ContemplativeFox
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Straight Rye
Rye — Tennessee, USA
Reviewed
November 18, 2020 (edited December 29, 2020)
Rating: 11/23
N: I get that usual Jack Daniel's banana sweetness, but also some clean rye tartness and minerality. A bit of wood and some spiciness come out as well. Not a really exciting nose, but nothing smells terribly concerning and there is some complexity present.
P: I taste the rye and banana here as well, alongside the spices and some wood. There's a dash of creosote, but not too much. It mixes nicely with a hint of black licorice. This is a quite light and approachable palate, making it easy enough to sip and an easy introduction to rye. The Jack Daniel's banana isn't as aggressive as in the Old No 7, but it's a bit more out of place here since it's fairly unusual for ryes to carry such a flavor.
F: The finish is fairly mild as most of the flavor evaporates, leaving kind of a mineral memory. There remain light hints of banana, toffee, rye, and wood.
This is at least a 10, but it's hard to justify higher than a 12. A 13 is plausible, but unlikely. I don't like it as much as George Dickel Rye, but I can see an argument for it being close. There's a lightness like in Ancient Age that I find appealing here, but it's really as a light, fun, sweet thing, not as something more serious. I'm sort of waffling between a high 11 and a low 12 right now. I'm landing on 11 now, but I can see a shift up to 12 in the future.
20.0
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Yea I far prefer JD rye over the 95/5 mgp stuff now, I've just decided I'm not a "rye purist" but a lover of sweet "bourbony" ryes, in fact I like the relatively cheap Redemption High Rye (bourbon) as much as these straight ryes. It's just a matter of preference but I still consider the JD rye and ESPECIALLY the JD Single Barrel Rye to be about as good as any whiskey coming out of Tenn.
@Ancient33w yep. Dickel’s is MGP 95/5 with a run through the sugar maple charcoal before bottling to make it somewhat different than all the others.
The George Dickel Rye is a pretty standard young MGP @Ancient33w . I can't say I'd recommend it, but it's useful to me for comparing with other ryes to get a reminder of the 95% rye flavor.
You've nailed it @ctbeck11 . This is a very approachable rye, which makes it good for beginners, but that banana flavor is weird and seems out of place in a rye, so in that regard this really isn't representative.
Nice review. This is not a bad rye but not an outstanding one. I do not believe I have had George Dickel Rye.
I agree that this would be a good introduction to rye since it’s fairly sweet and approachable, but I really didn’t like the banana flavor here, probably even more than I don’t like it in the other JD offerings. However, I tried this very early in my liquor tasting journey, so I may pick up a miniature to see if that may have changed.