Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Barrel Strength Tennessee Whiskey

Nose - not too hot on the nose, sugary Taste - a bit hot, good taste and typical JD flavor Finish - woody and sugary, fills the palate with flavor and burns down the throat Score - 3.25 Scoring Legend 5.0 - Outstanding, unmatched to others 4.5 - Excellent, I will always keep a bottle in stock if possible 4.0 - Very good, quite enjoyable to drink, can consider as a solid choice 3.5 - Good, would taste again 3.0 - Average 2.5 - Acceptable, still drinkable 2.0 - Inferior, able to drink but not enjoyable 1.5 and below—wouldn’t drink again unless I am desperate

Lots of fruit and lots of astringency and harshness. 10/10 nose, up front the palate is all fruit, then quickly turns harsh, short finish, but lingering fruit again. I’ve had 2 of these picks now, the first was a 3.5 due to harsh palate I couldn’t get rid of, no matter how much water or ice I added. The second is the best whiskey I’ve ever had. 1,000,000,000/10. I guess that averages to 4.25? Point is, these are unique, more than any other pick I’ve had.

This was technically a shortbarrel pick for Jax Beverage, but since I don’t have the bottle for a picture, this seems like the best place to put it. It was 65%. I am not a Jack fan. I’m anti Jack. I could not possibly have lower expectations going into this. I’m expecting: bananas, wood, dust, leather. Basically all the notes I could do without. Nose does betray the heritage. There’s yeast, bananas, sugar cookies, cedar. Not enticing to me, but to its credit, one of the better Jack’s I’ve sniffed. Body is heavy on sugar, caramel, and lemon. There’s some cherry there. The yeast and banana standard with Jack are present but not dominant on this body. Finish goes off the rails, in a good way. I get Dr. Pepper, licorice, Fruit Soda, grape juice. There’s some bold after flavors that I’ve never before found on a Jack product. I actually have a “fizzy” mouth feel, akin to the 2019.01 Bookers but with far more flavor. This finish is by far my favorite and most interesting part of this drink. I am not a Jack fan. But I can respect well made whisky nonetheless. I genuinely love the spin they put on the Jack profile here, and the flavors were so bold, it only took a few sips of my 2-ounce sample to get those notes. I poured the rest over ice, and as suspected, it shines here. It’s basically a Jack and coke (no coke required). If I had more, I’d also try it as a mixer, because I think it’d have a shot at “best on show” in the Jack and Coke category.