry smudging sage, cedar bark, and tobacco leaves braided and rolled into an old cigar humidor with a sweet leathery edge.
Finish: The end marries the candied cherry, spiced chocolate, and vanilla buttercream into a bespoke Black Forest cake with a holiday spice vibe next to soft sweetgrass, more of those roasting herbs, and a whisper of dried ancho chili soaked in pear brandy that’s just kissed with huckleberry pie.
Bottom Line:
This is astoundingly good rye whiskey, like, “fall in love at first sip” good. Basically, the Jack 12 and this a tie for first. The only reason I’m ranking this above is that for a rye whiskey, this blows almost everything else on the shelf out of the water.