NEW BOTTLE HIGHLIGHT SERIES: Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Heritage Barrel Toasted Tennessee Whiskey

This is part of the ongoing “New Bottle Highlight Series.” See past posts in this series HERE.

I’m broadening this series to include highlights of not only newly acquired bottles but also newly opened bottles, either for the first time or new replacement bottles (including initial tasting notes thoughts and impressions on them).

Jack Daniel’s and I don’t have a great history. Like many college students, I was all too familiar with Old No. 7 and, upon revisiting it last year, can definitively say that I’m not a fan of it even as a mixer. I’m glad, however, that I didn’t write off the distillery entirely because I’m really enjoying its newest single barrel release.

The Heritage Barrel is the paramount example of how vital the barrel and aging process is in shaping the final whisky. It’s all about the production and aging process – and much of this is central to the barrel/cask. Both this and Old No. 7 start off the same (sour mash using the same mash bill; the Lincoln County Process; cut to proof using Cave Hollow limestone spring water) but the aging and barrel processes are very different. The inaugural iteration of Heritage was aged 8 years in the distillery’s highest elevation barrel houses (impacting temperature, humidity, and how the distillate interacted with the barrels). Unlike other Jack Daniel’s releases, Heritage’s barrels were toasted 2x as long (24 minutes) and charred much less (flash char to meet minimum Tennessee whisky requirements instead of a full char). It was barreled at 100 proof (50% ABV).

The initial tasting notes below are from a bottle from Barrel #25-04990 using a Denver & Liely Bourbon Glass (all neat pours).

A dark amber/copper/dark honey in the glass, Heritage has rich aromas and flavors of marshmallow campfire S’Mores, caramel and vanilla, salted toffee, toasted brown sugar, baking spices (cinnamon and nutmeg), honeyed graham crackers, a very light Bananas Foster note that is much lighter than on other Jack Daniel’s releases, a hint of black pepper, dried cocoa powder, some smokey char and oak tannins, and rich toasted oak & wood sugars notes.

This is the first Jack Daniel’s product that I genuinely really like. It coats the glass well leaving thick, slow-forming tears and has a pretty creamy/buttery/oily mouthfeel and a long finish (8-10 seconds). I’m looking forward to seeing how this evolves as the bottle aerates and continues to open up.