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KWM 2022 Whisky Calendar Day 17: Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select

Posted on December 17, 2022

BONUS CONTENT: Read Andrew's post on the amazing Berry's 40-Year-Old Blended Scotch that was ours here!

by Evan

We are now on Day 17 for the 2022 KWM Whisky Calendar! If you are following along in real-time, that means we only have a week until Christmas Eve. Where does the time go? Oh well, nothing can be done about the speed at which life takes us through December. We may as well suffer quietly and console ourselves with today’s bottle: The Jack Daniels Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey!

Now, I should be honest. I have tried damn hard over the past few years to undermine Andrew and his highfalutin ideals about Scotch being better than American Whiskey and his ongoing proclamation that Bourbon is the simple man’s drink. I do my best to find Bourbon mini bottles that we can include in our Whisky Calendar in hopes of spreading the word that great whisky can also be spelled with an extra ‘E’ (though don’t ask me why it needs that E. I blame the Irish) and be made from mostly corn.

All this being said, I never expected we would end up having a bottle of good ol’ JD in the KWM Whisky Calendar. Don’t get me wrong, there are some bottles of Jack Daniel’s that are fantastic in my opinion. Indeed, Whisky Advocate just named the Jack Daniels Bonded Tennessee Whiskey their 2022 Whisky Of the Year. I personally feel the JD Bonded Triple Mash is even better. Even then, both are eclipsed by the mighty and delicious Jack Daniels Single Barrel at Barrel Proof in my opinion.

I don’t believe I have even tasted the regular Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel in about a decade – and that was likely in a bar where there wasn’t anything else reasonable available. So, it has been a while.

For Day 16 in this year’s KWM Whisky Calendar, we had the GlenDronach 12-Year-Old and I spent a bit of time talking about a company named Brown-Forman. Well, guess who owns Jack Daniel’s? Bingo!

Brown Forman also owns another two distilleries in Kentucky. We featured the Old Forester Bourbon on Day 13 of the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. Old Forester Bourbon is made at the Brown-Forman Distillery in Shively, Kentucky, which is part of Louisville. The Old Forester range of bottles is one of the best of any Bourbon producer, in my opinion. The Old Forester 1920 is an absolute gem. The other Brown-Forman-owned distillery in Kentucky is Woodford, which resides in Versailles. Outside of these three American Whisky Brands and the company’s three Scottish distilleries, they also own a few other liquor brands as well. These include

  • Herradura Tequila
  • Finlandia Vodka
  • Gin Mare
  • Chambord Liqueur

The company also just recently got into the rum game: In October of this year, Brown Forman purchased Diplomatico Rum. The Diplomatico brand, like GlenDronach once was, is a point of contention between the old and current importer here in Alberta, and has not been on store shelves for three or four years – possibly even longer than that. Unlike GlenDronach, Brown-Forman isn’t even involved in this legal dispute yet as it wasn’t in their portfolio. But I digress.

Here is the short and sweet info on Jack Daniel’s:

  • The Jack Daniel’s Distillery resides in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Ironically, the distillery site is within a dry county that is still under prohibition.
  • It was established in 1866 and is the oldest registered distillery in America.
  • It is named after somebody. Three guesses as to what their name was…
  • Nathan “Nearest” Green was the distillery’s first master distiller. Nathan was the first African-American master distiller on record in America.
  • Jack Daniel’s whiskey is Bourbon, but it also isn’t Bourbon: It is labelled as a Tennessee Whiskey.
    • Tennessee Whiskey is made in a very similar fashion to Bourbon except for one added step, which is called the Lincoln County Process.
    • This process involves filtering the new make spirit through sugar maple charcoal or steeping the liquid in the charcoal to help get rid of impurities before it goes into barrel to mature.
  • Jack Daniel’s is the best-selling American Whiskey by a healthy margin.

Enough of all that. Let’s dive nose-first into Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select!

Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select – 47%

Also available in full-size bottles

Jack Daniel’s typical mash bill of 80% Corn, 12% Rye, and 8% Malted Barley. The mash was distilled and then put through the Lincoln County Process before being put into heavily charred virgin oak barrels made at the distillery’s own cooperage. Single barrel releases from Jack Daniel’s are typically 4 to 7 years old. Each bottle of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel is carefully selected before being bottled at 47% ABV.

The JD Single Barrel was introduced to the world in 1997. It is bottled at 94 Proof, or 47% ABV. The barrels are selected from the higher floors of Rickhouses and the aim is for all selected casks to have “subtle notes of caramel and spice with bright fruit notes and sweet aromatics for a Tennessee Whiskey” according to the Jack Daniel’s website. Every single barrel has some differences stylistically, though, so every bottle of it you buy might be very on the nose and palate.

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Oak sawdust and staves in a cooperage, Lucky Elephant Pink Candy Popcorn, Orange Pekoe Tea, banana peels, peanut brittle, ground black pepper, and a touch of clove.

Palate: Peanut brittle again, plus cotton candy, dried banana chips, cherry pie, caramelized brown sugar, roasted hazelnuts, cappuccino, and more tea notes as well.

Finish: Bananas, brown sugar, mocha, and toasted oak on the slow fade.

Comment: It has been a while, but I am glad to have tasted this again. It is further proof that there is much to explore from Jack Daniel’s. Skip the Old Number 7 and start here!

I hope you enjoyed this JD single barrel as much as I did. Be sure to let Andrew know if that is the case. See you tomorrow for Day Eighteen!

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Twitter and Instagram: @sagelikefool

This entry was posted in Whisky, Bourbon, Whisky Calendars, KWM Whisky Calendar 2022

 

 

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