Hot barrel wood, like opening a rickhouse in July; light allspice, vanilla, and fiery alcohol. Drinkable without water, surprisingly. Hot syrup, corn sugar caramel, tannic oak, and a bit of stickiness. An interesting look at Jack Daniel’s: unblended, undiluted, untamed. It’s still Jack—sweet, insistent—but it’s taller, bigger. I could say I’d like even more heft, more complexity…but would that be asking Jack to be something it simply is not?

Reviewed by: Lew Bryson (Winter 2015)