Category: News

There’s a common misconception with white rum that the popular sugarcane-based spirit is un-aged and goes from the still directly into the bottle. While this is sometimes true, it’s not a guarantee. Many white rums are matured between one and two years with a few matured even longer.

Regardless of its age, there are countless bargain white rums on the market. While some lower quality rums more resemble rubbing alcohol than drinkable alcohol, there are a surprising number of mixable and (sometimes) sippable, value rums on the market. A well-made white rum might have flavors like coconut, tropical fruits, vanilla, banana, gentle spices, and even sugarcane itself. All with a gentle, warm, dry finish.

The best part? There are many white rums that fit this criterion for less than $25.

To prove it, I once again turned to the tried and true blind taste test. I picked eight bargain-priced white rums and nosed, tasted, and ranked each based on the total flavor profile, balance, and drinkability. Keep scrolling to see how everything turned out.

Today’s Rums:

• Havana Club Anejo Blanco
• Captain Morgan White Rum
• The Real McCoy Three Year
• Bayou White Rum
• George Ocean White Rum
• Don Q Cristal Rum
• Wray & Nephew White
• Bacardi Superior

Part 1: White Rums Under $25 Blind Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

Vanilla, dried fruits, toffee, and light spices are notable on the nose. The palate has a lot of vanilla, banana, and some fruits. It has a decent palate and a good amount of warming heat at the finish.

Not the most exciting rum, but not the least either.

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

The nose has some vanilla and fruit, but not much else. The palate has a little more tropical fruit, but it’s very muted. Overall, there aren’t many discernable flavors as it has a lot of mineral flavors and almost harsh heat.

Definitely not a rum I’d prefer to drink neat ever again.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

Complex aromas of vanilla beans, pineapple, butterscotch, and floral notes make for an inviting nose. On the palate, you’ll find hints of toffee, vanilla, caramelized pineapple, and light spices.

The finish is dry, warming, and leaves you wanting more.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

The nose is very sweet with a ton of vanilla and tropical fruit scents. Sipping it reveals that it’s a bit of a one (or two) trick pony. There’s more Vanilla, pineapple, and not much else. Fairly one-dimensional and unexciting. The ending is also fairly harsh with the burn.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

This rum smells more like vodka than rum. There are light aromas of coconut and vanilla. Otherwise, the nose is pretty boring and unexciting. The palate continues this trend. There are some light spices, more vanilla, and tropical fruit. Overall, any notable flavors are squashed by the uncomfortable heat at the finish.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

The nose is filled with vanilla, light spices, grass, and floral aromas. Drinking it reveals notes of toasted vanilla beans, light smoke, pepper, caramel, chocolate, and Cinnamon. The finish is warming, dry, and gently spicy.

Overall, a surprisingly complex white rum.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

There’s a lot of booze on the nose. But there are still notes of molasses cookies, banana, coconut, and vanilla. The palate is very hot, but still has flavors like pineapple, coconut, vanilla, bananas, molasses, and spices. It ends even more warming. This is a complex rum that’s a great choice for the base of your favorite mixed drink. The only downfall is the massive, burning heat throughout.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

A lot is going on with this rum’s nose. There are a ton of tropical fruit, vanilla, and floral notes. The palate continues this trend with notes of ripe berries, vanilla, pineapple, banana, and gentle spices. The finish is long, sweet, and warm. It’s definitely a rum that will bring your mixed drinks to new dimensions.

Part 2: The Rankings

8) Bacardi Superior (Taste 2)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $14

The Rum:

There are very few names in the rum world more famous than Bacardi. Its Bacardi Superior is one of the best bargains. First released in 1862 by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó introduced, this favorite of bartenders is known for its fruity, mixable flavor profile.

Bottom Line:

Bacardi Superior is a rum made for mixing. I strongly suggest that’s the only thing you use it for. Sipping it neat isn’t a great idea.

7) Captain Morgan White Rum (Taste 5)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $12

The Rum:

We all know Captain Morgan, the rum is adorned with an elegantly-dressed pirate with his one leg resting on a treasure chest. Its white rum is known for its crisp, clean flavor profile. It’s not meant to be a full-flavored sipping rum. It’s supposed to be mixed with.

Bottom Line:

Not surprisingly, Captain Morgan White Rum doesn’t rate well plain. It’s not the kind of bottle you’d see in a store and want to pick up to sip so… why would you? Buy it for mixing or don’t buy it at all.

6) George Ocean White Rum (Taste 4)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $15

The Rum:

This white rum from the West Indies is a great value rum. It’s known for its clean, crisp, mellow, sweet flavor profile. It’s not overly complex, but it’s balanced and perfect for mixing.

Bottom Line:

This is the kind of very cheap white rum that you buy exclusively for mixing. It’s not an abrasively harsh rum, just not one you’d want to taste on its own.

5) Wray & Nephew White (Taste 7)

ABV: 63%

Average Price: $21

The Rum:

While many of the rums selected for this blind taste test are 80 proof, Wray & Nephew clocks in at a ridiculous 126 proof. This high-proof rum is known for its complex palate that stands up well in the most flavorful cocktails. It’s definitely not known as a sipping rum though.

Bottom Line:

For such a high-proof rum, it was surprising to find so many aromas and flavors. Still, this rum should be mixed exclusively because of its high alcohol content. It’s pretty harsh.

4) Bayou White Rum (Taste 1)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $21

The Rum:

You might not think of the US when you think of rum, but Bayou Rum was made in Louisiana. Made with locally grown and sourced sugarcane, this pot still distilled rum rested for as long as forty days. This creates a clean, smooth, very mixable spirit.

Bottom Line:

This white rum from Bayou Rum is surprisingly complex and flavorful. It’s not the most exciting rum in the world, but one that hits the mark for less than $25.

3) The Real McCoy Three Year (Taste 8)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $20

The Rum:

Produced at Foursquare Distillery in Barbados, The Real McCoy Three Year is named for prohibition-era rum runner Bill McCoy. It’s matured for three years and then filtered through charcoal to remove the color. It doesn’t remove any of the flavor imparted by the wood though.

Bottom Line:

As white rums go, The Real McCoy Three Year is not only a great mixing rum, but also a great sipper as well. It’s complex and balanced enough to enjoy on the rocks on a cool evening.

2) Don Q Cristal Rum (Taste 6)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $11

The Rum:

This clean, clear, flavorful rum was matured between one and a half and five years in American oak barrels. It’s then filtered through charcoal to remove the color. This doesn’t remove any of the smooth, easy-drinking flavor though. It’s sweet, fruity, and memorable.

Bottom Line:

If you’re looking for a bargain rum to always have on hand for mixing, you can do much worse than Don Q Cristal Rum. It was cheaper than it has any right to be.

1) Havana Club Anejo Blanco (Taste 3)

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $20

The Rum:

It might be confusing since there are two different Havana Club rum brands. This version is made in Puerto Rico and “aged in exile” using the original recipe from 1934. It’s double-aged to create a mellow, sippable, mixable white rum. First for one year in oak before it’s blended and filtered and then aged for two more months.

Bottom Line:

While this isn’t an ideal sipping rum. That’s not the point of this exercise. It has the flavors that make it a decent sipper and it shines as a mixing rum.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

It’s clear from this blind taste test that, when it comes to sipping white rum mellow is key. While I enjoyed rums with complex, balanced flavor profiles, the rums that fared poorly were harsh and had too much heat. Rums that were smooth, warming, but not too aggressively hot won the day.

Fast X zoomed into theaters in May, and since then, we’ve all been initiated into the Toretto family. No driver’s license required! Even though we thought it was over (how naive) it turns out that there will be more Fast movies for several years/decades to come, or at least until Vin Diesel decides he wants to go back to his given name, Mark Sinclair. Nobody would see an action movie starring a dude named Mark Sinclair, probably.

But before we get ahead of ourselves and start plotting out Fast plotlines, it’s almost time to rewatch Jason Momoa blow stuff up. If you need a refresher, Fast X brought back Diesel and the gang, including Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Brie Larson, and Helen Mirren, for a whole new round of action-packed car shenanigans that brought them all the way to Rome and Brazil and London. Who knew cars could travel internationally so easily?

The movie will land on Peacock beginning September 15th, but that’s not all: several other Fast titles are dropping on the streamer, including Fast and Furious 6, Fate of the Furious and Hobbs & Shaw, all on the same day. Two weeks later, on October 1st, Furious 7 will also hit the streamer.

As for the rest of the series, you’ll have to fish around the internet, but, really, it’s the one with Jason Momoa that we are all focused on, right?

Fast X zoomed into theaters in May, and since then, we’ve all been initiated into the Toretto family. No driver’s license required! Even though we thought it was over (how naive) it turns out that there will be more Fast movies for several years/decades to come, or at least until Vin Diesel decides he wants to go back to his given name, Mark Sinclair. Nobody would see an action movie starring a dude named Mark Sinclair, probably.

But before we get ahead of ourselves and start plotting out Fast plotlines, it’s almost time to rewatch Jason Momoa blow stuff up. If you need a refresher, Fast X brought back Diesel and the gang, including Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Brie Larson, and Helen Mirren, for a whole new round of action-packed car shenanigans that brought them all the way to Rome and Brazil and London. Who knew cars could travel internationally so easily?

The movie will land on Peacock beginning September 15th, but that’s not all: several other Fast titles are dropping on the streamer, including Fast and Furious 6, Fate of the Furious and Hobbs & Shaw, all on the same day. Two weeks later, on October 1st, Furious 7 will also hit the streamer.

As for the rest of the series, you’ll have to fish around the internet, but, really, it’s the one with Jason Momoa that we are all focused on, right?

Ron DeSantis has not been shy about touting his “anti-woke” crusade that has wreaked havoc on Florida’s education system due to schools being forced to ban Shakespeare or teach students that slavery was actually beneficial because it taught the slaves a trade. However, one particular institution is really feeling the brunt of DeSantis’ meddling.

Earlier this year, the Florida governor overhauled a small liberal arts college, and the effects have been disastrous. The school in question, New College of Florida, has now reportedly seen a mass exodus of more than 40 faculty members after DeSantis appointed six conservative trustees to the board, stripped away the DEI office, and started denying tenure.

Without enough faculty to teach courses, the already thin catalog has become so sparse that students can’t even take classes for their majors or “areas of concentration” as the school calls them. Instead, they’re being told to “choose something else.” Needless to say, the parents of those students are not happy.

Via Inside Higher Ed:

“These are young adults who are not looking to fill up a semester with high school electives. It’s not like, ‘Oh, chorus is closed, let me just go take that art class,’” [one mother] said. “There are classes [students] need to take to continue to propel [their] studies forward … that was just an absolute stunning thing to have a college tell us, just pick something else. No.”

On top of the faculty exodus, New College is reportedly having a housing crisis as well. Students are being forced to stay in off-campus hotels where there’s not enough room on shuttle busses to bring them to campus for the few classes they can actually take.

Great job, Ron.

(Via Inside Higher Ed)

Ron DeSantis has not been shy about touting his “anti-woke” crusade that has wreaked havoc on Florida’s education system due to schools being forced to ban Shakespeare or teach students that slavery was actually beneficial because it taught the slaves a trade. However, one particular institution is really feeling the brunt of DeSantis’ meddling.

Earlier this year, the Florida governor overhauled a small liberal arts college, and the effects have been disastrous. The school in question, New College of Florida, has now reportedly seen a mass exodus of more than 40 faculty members after DeSantis appointed six conservative trustees to the board, stripped away the DEI office, and started denying tenure.

Without enough faculty to teach courses, the already thin catalog has become so sparse that students can’t even take classes for their majors or “areas of concentration” as the school calls them. Instead, they’re being told to “choose something else.” Needless to say, the parents of those students are not happy.

Via Inside Higher Ed:

“These are young adults who are not looking to fill up a semester with high school electives. It’s not like, ‘Oh, chorus is closed, let me just go take that art class,’” [one mother] said. “There are classes [students] need to take to continue to propel [their] studies forward … that was just an absolute stunning thing to have a college tell us, just pick something else. No.”

On top of the faculty exodus, New College is reportedly having a housing crisis as well. Students are being forced to stay in off-campus hotels where there’s not enough room on shuttle busses to bring them to campus for the few classes they can actually take.

Great job, Ron.

(Via Inside Higher Ed)

Britney Spears and her husband Sam Asghari have reportedly separated over cheating allegations, according to TMZ. TMZ’s sources say that Sam moved out of the couple’s home after accusing Spears of cheating on him and that “it’s only a matter of time before Sam files for divorce.” The couple’s relationship was reportedly close to being on the rocks for months, despite Asghari’s public defense of Spears for behavior some observers have called erratic.

The couple began dating in 2016 after meeting on the set of Spears’ music video for “Slumber Party.” Asghari is a personal trainer who was very vocal about supporting her through her conservatorship and the responding #FreeBritney movement. He proposed to her in September 2021, and in April of 2022, they announced her pregnancy with her third child and his first, which ended in a miscarriage. The couple was married in June of 2022 in a home ceremony that her ex, Jason Alexander, tried to crash, leading to his arrest.

Throughout the past year, Asghari has stood by Spears as she was caught up in an incident at a trendy Los Angeles restaurant and as fans speculated about her mental health due to her social media activity. “My wife is in full control of her life and will continue to make all decisions involving her care regardless of circumstances,” he said. “Speculation on her health is inappropriate and should end immediately.”

Spears recently dipped her toe back into the music biz with the will.i.am collaboration “Mind Your Business,” and has been writing a memoir after what she calls “a lot of therapy.”

Sure, there are inherent problems that come from assigning children with the label “gifted,” among them being the constant pressure to succeed, equating good grades with self-worth, being alienated from peers, and last but not least, having to deal with the psychological whiplash of learning that being “special” doesn’t protect you from real-world problems once school is over.

With that said, are parents doing their high-achieving kids a disservice by calling them “gifted?”

One dad seems to think so…although he may be regretting sharing that perspective.

---

On Reddit’s Am I The A**hole forum, the dad explained that he and his wife both hold degrees in electrical engineering and have two children—a son, 17, and a daughter, 15.

Their daughter finished high school early and is heading to college at the same time as their son. She’s already chosen to study physics and computer science, while their son hasn’t picked a major yet.

After commending his daughter for her achievements and saying that she had been in the gifted program at her school, the dad goes on to share a dinner conversation that quickly went south.

“My wife mentioned how proud she was of our daughter and how lucky we were to have gifted children going to good university programs and how not many people can do what our daughter did.”

Aw. What a nice mom. Here’s how the dad responded.

via GIPHY

“I was also very happy but I said that while (daughter) is really hardworking and smart, I would not say that she is actually gifted and others can’t do it if they put in the same amount of work,” he said. “Her school does a lot to try to admit girls into her program, and my wife helped teach her advanced college level math and physics from an earlier age, she didn’t naturally pick it up on her own. If anything being a younger applicant with the same credentials probably helped her stand out more for the admissions committee.”

While the dad attests that he was merely trying to avoid the term “gifted” because he had seen how it has “ruined” other people’s lives, his intentions didn’t exactly pan out.

“Both my wife and daughter are upset at me now, my wife thinks I was trying to put her down which is not true and says she is gifted, while my daughter actually agrees with me but says I should not have said it as she already knows,” he wrote.

And therein lies the OP’s question: was he the jerk in this situation? Did he unrightfully downplay his daughter’s abilities?

According to the folks on Reddit, the answer is unequivocally yes. Not only was the action unnecessary and toxic but it was also deemed as pretty illogical.

via GIPHY

“Putting your daughter down served no positive purpose. Discouraging a young teen like that can have serious detrimental effects. Even if she isn’t actually gifted, you were the asshole,” the top comment read. “That being said, she is gifted. Not every 15-year-old can go to a university to study physics. Not only is she gifted academically, she is gifted with drive and determination. Not everyone has that. And you tried to put her down.”

“The very fact that she was able to pick up calculus at an early age is evidence she is gifted. I’m assuming she was doing calculus at age 12-13 if she’s already going to college for physics. Anyone doing calculus before high school is gifted, she’s several standard deviations higher than the average student,” wrote another.

Posts from the amitheasshole
community on Reddit

Several women who worked in STEM also chimed in to point out how the dad’s rhetoric reflected sexism.

One person wrote: “I spent my career as a woman in the sciences and I’ve been around countless guys like you who are quick to praise their little female ‘worker bees’ as long as they know their place, but who are incapable of acknowledging when a woman is genuinely exceptional. It’s especially heartbreaking that you have managed to erode her awareness of her own gifts to the point where she ‘actually agrees’ with you that she is ‘just’ a hard worker and not really gifted.”

And perhaps the comment to drive it all home:

“The horrible part here is that this message is coming from the girl’s own father. He should be her biggest fan, not her harshest critic.”

Parents want to do what’s best for their kids—setting them up for the highest success while protecting them from potential danger. But sometimes that objective gets warped by a parent’s own limited viewpoint. Hopefully, other parents can take this story as a reminder that when their kids are excelling, knocking them down a peg doesn’t really do them any favors.

Gyms are communal spaces where people can come to improve their health, fitness and/or overall well-being.

However, it’s no secret that many gyms have also become a production studio of sorts where influencers can set up a tripod to demonstrate the most cutting-edge squatting technique or where the average Joe can take that obligatory gym selfie to prove that the workout did, in fact, happen.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of these activities. However, they have sparked a new kind of behavior in gymgoers where they feign extreme frustration if folks walk from one machine to the next or grab a piece of equipment and, heaven forbid, enter the frame.

---

Take for instance a video shared to Reddit by u/ASTATINE_628, where we first see several cuts of a young woman at the gym, seemingly perturbed that people are continuously walking through her frame in her video.

The clip then cuts to a guy who breaks down what’s wrong with this scenario in a very clear and concise way.

“This sense of entitlement has gotten out of hand,” he said, noting that “for you to get upset because there’s people simply in your video going about their workout, not bothering you, minding their own business, is ridiculous.”

To act like she owns the gym.
by u/ASTATINE_628 in therewasanattempt

He certainly has a point. Of course, when personal space is actually being infringed upon, like when someone is facing harassment, that’s a different story. But in this case, as the man stated, there is no wrongdoing by simply existing.

The man then summed it all up with a short and sweet reminder about common decency. Or maybe not-so-common, since we’re needing reminders.

“Unless your name is on that gym, your filming is never a priority over other people. They pay the same gym membership that you do. If you can’t film responsibly, if you can’t respect other people in a shared space, you don’t belong filming at all,” he said.

Really, this behavior stems from something larger than modern-day gym culture. We film ourselves a lot these days, and often in public. This has undoubtedly caused a shift in how we view personal boundaries in the outside world, with both positive and negative effects.

On the one hand, it can be fun and self-esteem-boosting to treat your life as one big video diary. On the other hand, we bring strangers unwillingly into our orbit, treating them as punching bags, entertainment, or, in the case of the miffed gymgoers, nuisances. We vainly stop treating other people like fellow humans sharing life on this crazy blue planet. No video seems worth forgetting that.

Even for those who have never set foot into a gym, and never will, this is a poignant reminder to not lose our humanity as our relationship with social media grows. It’s perfectly fine to tap into “main character energy.” Let’s just keep in mind that really, we’re all part of the same story.

This article originally appeared on 3.28.23

Sure, there are inherent problems that come from assigning children with the label “gifted,” among them being the constant pressure to succeed, equating good grades with self-worth, being alienated from peers, and last but not least, having to deal with the psychological whiplash of learning that being “special” doesn’t protect you from real-world problems once school is over.

With that said, are parents doing their high-achieving kids a disservice by calling them “gifted?”

One dad seems to think so…although he may be regretting sharing that perspective.

---

On Reddit’s Am I The A**hole forum, the dad explained that he and his wife both hold degrees in electrical engineering and have two children—a son, 17, and a daughter, 15.

Their daughter finished high school early and is heading to college at the same time as their son. She’s already chosen to study physics and computer science, while their son hasn’t picked a major yet.

After commending his daughter for her achievements and saying that she had been in the gifted program at her school, the dad goes on to share a dinner conversation that quickly went south.

“My wife mentioned how proud she was of our daughter and how lucky we were to have gifted children going to good university programs and how not many people can do what our daughter did.”

Aw. What a nice mom. Here’s how the dad responded.

via GIPHY

“I was also very happy but I said that while (daughter) is really hardworking and smart, I would not say that she is actually gifted and others can’t do it if they put in the same amount of work,” he said. “Her school does a lot to try to admit girls into her program, and my wife helped teach her advanced college level math and physics from an earlier age, she didn’t naturally pick it up on her own. If anything being a younger applicant with the same credentials probably helped her stand out more for the admissions committee.”

While the dad attests that he was merely trying to avoid the term “gifted” because he had seen how it has “ruined” other people’s lives, his intentions didn’t exactly pan out.

“Both my wife and daughter are upset at me now, my wife thinks I was trying to put her down which is not true and says she is gifted, while my daughter actually agrees with me but says I should not have said it as she already knows,” he wrote.

And therein lies the OP’s question: was he the jerk in this situation? Did he unrightfully downplay his daughter’s abilities?

According to the folks on Reddit, the answer is unequivocally yes. Not only was the action unnecessary and toxic but it was also deemed as pretty illogical.

via GIPHY

“Putting your daughter down served no positive purpose. Discouraging a young teen like that can have serious detrimental effects. Even if she isn’t actually gifted, you were the asshole,” the top comment read. “That being said, she is gifted. Not every 15-year-old can go to a university to study physics. Not only is she gifted academically, she is gifted with drive and determination. Not everyone has that. And you tried to put her down.”

“The very fact that she was able to pick up calculus at an early age is evidence she is gifted. I’m assuming she was doing calculus at age 12-13 if she’s already going to college for physics. Anyone doing calculus before high school is gifted, she’s several standard deviations higher than the average student,” wrote another.

Posts from the amitheasshole
community on Reddit

Several women who worked in STEM also chimed in to point out how the dad’s rhetoric reflected sexism.

One person wrote: “I spent my career as a woman in the sciences and I’ve been around countless guys like you who are quick to praise their little female ‘worker bees’ as long as they know their place, but who are incapable of acknowledging when a woman is genuinely exceptional. It’s especially heartbreaking that you have managed to erode her awareness of her own gifts to the point where she ‘actually agrees’ with you that she is ‘just’ a hard worker and not really gifted.”

And perhaps the comment to drive it all home:

“The horrible part here is that this message is coming from the girl’s own father. He should be her biggest fan, not her harshest critic.”

Parents want to do what’s best for their kids—setting them up for the highest success while protecting them from potential danger. But sometimes that objective gets warped by a parent’s own limited viewpoint. Hopefully, other parents can take this story as a reminder that when their kids are excelling, knocking them down a peg doesn’t really do them any favors.

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is the best-selling and most recognizable American whiskey in the world. It’s a true powerhouse. But a lot of that love for Jack Daniel’s worldwide (and at home) is driven by Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey. And while Old No. 7 is a classic and has its place in the pantheon of great American whiskey, it’s in no way the whole Jack Daniel’s story. Especially not in 2023. Jack Daniel’s has been releasing some of the best mainstream and limited edition whiskeys over the past few years and, well…

They just dropped a goddamn game-changing rye whiskey.

Seriously. Released on August 15th, 2023, this rye expression is a “Heritage Barrel” rye — meaning that Jack’s signature Tennessee rye whiskey was aged in specially made barrels for years until it was just right. It’s a hell of a concept out of the gate, since Jack’s base rye whiskey is already pretty spot-on as a standard pour. Using special barrels to age that whiskey only means more concentrated and heightened flavors.

Spoiler alert: This is a f*cking banger, folks. Can you sense my enthusiasm?

Read on for my full review. I also make sure to get into how to actually score a bottle. It’s not going to be easy but, holy shit, will it be worth it.

• The 100 Best Bourbon Whiskeys From Kentucky, Ranked
• The Absolute Best Bottle Of Whiskey From Each Of The 50 States
• The ‘Smoothest’ Bourbons On The Market, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• The 100 Best Bourbons That *Aren’t* From Kentucky, Ranked
• The 100 Best Bourbons Under $100 Right Now, Ranked

Jack Daniel’s Twice Barreled Special Release Tennessee Rye Whiskey Heritage Barrel Rye

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $75

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:

F*cking delicious. This was amazing neat. It sipped like a dream. Over a rock, it turned extra creamy and luscious with more marzipan covered in dark chocolate alongside brandy-soaked dried fruits and fresh gingerbread with a flake of salt.

Ranking:

100/100 — this is one of the best whiskeys of the year (so far). And value wise? It’s beyond killer.

Where To Buy:

You’re not going to find this at MSRP unless you win a lottery. Sorry, but thems the breaks on something this limited/allocated and good. It’s only been 24 hours, but this is already appearing in retail shops online for anywhere from $299 to $599.

Outside of really good whiskey bars and restaurants with a killer whiskey list, you’re going to have to pay dearly for this one. Pay it. This is truly top-tier whiskey that not only lives up to the hype but goes beyond it. This is Jack Daniel’s at its absolute best.